Nandini Vaidyanathan takes a critical look at entrepreneurs who behave like employees
Entrepreneur or Employee? No, I don’t mean as career choice. This is not a question of, do you want to be an entrepreneur or employee. This is more attitudinal. An interesting conundrum
Let’s begin by listing expectedly atypical behaviors of entrepreneurs and employees:
Entrepreneur
1. Chooses consciously to start his own company and not work for another company.
2. His starting point is an idea that he wants to develop into a product that will grow into an organization.
3. He demonstrates skin in the game by investing time, effort and even initial capital.
4. He starts with humility and is willing to work out of his dad’s cowshed.
5. He does not give himself fancy titles.
6. He works without a salary in the hope that his playbook will attract investors in the future as his ‘idea’ becomes an ‘organization’.
7. He attends startups events to network, increase his acumen and gain market insight.
8. He is the decision maker and the buck stops with him.
Employee
1. He enters the job market with clarity- he wants to work for a big brand that will make him a big brand that will bestow a job title that will raise eyebrows and give him a salary that is beyond the comprehension of his family (I am writing this from experience. In all my years in the corporate, my mother’s constant refrain was, what is it that you do that they pay you so much!).
2. His visiting card is the key that will open doors and he has no problem swapping visiting cards as often as it takes for bigger, higher, fancier.
3. He is not bothered about creating meaning in society or becoming a game-changer. He will be what his employer expects him to be, an important cog in the wheel, but a cog nevertheless.
4. He pays lip-service to his team about taking ownership of the road map but he knows he does not own the company, nor does the buck stop with him. He is great at delivering results within the structure of his organization. He is protocol-driven, not one to place unnecessary value on creativity but blinkered on delivering value to his organization in the role defined for him.
5. His employee status is transactional and there is no room for an ‘emotional forever’ in it.
We now have clear pictures of who is an entrepreneur and who is an employee. Based on this, let’s explore some scenarios where entrepreneurs behave like employees.
1. An entrepreneur is one who chooses consciously to start his own company and not work for someone else.
But it has to be for the right reason. I have heard people say that they want to become entrepreneurs to be the master of their time. This is an urban myth. As an employee he may be able to sign off by the end of your shift but as an entrepreneur he is on duty 24 hours. If he wants to work stipulated hours, he is behaving like an employee. I had a business partner once who told me that he was unavailable for any call between 9am and 1 pm as it was his family time. When I protested, he said, this is why I became an entrepreneur, if I can’t have this, I might as well have stayed in the job. Needless to say our partnership terminated immediately.
2. He demonstrates skin in the game by investing time, effort and even initial capital.
When he takes ownership of the road map, there cannot be any confusion between his role as a friend and as a boss. The biggest pressure on the entrepreneur is to transition to becoming a leader and not remain the back-slapping, beer-guzzling ‘dost’, and the sooner he does this the faster he will grow into the skin of an entrepreneur. In the early days, the boundaries are not clearly defined especially when a bunch of friends may have come together to start the business. There is no hierarchy and the roles are fluid. Everyone is doing everything, including the entrepreneur.
At some point he has to learn to assign roles, define accountability and learn to be the boss and not behave like an employee.
3. He attends startups events to network, increase his acumen and gain market insight.
As an entrepreneur he has to practice brinkmanship. For example, when he goes into a meeting with a customer, he has to be fully prepared, not just about his offering but those of competitors, market dynamics, regulatory framework, etc. Neither his customer nor his team can catch him floundering. He cannot afford to sound like an employee, being caught, wanting in facts, insights and market forces.
4. He is the decision maker and the buck stops with him.
An Indian businessman once said that democratic leadership is not about doing what everybody wants you to do; it is taking everyone’s inputs and doing what you feel is right. That confidence comes from being fully tuned to market dynamics. His mindset is of an employee if he doesn’t have the courage of his conviction.
A telling case in point is of Nokia that developed a smart phone years before Samsung did. Whilst the product development team was fully on board, the marketing team dismissed it on two grounds: one, that the price point of Rs 10000 was way too high for the Indian customer; two, that Indians like to use a phone only for calling.
The leadership team decided to drop the product based on general consensus!
You become an entrepreneur for a reason. And that reason has to be a constant reminder why you are an entrepreneur and not an employee
The columnist is a published author, entrepreneur, business consultant, industry commentator and mentor to startups. Email: nandini@carmaconnect.in
