Embracing The Fear – Learning to Grab Ahold of My New Responsibilities as a Founder

Timing is everything. I became a firm shareholder just weeks before the start of the Great Recession. Years later, I became the sole owner. After stabilizing the firm after the exit of my majority partner, COVID-19 hit.  Talk about bad luck.

During those times, I was confident in the direction of the firm. Just keep spending time meeting client expectations. I wasn’t afraid – I was energized. My reward would be the eventual sale of my business.

But in March 2021, my perspective was shaken to the core. I was about to plunge into the deep side of the pool, summarized by Greg Alexander as he explained the simplest of Collective 54 axioms:

The Hero Syndrome will stand in the way of you successfully scaling and exiting.

Immediately, I had three thoughts:

1. Greg is 100% right – I am impeding my own goals by focusing on projects rather than firm growth.
2. This is my next and maybe last great challenge – the challenge of transforming myself.
3. I have no idea what to expect. Ceding control of the daily operations of my business would be a 180-degree turn from a career of being “the guy you really want to hire.”

And as I accepted these realities, the fear arrived. Not panic or distress or terror. More of a “why the hell do you think you can pull this off?” lecture with myself. 

MOVING FORWARD, BUT WAY TOO SLOWLY

My fear of failing in this transformation has become a semi-regular companion, a reminder that I must constantly demand a different role for myself.  To lead differently.  To evaluate myself differently than I ever have before.

I’m forty-three months into my Collective 54 journey. Honestly, my path has not been the blueprint for instant success:

• Year One: Too busy convincing myself that I needed to change. So very little was changing. I was letting fear and uncertainty win instead of channeling my emotions into change.
• Year Two: I read The Founders Bottleneck. Now the journey forward was clearer to me. I recruited and empowered people who would help me re-shape our daily operations. Our growth accelerated, but I still was touching 95% of our client work, being a manager rather than a founder. The fear increasingly added frustration as its running mate.
• Year Three: I dove head-first into that deep end. I transferred responsibilities and created new incentives for my senior staff to manage and grow the core business.  I shifted 80% of my ongoing client work to others, spending more time working on the business. I explored new markets and long-desired strategies. The fear remained, but channeled into a new enthusiasm for what my firm may become.
• Year Four: The plan is in place. My senior leaders are being held accountable, and I am holding myself accountable. The fear isn’t holding me back, but when it reappears, it reminds me to check my progress and keep my attention where it needs to be.

I haven’t abandoned all client work or the joy of landing new clients. But I am increasingly focused on scaling strategies, not simply adding more billable hours using the same old tricks.

LESSONS LEARNED

If I could go back to 2021, I certainly would have channeled the fear in positive ways much sooner. Most importantly, I would have focused less on myself and more on the people around me. I learned: 

• Job 1 – Empower high-potential leaders. Smart, ambitious, nosy senior leaders are more important than successful order-takers. They challenge me to rethink our business model, which opens the door to different opportunities. Most importantly, I become an asset they use to improve their work, rather than a boss looking over their shoulders.
• Embrace their mistakes. I wouldn’t be where I am today if others didn’t allow me to make my own mistakes. If a leader makes too many, perhaps they are in the wrong career. But if they make too few, they aren’t taking the right risks. And if my leaders’ biggest fear is disappointing me, our communication and their work will eventually suffer.
• Share your plan with your leadership – all of it. Every month I buy lunch and we spend 115 minutes talking about the future. Not current client business, but outlining what’s next and how we will each impact success. This is more than just me sharing information – the team is constantly adding to the collective strategy.
• Become less available. Once you have decided that your team can manage day-to-day operations, it is time get out of the office. Inevitably, if you are around too many team members will believe it is their job to impress you, or at least seek your approval. If you are gone more, you will force team members to focus on your new leaders, and those leaders to depend on each other. You will also spend more time on activities that help scale the business.
• Keep influencing culture. I am still in the role the CEO, and I have responsibility for the health of the firm. A firm that doesn’t have a great culture, shaped by transparent values, won’t remain healthy for long. Culture teaches employees how your firm became strong and how they can prosper from your continued growth.

After reading this, if you feel the fears creeping in, my advice is simple: dive into the deep end now. Yes, the water will be cold at the beginning. Collective 54 is designed to teach you to swim when you are afraid you might sink. What’s required from you is faith that you can transform your firm by transforming yourself.