Ambitious founders - mental struggle

As a leader, founder, CEO, it's vital to have both the capacity and self awareness when knowing how to show up. That sentence is a mouthful in itself, it's packed full of syllables, its punchy and it gets to the point fast. Similar to how founders navigate their everydays. Talking alot, getting to the point as quickly as possible, and often handing out a few gut punches.

In a typical workplace, it can be hard enough to be open and honest around your mental health, let alone when leading a fully remote team and having to gauge every individual through the slight off tone in a Slack message or through their appearance over Zoom. But whilst understanding your team, an often forgotten element is understanding yourself.

As a CEO & Founder, it can be hard to take a step back and let go of the reigns a little, but unfortunately like all humans, we are not superheroes, and at some point along the line our bodies will in fact tell us when to sit down and how hard to sit.

Startups foster a dynamic, high-performance culture, we're constantly shifting, inventing, investing and expanding, therefore some weeks your Google Cal looks like a tetras game, and other weeks it looks like heaven wrapped up in Zoom call format. Now, this is all part of the joy of running and working within a startup, but I want to give a little insight into my brain and functioning as what I like to call an Ambitious Founder.

Ambitious Founder; The what, why & how

ambitious

/am?b???s/

adjective

1. having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.
2. "a ruthlessly ambitious workaholic"
3. (of a plan or piece of work) intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve.
4. "an ambitious enterprise"

Similar words?

• aspiring
• determined
• forceful
• pushy
• enterprising
• pioneering
• difficult
• demanding

A mixed bag of words with both socially positive and socially negative connotations, the switch from aspiring to pushy is definitely not linear, and yet here I am judging myself and questioning whether or not I can come across as these negative definitions...

Many can associate ambition with sacrifice.

I can understand that, as to achieve a particular goal or outcome, especially within business, it can often mean; hard work, effort, a little sacrifice here and there and often putting on the blinkers to ensure no distractions.

I've seen it within my family, living amongst a fully-fledged entrepreneurial unit, who have been showing up in full force since I can remember. The days of playing with Barbies never seemed to actualise, as playing 'business' was something I longed for. In a recent podcast, I spoke about how I threw myself into academics, allowing an identity to form as the 'brainy one', as I didn't necessarily have the 'body' or the 'popularity'.

However, over the years as I became more comfortable in my own skin and my self-belief was once again accounted for, I never really let the academic identity leave, I just shifted the focus from grades to securing clients and running a business that aims to create an impact, making moves amongst the personal branding space.

I know for many reading this they may resonate when I say that the online space can often be the demise and progression for your own brand, standing in the middle of comparison and knowing that if you don't continue to move forwards you'll only fall behind.

But something that has come up for me recently is;

Although I classify myself as an Ambitious Founder, will my team and business move at the same speed I am trying to progress with?

Ambitious Founders & Team Work

It's fair to say that your support network is key for your own personal growth, and that's not just friends and family, but those you hire to stand beside you to ensure the smooth running of your business when you may need to take a step away.

I hold my hands up when I say that I am fast-moving, I bring solutions never problems, and I may have a few perfectionist tendencies hiding in here somewhere, and although all positive associations it can also hinder me when my ambition leads me to a place that I haven't quite reached yet.

A client recently told me that there is a distinct difference between willpower and resilience. Willpower can be associated with ambition and can, like many things in excess, lead to a shut down of yourself - chasing an identity that may no longer serve you, or setting goals so outlandish that when you don't achieve them, you punish yourself to the max.

This is where our willpower must be switched out to utilise resilience, the ability to turn inwards and assess ourselves before working on things around us.

Asking where we feel resistance, knowing where to let go and how to, learning the best ways to move forward without guilt.

It's all a process.

To be a successful CEO you have to understand where you need to 'let go' and allow someone else to lead. A while back I wrote about why hiring bright is key for the success of your business, and still to this day I swear by it. How are you ever going to create a three-dimensional business when you, as a founder, are still playing in all areas of the business?

This is where teamwork comes in, hiring in those who flow in the areas you don't necessarily like to touch. Of course, knowing the inner workings of your business is ideal, but do you need to know every single element of social media or design concepts when you have experts to do that for you?

It's not something that can come naturally as a startup, the knowing of when to let go a little, especially when it's your baby that's in the mix, but to allow and maximise growth it's a must.

An ambitious leader can struggle with these elements, and I hold my hands up to say that I have too, I've wanted to know every single tiny detail but at the same time, I've wanted to business to move as quickly as my mind does. But with every individual working to their own strengths, who am I to turn all team members into miniature versions of me? It's not accessible, actionable or even okay.

You and your team's main goals are to ensure a thriving work environment, whilst growing the business internally and externally at a pace that works.

Why Vulnerability is Key as an Ambitious Leader

To grow as an individual you need vulnerability.

To grow as a business you need vulnerability.

Showing up as your true self is scary shit.

Whether showing up for yourself, showing up for your team, or showing up online. It is scary. I know.

But to gain the trust of your employees and potential clients, you have to own the ability of showing up as your vulnerable self. It allows those around you to feel safe to do so, and it builds trust between you and your potential clients.

Our brands are not just the colours we see, our brand is what others say about us, what others whisper, how our employees show up, what our employees produce, what WE produce.

It's not a solo race, it's a team relay with the celebrations at the end of it.

We all have ambition within us, it's learning how to deal with it in the most productive manner.

Vulnerability.

Mental health days.

Time off.

Conversations.

THERAPY.

Therapy is cool by the way.

How are we meant to create impact in the world if we are not allowing the space for our own internal growth and development?

We are all searching for more time and whilst our ambition drives us to 'create' time, we can sometimes lose sight of how to really gain it back.

Check in with yourself, your team and your clients.

Hire out. Invest in. Take time for you.

If you believe in what you have created enough, the business will not crumble overnight, but if you are too hyper focussed on achieving and pushing yourself to next level extremes, you will be the one that crumbles.