Here's how you can foster a positive company culture through your leadership style.

Starting a company is so hard. You lack resources, have no right to win, don't have enough people, and definitely not enough time. But you have one thing in abundance: Emotional will-power. The spirit of a start-up can take over the world and that starts at the top. A CEO with positive energy who is there for employees and customers sets the tone. Somehow, if you do right by your customer and do right by each other....you make millions.

Take the time to listen to your employees actively. Try to understand your employees as individuals. Each employee has a different background which is driving their behaviors. Emotions are important. Why are they happy or frustrated? Pay attention, and acknowledge their emotion. Provide support...mentorship, and coaching, to help your employees grow. Celebrate success, don't just take it for granted as part of their job. Encourage open and honest conversations. Encourage a work/life balance and continuous learning. Don't use the word failure. It is all about learning.

It all starts at the top and trickles down. The Foundation in business is inverted and Top Down. Also build your top strong and then expand from there. Business is a “Stars” driven endeavor. It’s the Top People who star in the company that move the needle. It’s always better to have less people but all Stars than just a handful of “average” individuals that don’t move the needle.

To empower others is an art! Learning what, when and to whom we delegate, and then having the self restraint to let employees execute, without getting involved, but being there in case we are needed. Mistakes will be made, but that is part of the process of having others grow. Experience will help you develop that sixth sense of what mistakes can be allowed, so you hold back, and when you have to intervene to avoid a bad mistake. Empower: Just do it!

When employees feel genuinely trusted and valued, they’re much more likely to take the initiative. It’s not just about getting their work done; it’s about coming up with creative ways to tackle challenges and finding innovative solutions. This kind of environment encourages everyone to think outside the box and take smart risks, knowing their efforts and ideas are appreciated.

I wish the narrative had highlighted the word *autonomy*. It is such an important part to 'Empower Others'. Give someone autonomy over a problem statement vs empowering them to own a directed solution creates two different experiences.

Great individuals can make a GOOD company, but only a great team can make a GREAT company. Empowering people to become their best selves, to learn to grow, to take risks and sometimes fail ,and learn to work effectively with their teammates is the core of a great culture.

One thing I’ve found helpful is to empower others to be their best. Ask employees about their dreams and goals and help them get there. Enable them to be their best, allowing them to make decisions and contribute their unique perspectives.

My personal communication style is I'm quite straight-forward. I don't beat around the bush nor p*ssyfoot around issues. I've realized throughout the last 20 years of my career that it saves a lot of time as your team doesn't need to second-guess you. But being straightforward must come hand in hand with the "art" of articulating it well. And it truly is an art that one will need to continuously fine-tune as one progresses in his career. Now, communication is like the Shibuya crosswalk in Tokyo. It's not one way. If you have a culture where your managers are not afraid to tell you when they think you're wrong, then that is a fantastic culture. That's the culture that will foster the best ideas.

Transparency is one of my key traits and I have always received positive feedback about it. No matter how difficult the topic is, make yourself vulnerable and communicate openly.

Open communication is the cornerstone of any positive company culture. Based on my years of experience: ? Be approachable to ensure your team feels comfortable sharing ideas and concerns. ? Provide regular, clear, and constructive feedback to help your team improve and feel supported. ? Foster an environment where communication flows freely. ? Build trust and a sense of community among employees by encouraging open dialogue. By implementing these practices, you drive the success of your organization.

Open communication can only be achieved with three elements: (1) trust, (2) transparency, and (3) inclusivity. First, your team must trust that it is safe to share new or divergent ideas and that they will not be criticized for having a particular point of view. Second, there must be transparency in decisions that are made (both tops down and bottoms up), which facilitates the flow of information between reporting layers. And, lastly, everyone needs to be included in this communication; it cannot be communication just between a leader and one or two direct reports, but rather that the whole team feels empowered to be a part of the conversation.

Being transparent and sharing information, to the extent possible, is a great way to get your team to collaborate as they too will share and seek information in an open way… and before you know it, your team will be collaborating in a natural way, without forced processes or unfitting rules. Also, pointing people in the direction of the person on the team that has the best information to answer a question, will avoid the organization from becoming radial, with all requests going to the person at the top.

Encourage collaboration by being collaborative yourself. Lead teams into collaboration and be willing to work through barriers that may arise as collaboration proceeds. Take an active role in encouraging your coworkers to work together. Collaboration is one of the greatest purposes and strengths of an organization. When an company is run by people who truly work together, that company has the power to accomplish its mission.

