Vision, Meet Reality: Navigating Mission-Driven Growth
By Andrea Carter
A somber truth most founders eventually face is that as your startup grows, the dilution of your vision in one way or another is almost inevitable. Growth-stage stakeholders such as new investors, partners, and team members, while often adding immense value, can also offer perspectives and insist upon changes that jeopardize your original aspirations for your company and its impact.
As a founder, it’s likely that any threat to your ideals or hint of compromising your mission will trigger a protective instinct. After all, your vision is what fueled you to launch your startup in the first place. However, there comes a phase of business growth during which holding steadfast to an idealistic vision begins to conflict with operational considerations, stakeholder interests, and market truths. It, counterintuitively, becomes a barrier to progress.
On the other hand, without vision, you can’t infuse your team, your investors, or even yourself with the inspiration and dedication necessary to weather the trials and tribulations of growth.
So, the question becomes: how do you, as a founder, perpetually balance the integrity of your vision with the other factors (and stakeholders) at play? And, when these clash, how do you, as a leader, effectively conduct the conversations necessary to forge ahead without losing sight of your driving philosophy?
Let’s break it down.
Emotional Intelligence and Vision
It may be a tough pill to swallow, but just as your startup’s internal operations, branding, and marketing strategy must evolve over time to enable growth, so too must your vision. Whether this evolution is healthy, controlled, and moves in a positive and agreeable direction hinges entirely on your ability to effectively manage it.
Perhaps surprisingly, this management begins within yourself. Far too many startups have crumbled due to an explosion of emotional turbulence between co-founders, investors, and team members when the vision is challenged. Fear, anger, and even resentment may rear their ugly heads.
A word of advice: don’t be a victim to these emotions, nor the emotions of other stakeholders. Dig deeper into the emotional reactions to understand the underlying motivations and truths. These insights, whether internal or drawn from the behaviors of others, are tools you can use to manage the situation with tact and sophistication. Wait to respond to high-tension conversations, if possible, until you feel fully equipped and grounded.
Next, take a step back. Just as an experiment, take off the myopic lens we often wear when idealizing our vision. Ask yourself the following:
What aspects of my vision are must-haves?
What’s nice to have?
Which elements could be set aside for later fulfillment?
What else could be true based on what I’m hearing and gathering from others?
Solidifying this list will empower you to enter stakeholder discussions with objective goals, a secure demeanor, reliability, and the ability to negotiate if necessary.
Then, take the time to listen more. Schedule a strategy session, a retreat, a workshop—whatever you think will be the most conducive format to have clear air and reunite participants around shared goals and beliefs. Privately, put in the effort to map out each stakeholder’s desires, communication style, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. This individual analysis won’t be a static document, but one you’ll need to continually update over time in order to lead your team as a cohesive unit. What excites each person? What motivates them? What do they do best? What are their concerns?
If you find that certain stakeholders, given the chance in a 1-on-1 conversation, share no commonalities aligned to your vision, there is a possibility certain individuals may just no longer be the right fit—and that’s okay! Take that into consideration in a shorter-term plan, but in the longer-term, know when to sever ties. It’s not at all uncommon that the people with whom you start your company aren’t the ones that get you where you need to go.
Vision and Vulnerability
Speaking up for your vision can sometimes feel like exposing a vulnerability. Keep in mind that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness. However, the raw emotion that arises when we defend our ideals can just as easily inspire as it can shake the confidence of your stakeholders. So, you must hone your capacity for leveraging your strongest emotions as an asset, rather than allowing them to take over. This takes practice—but it’s worthwhile work for any passionate leader to undertake.
When the time comes to defend your vision to a board or investor, it helps immensely to have hired team management or consultants who have a clear understanding and have helped define your original vision, and possess the confidence, communication skills, and influence to effectively champion your cause. You wouldn’t have been able to raise funds or inspire early employees if you didn’t have a serious set of leadership and communication abilities, but that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. It never hurts to have an ally in your corner when the chips are down or a team that surrounds you when approaching new territory.
When I engage with founders, I often share the same insight: your story is YOURS to tell. Your story makes you unique, compelling, and gives you the power to inspire others. If you don’t tell it, someone else will—and then it’s out of your control. While it’s crucial to be open to new possibilities and perspectives from your team, it’s your responsibility to define the narrative of your own life and the story of your business—past, present, and future. This requires both vulnerability and discretion.
Operations vs. Vision
Sometimes, despite your best efforts and a collective commitment to the vision, it’s the operational aspects that force you to compromise. As startups enter a period of rapid growth, everything about the business is pressure-tested by the market—the brand, the offer, the finances, the team, and ultimately the vision. These market pressures often compel companies to re-evaluate their vision, organizational structure, operational costs, pricing, and many other elements. Plus, no one can deny the reality and impact of recent economic headwinds and emerging risks that can harm your bottom line.
Most successful companies will face these challenges at one time or another. In these moments, it’s crucial to remember that your vision and your operations are of equal importance. Without effective and efficient functional operations, it’s impossible to effectively serve your customers and therefore fulfill your vision and mission.
Well-run operations can look different from one company to the next, but there are a few general rules you can follow to maintain a strong outlook. Essential monitoring and maintenance, like regularly analyzing and assessing your balance sheet and income statement to keep an eye out for potential improvements to your processes and controls, helps ensure that you’re optimizing your organization at every opportunity. You never know when an insight might arise that can further propel your vision!
If this balance of operations and vision becomes tough to strike or if timing and cost considerations arise that challenge your commitments and values, consider inviting an operational consultant to square away any emotions in the boardroom, extract the facts, perform an assessment, and revisit the core truths that will help progress your business toward its goals.
Knowing When to Let Go or Hold On Tight
How will you know when you’ve held too steadfast to your vision, to the detriment of your company? Well, for starters, you’ll likely see the consequences in your bottom line with decreased sales as your customer loses faith in your business. Loss of anchor clients, impact investors, key employees, and board confidence are all indicators of potentially holding on to your vision too rigidly. You also may find yourself taking feedback too personally or being resistant to even small changes. If so, it may be time to loosen the reins slightly to avoid changes in attitude or motivation of management, or even potentially receiving feedback from investors pointing to a lack of confidence in your ability to lead objectively.
On the other hand, in the high-friction environment of rapid growth, you may experience that your initial attachment to your vision has drifted in favor of catering to the desires of every stakeholder, but at the expense of inspiring your supporters and motivating yourself. If you’re starting to feel that the direction of your company is increasingly out of your control, or that your voice has become absent in the most important conversations, it’s a sign to reclaim your passion for your vision and hold fast.
As the figurehead of your company, the market, your investors, and your team are looking to you as a source of confidence. If you have to ruffle a few feathers to maintain that stature, then so be it. You can take the first step back into your power by remembering the importance of your role and recognizing opportunities to further amplify your vision.
Steady and Onward
Rapid growth is a deeply challenging, operationally complex, and emotionally-demanding phase of startup development. Equipped with the tools explored in this article, you’ll be well ahead of the average founder as you contend with the twists and turns of the mid-stage cycle. The question remains: are you leading with vision, or is your vision leading you?
Struggling to level your vision with your operations? Looking for more EQ tools to effectively lead your startup? Reach out to me at cartergrowthllc@gmail.com
Every company is unique. If you have a specific situation that isn’t addressed in this article, I’d be happy to meet with you for a virtual coffee chat and to learn more about your vision. Reach out to me at cartergrowthllc@gmail.com