something for young ceos

The easiest and fastest way to nail any idea at all is to put the wrong people on your team and this is a very common mistake among most entrepreneurs. Most times the first set of people that comes to mind when we conceive a new idea is people that we know with a proven track record; that’s people who have achieved a considerable amount of success in a particular field or profession–the so called “gurus”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t look for people with outstanding records, but ask yourself this; can I manage this person or is this person the type that’s ready to work on your new project?

The point is; “When you are trying to make a move from ‘here’ to ‘there’, don’t go along with those who are already ‘there’, rather look for those who are ‘here’ and aspires to be ‘there’. This is because; those who are already ‘there’ lack the needed motivation to make the leap because they are already where you are headed. It’s like running a race and asking people ahead of you for help, you will only appear as a disturbance and that’s exactly what you are! You don’t expect the person on a race who has the finish line on the back of his mind to pause his own race and come back to drag you along (you will only slow them down and no one wants to be slowed down even you, right?)

Basically, there are two types of people that start new ventures, those with startup capital and those without (I mean startups without sufficient capital). If you happen to be in the first category, you are luckier. You have money to pay salary for your people for their contribution to the new venture, which doesn’t necessarily mean business success. But it’s more difficult for entrepreneurs in the second category and this is the situation with most entrepreneurs (lack of startup capital) which make it very difficult to find help. They can’t avoid to put the people they need on salary, they have to learn how to motivate and inspire their people to get the new venture off the ground, if they are able to find any at all.

Wherever you might find yourself in the above mentioned categories, the most important thing you must consider whenever you are looking for new people to join your team are ‘Attitude’ and ‘Self-discipline’ nothing else is as important. Yes! Not skills, not even qualifications.

One of the Nigeria most successful entrepreneurs of our age and a mentor, Tajuddeen Adepetu, Founder and CEO, Consolidated Media Associates, initiator of Soundcity Music Channel, Soundcity Blast Magazine, SpiceTV and a host of others, wrote this line on his office door back then, I don’t know if it’s still there, it’s reads “When I was starting out , I look for people who love to win and when I can’t find, I look for those who hate to lose” and it’s Herb Kelleher, Former Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines in the US (one of the most successful airlines in America history), who said “It’s difficult to change someone’s attitude-so hire for attitude and train for skill”. What all this means is it’s not about people past record, skills or qualifications that matter when you are look for new employees, it’s their attitude, values and self-confidence.

Any employee with right attitude and who’s self-disciplined will deliver his/her duty diligently with or without you necessarily being present or put in any effort at all because he/she will run the business as if it’s his/her own. Richard Branson Founder, Virgin Group, in his own words said “A self-disciplined employee will have the patience to conduct routine business routinely, the talent to respond exceptionally to exceptional circumstances and the wisdom to know the difference between the two”.

In conclusion, if you are just starting out or when next you need to employ, look for the ‘gurus’ of tomorrow, invest in them, believe in them and give them freedom to use their initiative. It’s cheaper and the best for your business to easily get up and running. Whenever you find good people who believe in your dream, the dream is realized already. They will bring new ideas that will help the business survive everyday problems that are associated with startups because in today’s business world creativity and innovation is what drive any successful business. And you can always count on their loyalty but be warned! Make sure you reward them very well for all their effort when you finally ‘blow’ and as your company grow.. Never let them down because if you do your business is already dead.


Please do share with me your experience on this. Thank you.

Have a great time entrepreneuring for the rest of the week!

-young ceos network