Being a successful startup CEO: Vision, Passion, Leadership and dancing with Kangaroos

By Gary Warnecke

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need specialized knowledge in an industry or product to be a startup CEO.  You do not need a special license, a special education, or a lot of money. You don’t need resources. 

What you need is to be able to gather the special license, education, money and resources and bring them all together to bring a startup to fruition. There are three essential elements to being the CEO of a startup. They are Vision, Passion, and Leadership

-        Vision :   You have to distinguish between having a vision and having a dream.  A dream is filled with words like, Imagine if, What if, and Maybe if, and will often include unrealistically obtainable things that can only be realized in your imagination. 

A Vision is filled with words like When we, How we, and We will, and will usually include realistically obtainable things that seem unobtainable to a person who doesn’t have the vision, but through the vision you offer, comes to realize that it is totally possible and realistic. 

As the leader of a startup, Vision brings Clarity, Confidence, Leadership, and belief.  If the CEO doesn’t have vision, then listeners will hear the dream and even if only on a subconscious level, they will not take it seriously. 

Without Vision, you cannot lead.  You have to be absolutely clear that it can be done and that you intend to do it. You have to be absolutely clear that you have the steps in mind on how you are going to get there. You have to be clear enough so that you can answer any question about what you are doing without having to think about it.  Your outline is committed to memory.  You know the steps.  Your language is going to be filled with When We, We will, and How we will.

This doesn’t mean you need all the answers to any question about the future. You obviously do not have the answers. No one does. It means you have the roadmap to get to your destination. Think of it like this… 

The Dreamer)   Imagine if I were to take a trip to Australia and would go and dance with Kangaroos. Wouldn’t that be the coolest?  What if they had Kangaroo farms which were like going to Seaworld to swim with Dolphins.  Maybe we could dance with Kangaroos in the same way.  Would you like to join me?

The Visionary)  I am planning on going to Australia and I expect that I will do it in late 2018. I’m planning to go to a Kangaroo farm.  I haven’t decided which one yet, but I’ve seen many of them and I’m going to choose one by the end of this year. I found out that Kangaroos like to dance and the female Kangaroos don’t dance as good as the males.  Isn’t that cool?  I absolutely will be dancing with Kangaroos when I go.  Would you like to join me?

The dreamer is still very interesting to talk with. He/she is engaging you to have a dream with them. It’s fun. It’s neat. It can bring you a feel good reaction, but it’s not leadership. It is not inspirational.  The person with vision however is very serious, and you know it when they speak. It’s not bullshit, and you don’t need to listen very hard to get that this person is real…  they are not asking you to dream with them. They are leading and asking you… Do you really want to go to Australia to dance with Kangaroos? A leader is going to get more people who decline because to dream is fun, free, easy and momentary whereas to follow a vision is commitment, and will require action, and you have to buy in for more than the moment.  You get less people, but the people you get are the ones you are looking for.

-        Passion:   You have to distinguish between having desire and having passion. Desire is great for dreaming. It comes through in your language in a very real way that this is something that you really want.  Desire always inspires dreams but only sometimes inspires passion.  One big difference between someone who has desire or someone who has passion is that desire usually displays itself in words only. It’s a much lower bar than passion. A person who has passion always has actions that show this is much more than just simple desire.

As a leader of a startup, Passion is critical.  Not only to overcome the inevitable obstacles which will come, but also because people follow people who act with passion, not people who dream with imagination. When you have desire you can speak with passion, which should not be confused with acting with passion.

Desire)  Every day when I wake up, I think about the day that I’m going to dance with a Kangaroo. I have pictures on my bathroom mirror of dancing Kangaroos. I’m really gonna do it. It’s gonna happen.  I WILL PREVAIL !  Yeahhhhh…

Passion)  Every day when I wake up, I move the ball forward. I learn how it is that Kangaroos dance. I study. I read. I actually practice interacting with Kangaroos and I subscribe to the Aussie magazine… “Dancing with Kangaroos”.  I know this one Kangaroo named Garyroo…  He’s so cool. I have his youtube videos.  I take this stuff seriously and soon I will be there… doing my best Kangaroo Ballet.

A leader who has to two essential elements of Vision and Passion is a leader who will succeed. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.  The question of when however, largely depends on how much leadership they display.

-        Leadership:  It has been said that leadership cannot be taught. I say that the people who say that, are not clear about what it is to be a leader. It can be taught.  I would say instead, you cannot learn to be a leader or even be a leader without first developing a clear vision and a passion to a cause before you can lead in that cause.  If you don’t have vision and passion, you can’t effectively lead. If you have vision and passion, you can. Simple as that.

Once you have your vision and passion, you need to have the confidence in yourself to inspire. Just as a dog can smell fear, a human can smell weakness in confidence. It’s almost the same. If you have put yourself in the mental place where you are totally confident that your vision and your passion will bring you to the promised land, everyone with whom you speak to will come to see the same vision as you because of the confidence with which you speak.

The barriers that people usually believe exist and which you know do not exist, is what makes you the light, the vision, and the path to follow. It makes you the person to provide leadership. 

As a leader, you know that.. but they don’t. When they say…. But you don’t have the money, or you don’t have the expertise, or what experience do you have, or you don’t have the contacts, you aren’t part of the mafia, or you aren’t this or that... they are telegraphing that they don’t think they can do it and therefore they don’t think you can do it. It’s your job to show them that they can’t do it, but you ARE doing it.

A leader has the path to the answers… not the answers.  It’s a very important distinction.

A leadership discussion) 

-        The follower:  How are you going to get to Australia?  That’s nice to dream but we don’t have the money.  We don’t know anything about Kangaroos.  You don’t even know if this whole Kangaroo dance is just made up. I mean, let’s be realistic here.  You can’t even get vacation time from work.

-        The Leader:  I can tell you how.  I’m going to buy a plane ticket using frequent flyer miles, or I’m going to grab special air fare if that opportunity comes. You can also go. Listen. It’s not a question of how, it’s a question of when. I have the vision all set. I am going to Queensbury where Kangaroos do dance. It isn’t made up. I know because I’ve done the homework and I do homework every day.  I will get the vacation, or I’ll quit my job. That isn’t going to stop me, and it doesn’t have to stop you either. The only question for you to ask is if you want this. If you do, then you want to follow me, because I am doing it. It’s not just a dream.  Are you on board?

A leader is a convincing and committed person that already knows that the difference between obstacles and absolute bars.  The leader knows that obstacles are really good things because without them, everyone would already do what you are doing and it wouldn’t be an accomplishment to do it. And the leader has explored the course before starting to make sure that there are no bars.  An absolute bar would be something that prohibits you from doing it and that therefore makes vision impossible. For example…. If Kangaroos really can’t dance, and there are really not dancing Kangaroo farms, then you can’t realize the vision and all the passion in the world will not get you to something that doesn’t exist.  If this is the case, then it’s all just a dream.

I don’t know if Kangaroos can dance to be honest, but I do know that leaders Start up organizations, projects, companies, and bring ideas to reality every day. And they do it with Vision, Passion, & leadership. The only one question to ask yourself is… Will you be one of them?

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