Have you ever met a Founder who wasn’t predisposed to “action orientation?” The Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile (EMP) developed by Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida defines this as “a tendency to show initiative, make decisions quickly, and feel impatient for results.” Ha! Impatient? I’m a Founder CEO and NOTHING ever happens as fast as I want it to (Can you relate?). In fact, I have now interviewed over 50 Founder & CEOs on the “From Founder To CEO” podcast and in interview after interview they talk about the challenges they face when trying to tear themselves away from their drug of choice – fast and fulfilling tasks.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at some of the “blind spot” answers from my Founder & CEOs on the podcast:

• “…my desire to do almost every task…but, it’s not a scalable way of doing things…” Patrick Ambon, BrandYourself
• “…I’m the type of person that likes to take on as much as possible and I have a hard time saying no to things…” Nick Andrews, ReviTrage
• “…it’s trusting other people to do the job as well as we feel we can do it as a management team…we have to hire people…I’m a very friendly, outgoing nice person…have to prioritize certain things…you can’t do everything… ” Justin Fenchel, BeatBox Beverages
• “You have to stop doing everything yourself…and you have to really let go and let other people do it…lead them to want to do it with the same motivation that you have yourself…” Lynn Elfers, Affordable Language Services

All of the Founding CEOs above are fantastically successful and don’t let their predisposition for “action orientation,” override their good judgment on tasks. Continue reading →