The transition is yet to come.
Ask any MBA graduate and they could trace the twists and turns of a company’s maturity curve blindfolded.
Ask anyone to describe the inflection point in their personal career trajectory from entrepreneur to CEO and you’re likely to see a number of blank looks on their faces.
In our efforts to develop future leaders who will drive our economy forward, we naturally focus on solutions for our companies and their well-being. In our focus on analysis and transactions, we often overlook the importance of: Personal Growth This would be a huge disservice to the people who will ultimately lead our nation’s companies.
Based on what we know today, holistic growth and self-reflection are among the most powerful drivers of success in leadership development.
The entrepreneurial journey comes with ample opportunities for both parties, and growth-minded leaders just need a north star to navigate.
One of the frameworks to achieve this is The 7 Archetypes of Leadership It’s a model that helps you set goals and reflect on yourself as you grow with the company.
Leaders and their companies are on the path to growth together
Leaders don’t just grow, they evolve with the company.
As the complexity of an enterprise increases, the list of skills required from management also grows, requiring management to be flexible in adopting new skills and approaches at regular intervals.
The process of reinventing yourself can be painful; there is often no clear guidance or external support, and no other role demands such dramatic changes in behavior and capabilities from incumbents.
The only signal most leaders receive as they approach a tipping point is a creeping sense that their company needs something they can’t provide.
It is paramount that we listen to these feelings rather than ignoring them, and it is equally important that we realize that the right way to deal with them is to become a leader ourselves.
McKinsey research has found that CEOs who take on a new role are more likely to be successful if they spend the first six to twelve months on personal development and organizational transformation. Listening intently to the feelings and reactions of the organization, staff, and yourself is key, and knowing which “big issues” to prioritize is essential.
But it’s not enough to know what your company needs from you now: your job as a leader is to chart a course for the future, and that requires knowing where the ship is heading.
While leaders and their companies share different growth paths, there are seven archetypes that emerge at key inflection points in growth. The 7 Archetypes of Leadership model.
As you read below, think about the archetype that resonates most strongly with you right now. Is it the leader your company most desperately needs?
If not, which archetype does your company aspire to, and what does it need to do to best embody it?
The 7 Archetypes of Leadership
Bootstrapper
When starting a company, most leaders take on the role of a bootstrapper. This leader is as resourceful as he is gritty, and ready to take on whatever role the company needs to survive another week. Bootstrappers thrive in an uncertain environment, or quickly learn to tolerate it. Their main job is to realize the future of the company through sheer determination and creativity. This is the playground for entrepreneurs and teams full of ninjas and rock stars.
“The early days of a company require a more fragmented process and a completely different mindset than later.“Anza Renewables co-founders Mike and Aaron Hall said this in a discussion about their transition from entrepreneur to CEO.
“It’s not an on or off switch. There’s a spectrum of leadership that starts from the entrepreneurial bootstraps and grows into different roles and requirements depending on the needs of the company.“Reflecting on his tenure as head of the solar and storage procurement promotion agency, they added:
salesman
As the company gets going and the most important life-sustaining logistics are delegated to new hires, many leaders take on aspects of the sales rep archetype who excel at building relationships, selling the vision, and driving revenue growth through tenacity and charisma. Their primary job is to connect with customers and stakeholders, establish a fully fleshed out product-market fit, and establish a definitive market presence.
Problem Solvers
Problem Solvers are the leaders you look to when clarity and decisiveness are much needed. Over time, companies will face multiple existential crises, each necessitating a rethink of strategy and on-demand pivoting. Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary leadership, and problem solvers use their analytical, practical and decisive power to chart a path forward. For many entrepreneurs, this is the first time they truly push the envelope. Maturity and past experience help them navigate the demands placed on them, and many rely on support from their networks and external advisors.
For a growing number of leaders, this is a time to get serious about personal growth and mentoring.Being a CEO is one of the toughest jobs. It used to be taboo to ask for help, but thankfully, we are seeing more CEOs entering into mentorship and coaching relationships. Boards play a big role in this, often encouraging CEOs to get outside support for their leadership growth, especially if they take on the role of problem solver.“This was stated by Russell Reynolds Associates CEO Konstantin Alexandrakis during a recent discussion about the firm’s new approach to leadership development and executive mentoring.”
stabilizer
The natural counterpart to the above is the Stabilizer. After the storm comes a moment of lull, creating an opportunity to triage, consolidate, and compress. The Stabilizer focuses on efficiency, optimization, and profitability to preserve what has been achieved so far and set a sustainable trajectory for future growth. Entrepreneurs who have grown their companies from day one often find the Stabilizer role especially difficult. Cutting costs, cutting friends, and rethinking the runway can be uncomfortable, especially for someone who built everything from the ground up.
A visionary
As a company matures and has more manpower to weather smaller storms, a tipping point opens up that calls for a visionary. These leaders look boldly beyond the horizon and build a story and path to a long-term future. Visionaries live and die with inspiration, creativity, and innovation, so they must find a way to free themselves from what has fundamentally tethered their company to this day. It’s not easy to be a Steve Jobs-type presence that you can call on at any time, especially if your head is overwhelmed with the demands of the day-to-day role. Finding time to step away is often harder than it seems.
A great facilitator
As the company continues to scale, it calls for a type of person who is more like a CEO than an entrepreneur. The Great Facilitator’s role is one of delegation and efficiency, with a focus on what the team can accomplish rather than individual influence. These leaders focus on empowerment and organizational culture, with efficiency, collaboration, and trust as their primary currency. Taking on the role of a Great Facilitator requires loosening the reins and delegating to others, which is a difficult task for many entrepreneurs, especially if they are thrust into this role right after being a bootstrapper.
“Once a company grows beyond 200 people, the CEO’s job becomes HR. They have to learn to get more done through others than they can alone, and their main job is to build the right culture by example and leadership.Mike and Aaron Hall recalled:
Agents of change
Finally, we arrive at the Change Agent. This leader is called upon to take the helm when the other archetypes have exhausted their toolkit. The Change Agent is called in to safely guide the organization through large-scale transformation and transformation processes, repositioning and realigning the company for the future. This role often involves letting go of one or more aspects of the company (e.g., a physical division, a previous vision, an operating model, etc.). As such, Change Agents benefit from the ability to focus on the health and culture of the company rather than just its continuity, and they seek a human-centered approach and the ability to see beyond the status quo.
“My career S-curve‘ said Debasis Chatterjee, CEO of LTI Mindtree, reflecting on his career that has taken him to the helm of some of the largest companies before moving to currently lead a publicly listed global IT services company.
“I’ve held many roles and embodied the DNA of many different types of leadership styles. During times of intense change, I have always kept the human side of my work at the heart of it. Ultimately, clients and their experience matter most. My job is to ensure that the organization is equipped to maximize the potential of my people so they can focus on serving clients.. “
As with leadership in general, The 7 Archetypes of Leadership Modeling is more art than science, and no matter how you categorize leadership types, there is no escaping the fact that each leader faces a series of inflection points that are both invitations and challenges to growth.
Embracing these inflection points as opportunities to evolve into a better version of yourself as a leader is what separates long-term success from the rest.
