Sunday, 16 April 2017

Why StartUps Have More Focus and Drive Than Their Competitors

If you have ever Google’d leadership or looked it up on YouTube, then there’s a fair chance that you will have come across the concept of the ‘Golden Circle’. This is essentially a theory that suggests the most effective leaders are the ones that really believe in what they’re doing. They know why they’re doing what they’re doing and this helps them to be that much more committed and enthusiastic – things that will come across to their audience.

But this concept can be applied more broadly than just in the boardroom. That’s because the question of ‘why’ is also something that can motivate an entire team – and it ties in nicely with separate research being carried out into the startup culture and why it is so successful.

What Startup Culture Has to Do With Why

If you look at Silicone Valley, then it might appear that something very unique is happening here. That is, that countless new businesses are being born every day and many of them are shifting paradigms and changing the way we interact with technology. What’s going on?

There are lots of theories but one argument is that startups experience more ‘flow’ than other businesses and that this is what makes them more effective.

What is Flow?

Flow – or ‘flow states’ – describe a particular state of mind in which an individual is incredibly focussed and alert – so much so that they actually lose track of everything else going on around them – even the passage of time!

This in turn leads to a situation where they are able to react faster, to make better decisions and to completely involve themselves with the matter in hand. In neuroscience the state is called ‘temporohypofrontality’ and it is in some ways similar to a fight or flight response.

So when does this happen? Simple: when we are completely committed to what we are doing. When we believe in it 100% and we love it. That means we think something is incredibly important but not life threatening.

This is what happens when a startup truly believes in what it is doing.

And this is why startups change the world while old, stuffy businesses stay stagnant.

If you want to become a great leader and you want to inspire your team, you need to sell them on the vision of what you’re doing. You need to make them excited and you need to explain why it matters.