Life these days

Since I am in the mist of a busy week in the US, with little time to seat for a long and reflective blog, I thought I would dimply write about two of the project. I am working on here, is, tell my own story a bit.

Most of my work time this week has gone to two interesting projects: (1) participating in the Venture Leaders program at swissnex, the Swiss consulate in Boston, and (2) preparing lectures for my upcoming visit to Ecuador, where I will be conducting leadership seminars for Harvard Business Review’s “High Potentials Program” in Quito and Guayaquil on June 22-23.

The Venture Leaders program is a joint initiative of the Swiss consulate and Venture Lab, which is part of the Commission for Technology and Innovation.  I have seen studies lately that have named Switzerland as the world’s most entrepreneurial country, and the 20 entrepreneurs who have come to Boston for the two-week program are a testimony to Swiss innovation.  You can get an idea of who they are here. I find some of the ideas and technologies truly amazing, everything from managing our contacts on all our devices to new paradigms for voice recognition to a new way of dealing with dental cavities without drilling (wouldn’t that be great!).

On Wednesday, I ran a session on “storytelling for entrepreneurs”, one of my favorite topics.  As always, I rediscovered the relevance of storytelling, as the participants commented that they should indeed make their “pitches” more story-based in order to reach their listeners on an emotional level.

Then on Thursday, we talked about why entrepreneurs have such a difficult time learning to lead as their companies grow.  In fact, the skills that lead to successful entrepreneurship are often in direct conflict with those that make a leader effective.  For example, entrepreneurs are effective at the outset because they are steadfast and self-reliant in the early stages of a start-up.  As the company achieves some success, the entrepreneur/leader must learn to delegate, trust in others and foster teamwork.  Such transitions are often difficult for the entrepreneur, who is the one who understands how best to do things, and who is accustomed to being the “lone ranger who makes many decisions in isolation.

Anyway, all of this merits a longer, more thorough discussion, which I will certainly write here one day.