Fostering a positive company culture through your leadership style involves encouraging collaboration. Create opportunities for team members to work together, share ideas, and contribute collectively to projects and goals. Emphasize the value of teamwork and communication, fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and motivated. By promoting collaboration, you build trust among team members, enhance creativity, and strengthen bonds within the company. This approach cultivates a positive company culture where innovation thrives and employees feel empowered to contribute their best work.

In my experience, collaboration is the most important aspect leading to successful outcomes. All stakeholders in the process must feel involved and important for everything to come together. Constantly encourage people to voice their thoughts on a particular task or process, ask them how they would do it, and encourage people to work on things together so that there is shared learning. This also ensures that individuals understand each other, forming a more cohesive bond amongst them.

Teams are needed everywhere in our connected and multitiered globalized world. The lone wolf times are long gone and replaced by collaboration, strong and dynamic teams with quick response times, greater availability, better work life balance and ultimately less ressources spent on the project or task. Management of teams is a crucial skill and at least for now safe for humans and not to be easily replaced by AI.

Recognizing achievement is crucial for motivating team members, boosting morale, and fostering a positive work environment. I am a big fan of organizing team lunches, dinners, or outings to celebrate achievements. Create an environment where the team can relax and enjoy their success together. I also think people feel rewarded differently, so perhaps ask or always give three choices and allow people to choose which one they would like. I've also put ten things in a bowl and had them choose two.

Help others to find their own way. Give them the benefit of your experience. Teach and guide them, of course. But it’s important to create situations so they can accomplish for themselves. Then, they will take ownership, feel actualized, and shine.

Recognizing employees achievements in my opinion it’s not enough, you should celebrate such achievements. A celebration is a powerful way to boost morale, motivation, and productivity in the workplace. This reinforces positive behaviors and fosters a culture not only of recognition but of appreciation and celebration. When employees are celebrated for their achievements, they’re more likely to be committed to the organization and motivated to achieve business success. HR teams play a critical role in developing and implementing programs that celebrates those achievements. HR teams can help leaders and managers understand the importance of celebrating employee achievements, because that will unlock their full potential.

At Accenture, we had a very unique internal recognition tool that allowed employees to give compliments, kudos and recognitions for hard work and achievements very easily and openly. In only a few clicks, you could send your colleague a custom or template-based virtual card that recognized his achievement ?? The recognitions could be public to all on your profile or private - but really encouraged all of us to take the time to recognize our peer vs stay individualist in our wins. I found that process a great way to encourage employees to take a time to value each other. ????

Invest in yourself. Grow yourself, grow your company. Top entrepreneurs invest in themselves, knowing that this will have a great impact on their company. Lead by example.

I'll broaden this topic so it's more about continuous learning throughout our startup's journey. Two questions I like to pose to the team on a regular basis: 1. If there's been a major technological change (e.g. low cost GenAI), then we ask -- what would we have done differently if this technology existed when we started this product? 2. If we've just met with a potential customer, we ask -- what did we just learn from them and what are the opportunities? That doesn't mean we act on them, but everyone's expected to note something. More often than not, there's something we can do immediately. String together 50-100 of these small tweaks and we will be a lot closer to achieving product market fit.

Leading a growing company is like surfing a wave—if you stay rigid, you’re going to wipe out. Be ready to adapt your leadership style as the company evolves. Sticking to a static approach? That’s like bringing a spoon to a knife fight. Stay in tune with your team’s needs and the ever-changing workplace dynamics. Be willing to pivot, tweak, and adjust your approach. Flexibility isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s your secret weapon to keep innovation and engagement alive. Keep your company culture as fresh as your playlist, and you’ll ride those waves straight to success.

You want a team of leaders that embrace a shared vision and set of values to drive commercial success. Vision and value are the foundation. Leaders need to help the team embrace the collective vision for a future which is believable, aspirational and motivational. Actions need to be tightly integrated with the vision to get people to commit and engage. Otherwise, people recognize that the vision is just a fantasy and they are not vested in it because they realize it's not real. Leaders are the tuning fork to ensure the team is properly tuned to play together. Resilience and adaptability are core values that need to be in the DNA of every organization.

You have to create an environment where your team are emotionally and psychologically safe. You need to embrace the difference in people and their views. And finally you need to empower them

Be bold, authentic and driven by a purpose that genuinely seeks to make things better - culturally, economically, environmentally and socially. No-one ever made history by honouring the status quo. No-one ever got inspired by doing what everyone else had always done. Oh and be a lifelong learner. Anyone who tells you they don't need to learn something is a fraud.

Align them with the mission of the company, why is it important, innovative and what impact it will have on the world. Instill in them why their work is important for the company and its mission.

Stop micro-managing people and let them excel at what they are best at. You don’t always have to be the smartest person in the room, and finally stop telling every customer that you’re the only person at the company who makes all the decisions.