This week I am in Sheridan, Wyoming attending the WYO Brewers Summit.
So happy that we are meeting in person again.
I was invited to speak at the two day conference and my talk is polished, ready to offend everyone in the room at least once. My wife reminds me all the time that my delivery is as soft and fluffy as broken glass. And our kids, their vocabulary, NSFW.
Maybe there is a common thread here?
Hehe, no one in the room will be offended. Anytime I talk I seek to share the truth and this leads to over excitement and abnormal voice projection.
If you had to take a guess, what do you think I am speaking about?
Margins, Earnings, Benchmarks, Journal Entries, Numbers.
This is what the people expect but, guess what.
The brewers of Wyoming are not getting numbers this week. If you came to learn that the debits go on the right and the credits go on the left, you are shit out of luck pal.
This week I will be speaking about impactful leadership.
More specifically, how does an entrepreneur move from the 1.0 version of themselves to the 3.0 version.
Like my high-tech flow chart?
All entrepreneurs begin at V 1.0 of themselves. Individual contributors to all aspects of their business. They can execute everything, if need be, and most do this in the early stages of the business. Executing every aspect of your business is important for the future. V 1.0 is all about the grind. I do not want to pay homage to the grind as Gary V would. It is what it is. The work must get done and you are the only one there to do it.
Then at some point the work gets to be too much and a team is developed. This is V 2.0 of the entrepreneur’s journey, the team player. This stage is critical for a couple of reasons:
- Trust your process – Do you have the SOP In place to bestow your wisdom to a team so they can execute to your standards. This is necessary when you build a team.
- Trust your team – You have far more people in the building now than when you started. V 2.0 requires that you trust your people.
- Solidify your culture – I am fascinated by the word culture. How elusive it is. How some companies define culture by a ping pong table. WTF? Culture is intentional. Are you urging your team to drive fast, within guardrails, so they can crash and learn. Or are you over-correcting and micromanaging because your way is the only way?
Most entrepreneurs stop at V 2.0.
The team is firing, sales are firing, the owner can float in and out of what they want to do. Sprinkle in some marketing and boom, we have a company!
This is fine for most. But what about the owners out there who want to impact their team, impact their community, impact their industry. Can we ascend higher?
Enter, stage left, spotlight, V 3.0 – Leadership.
Can you feel my energy?
This is a new level of leadership that has nothing to do with making beer.
Entrepreneurs who achieve V 3.0 status have completely removed their dependence from the business. They have the team, the culture, and the foundation to push the business to new boundaries.
Does this sound vague?
Good, it is supposed to because there are no boundaries as a V 3.0 leader. Think as big as you can on ways to impact your team, community and industry.
In my talk, I share four examples of brewery owners who are embarking on V 3.0.
It’s pretty cool.
We may release some of the audio over the next few weeks.
Or better yet, reply and let me know when your state guild conference is happening, and I will submit the topic.
See you next Friday.
-cf