You’re holding your (drum) sticks backwards
In his new memoir, The Storyteller, Dave Grohl shares that very early in his music career during the 80s, each Sunday he and his mother attended a jazz workshop at a local venue called One Step Down, in Washington D.C. Dave tells of how he had his first, and only, structured music lesson by a jazz great, Lenny Robinson. Trying to impress, Dave gave his all in what he called "cacophonous minutes of disastrous soloing… in its raw, rhythm less glory.” Aware of this, and even more embarrassingly, Lenny’s response was "first of all, you're holding your sticks backwards."
While Dave had natural talent as a drummer, he had been winging it. He learned his craft through listening to tapes of his favourite musicians and replicating what he heard by drumming his pillow. Once he understood some basic techniques, his drumming capability shifted.
Founding a startup feels a bit like setting up a garage band – all your mates are keen to be involved, you need to find the money to buy some instruments and equipment, and you’ve landed your first gig, but you have no idea what you’re doing, really.
As your business grows, you become the band manager. You introduce some basic structures, core principles and guidelines, but with the freedom to be flexible and still improvise – more like jazz.
The next growth stage is like an orchestra. This is typically a corporate environment, led by a conductor, where structures have been established, policies and procedures are in place, and everyone knows exactly what their role is and what’s expected of them.
From Garage Band to Jazz Band
“Learning the rules of jazz, and understanding the language of music, requires a lot of hard work. According to Jazz Workshop Australia [1], these are levels that are not naturally occurring stages… Learning how to play jazz involves learning techniques, skills, concepts, applying theory, and procedures” https://jazzworkshopaustralia.com.au/
As a scaleup, you are at the stage where you have likely established product market fit, secured funding, built your tech stack, replicable systems are in place, and hierarchies are becoming apparent.
Regarding leading people and org design, you introduce some structure, and establish rules and guiding principles.
To continue the jazz band analogy:
The band needs an official manager, which could be you, or your co-founder, or both. You need to work out what that means for you. And what are your boundaries? (CEO)
You take on new band members, people you don’t already know and trust. (Grow the team)
There’s creative tension among a few of the bandmates. You bring in a new band member to deal with the ‘people stuff.’ (HR)
Your guitarist’s ‘three chord trick’ isn’t quite cutting it. You become more discerning about the talent you’re bringing in, and how they assimilate. (Recruitment & onboarding)
A few of you emerge as leading the band and making the important decisions. (Leadership team & strategy alignment)
You develop the ‘happens on tour, stays on tour’ code. (Culture)
You’re seeking more advice from band experts, helping you to build the right band, with the right talents. (Community building)
Are you holding your sticks backwards?
Someone who is clearly not making this mistake is Matt Fairhurst, CEO of @Skedulo. Interestingly, Matt recently shared that one of his first (and lucrative) gigs was in a jazz band! And there’s no question, he was destined for scaleup success!
If you want to learn how to avoid those pain points of an outgrown garage band, and learn skills and techniques, and apply the theory of how to succeed as a scaleup, I’d love to share how I can help.
#scaleups #marybutler #leadershiplessons #founderasleader
