Adrie's Blog

Life Cycle

In my, you could call it quite lengthy by now, career, I have built several companies and employed thousands of people to work with and for me.

I have always considered employment a serious responsibility which you cannot take too lightly. People are dependent often on those jobs you give them, and not just the person themselves but others in their environment as well. With all the companies I have built, or helped build, the main characteristic was that those companies grew many times quicker then the then prevailing economic growth.

What I have experienced also, is that the growth of number of people in a company, does not have to keep the same pace as the growth of the company itself. When you start you will not add people as quickly as you expand, which can be a big problem. And the reverse is true also, that people will grow or develop faster then the company they work for - this happens more often with big, slow organisations then startups.

As you start your organisation, you will have a company without any structure. In principle every single person you employ has to be a generalist, able to tackle all manner of things. Everyone is in contact with the founder(s) whereas later, when the company starts to expand and grow, this is not the case any longer. You will have to implement a structure and formalise business processes in order to keep things moving smoothly. This is often the first stage at which some people no longer feel they fit in - newer folk join, sometimes better qualified (because you can now afford it and need it too) and maybe the company needs different skill sets, for instance as you expand abroad. The early employees may not have those skills and you will see that they slowly begin to get disgruntled and move away.

You also see that people that were extremely creative and dynamic to start with, slowly fade because they don't like it as much anymore as when the company was small and everyone knew each other.

I would strongly advocate that as an entrepreneur, a builder of companies, you have to keep an eye on your people and analyse them from time to time. A developer you hired early on who managed small projects won't be so happy or active when the IT company has over a 100 people alone and will become unhappy in the group. Or a sales person who initially only visited smaller companies, is now required to go and sit down with the management of banks, or large institutions which may not be where he feels comfortable at all. Not everyone will be able to keep up with the development the company is groing through.

I have always understood and know this, but the biggest problem I have is the choice between what I consider much needed loyalty and on the other hand, what is the best for the company and/or the individual. I have often chosen loyalty above the common good, for too long. You see almost always in those cases that the people grew quicker then their roles and responsibilities and eventually they would come to me to ask my advice as to their next step. I would tell them "Follow your dream". And often you can back this up by helping them, perhaps even help them found their own company and become a succesful entrepreneur in their own right. That's the best of all worlds as far as I am concerned.

Keep watching your employees, help them continue their development, move them to another role if necessary - it will always pay itself back. But don't hesitate to say goodbye either where necessary - there is nothing worse then a company full of disgruntled people.

As a final statement I have to say that I think that most directors/founders and entrepreneurs, stay in their seats for much too long. It is as true for them as for all their employees that there is an end to the Life Cycle of their leadership.