One of the traits I've observed in successful founders - but never in unsuccessful founders - is their willingness to be the reason the company succeeds or fails. What do I mean?
I first heard a reference to willingness to be the reason for failure from Ohio State football and NFL player Chris Spielman. Several years ago, when LeBron was in his first stint with the Cavaliers and they were struggling in the playoffs, Chris took to the local sports radio show to share that didn't LeBron was ready to be the reason the team won or lost.
If you want to be a successful leader of anything of significance, you must be willing to be the reason for success or failure. You must take on the vast responsibility of guiding the vision, team, and product towards risks, against competitors, and along trends that may crush your company.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Yes, a founder has to rely on other people: his or her team, the circle of advisors, the vendors to the business, and even investors, for example. But founders get to pick these people -- so founders have ultimate responsibility for all the moving pieces involved in the company, their effectiveness, and many of the values that guide their actions.
Founders who see this create an environment and team that guarantees success by shaping the world to reflect the ambitions of the business. Those who do not realize it, however, will fail -- until that is, they make this shift to understanding and believing they have accountability and responsibility for everything. It's not an easy belief to hold, but the great heavy responsibility comes with a profound power.
What does it look like when a founder is NOT being the reason?
Look for decisions made thoughtlessly, often by those who simply do not know the business of the hapless founder.
In a recent conversation, an entrepreneur mentioned his attorney suggested the pricing of the founder's product. What!? Based on the founder’s lack of ownership of this key issue, it's clear he's not ready to be the reason.
In another conversation, a founder shared that a potential investor - rather than an actual customer or user - suggested that he take the product in a different direction, allegedly "to be more appealing to more customers." What happened next? The founder made the change at great cost of time and money, and customers revolted.
Also look for a carelessness about data, validation, and clarity of direction. Asking this same founder if, first, believed in and agreed with the investor's product direction and, second, validated the suggestion with any customers -- he answered no to both counts. This is another founder not ready to be the reason and take accountability for the risks of his business.
Don't Wear All the Hats, But Know Each of Them
This doesn’t mean a founder has to be great everything -- no one is and no one can be. It does, however, mean that the best founder must deeply understand the key factors of his or her business. She must be able to build a great product, understand the capital inflows and outflows, build and inspire her team, connect to her customers, and sell the vision of the business.
It is a daunting situation to be the reason for everything that happens with your company.
The founders that get this are often viewed as egotistical, arrogant jerks by people outside the company -- and that’s okay. In most cases the outsiders have not chosen a path where they have to be the reason for their company’s success, let alone maybe even their own personal success.
A founder still has to have the skill to lead and manage the company effectively. The willingness to be the reason for success or failure isn’t enough to overcome a lack of skill and effective execution -- but, similarly, skill isn’t enough, either.
So what does it look like when a founder has embraced being the reason?
A founder who is an engineer who has historically had a disdain for marketing digs in to understand and make key decisions about the companies marketing strategy and tactics. She didn’t leave it to the marketing firm they had been introduced to by the accelerator the company is part of. She knows that everything -- even things she doesn’t enjoy doing -- are her responsibility. She has embraced being the reason. She has the chance to be a great founder and to build a great company.
Speaking at TED, Angela Lee Duckworth gives us a glance at the trait that may separate the founders that become the reason versus ones who don't: grit. In fact, this may be one of the reasons immigrants or founders from less than privileged childhoods often see greater levels of success: they are used to being responsible. They may have become the reason their siblings got to school on time, did their homework, and in even more challenging cases, had food and shelter. For those for whom being the reason has been a must versus an option, being the reason as an entrepreneur is a natural perspective.
Great founders take advice, learn from others, and lean on others as needed -- but for the sake of themselves, their vision, and their team, they don’t give up responsibility and accountability for their success to anyone else. You are the reason.