
To become a better leader, don't read Steve Jobs's biography - DiabloD3
https://qz.com/984174/silicon-valley-has-idolized-steve-jobs-for-decades-and-its-finally-paying-the-price/
======
cocktailpeanuts
I would tend to think reading Steve Jobs' biography is much more helpful than
reading what someone who runs a company called "Courageous Growth" tells you
to do.

By seriously, when I did my first startup I read too many "MBA type" books,
where all they talk about is "how to manage people by putting them first
always and myself last", "how be come the servant CEO than a leader", etc.
They are all valid pieces of advice, especially when your company grows large.

However when it comes to early stage startups, this is exactly the opposite of
what you should strive to be. From my experience, trying to be nice to
everyone (aka trying to be "seen as" a nice guy) is extremely counter-
productive from the company's point of view.

My point is, if you're doing an early stage startup, don't try to "become a
better leader". That's the worst and the most useless meta thing to try to do.
Instead, focus everything on getting your product to work. Really that's the
only thing you need to do. You don't need to be a "great leader". You can
become one once you get to that point. Most startups don't even reach the
point where you being a "great leader" is necessary. I see so many people
making the mistake of thinking they're doing well when all they do every day
is waste time doing meta things, like "networking" on Twitter about useless
political stuff, meeting people for coffee "to pick their brain", learning
about "how to be come a better leader", etc. They all don't mean shit. Just
make the product work.

Then decide if you want to be the lasting CEO or if you want to hire a CEO to
handle all the management. If you're not the type to manage people and get
bored doing that, just hire a good CEO, you don't have to be the greatest CEO
in the world to change the world. But if you want to try being a better
leader, then do it when you get to the point where you need to. Don't waste
time at the beginning trying to do this. This is one thing I regret the most
from my first startup.

~~~
greenyoda
_" My point is, if you're doing an early stage startup, don't try to "become a
better leader". That's the worst and the most useless meta thing to try to
do."_

If your company has any employees, you'll need to be at least a _competent_
leader, or your company will be at risk of failing (e.g., your key employees
might get fed up with random, incompetent management and quit). Being a
manager/leader is difficult, especially if all you've ever done before is
being a programmer. There are lots of things to learn, and there are many
things you don't know that you don't know. (I learned this the hard way by
being promoted from a programmer to a mid-level manager a long time ago.) So
if you're new to leadership, you may want to spend some time learning about
leadership skills before it's too late.

 _" If you're not the type to manage people and get bored doing that, just
hire a good CEO."_

You'll probably have quite a few employees (100 maybe?) before it makes sense
to hire an outside CEO (they cost a lot of money). If you can't competently
lead that size of startup, your company may not survive long enough to hire an
outside CEO.

