Entrepreneurial Leadership

About the Author

Joel Peterson is the chairman of JetBlue Airways and the founding partner of Peterson Partners, a Salt Lake City-based investment management firm. He has been on the faculty at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University since 1992. With over four decades of marriage, seven children, and a diverse career that includes roles such as CFO, CEO, chairman, lead director, adjunct professor, founder, author, entrepreneur, and investor, Joel is highly sought after as a mentor and coach by leaders and aspiring leaders.

Main Idea

Entrepreneurial Leadership by Joel Peterson focuses on the unique qualities and approaches that define entrepreneurial leaders. Unlike traditional managers who maintain the status quo, entrepreneurial leaders inspire innovation, launch new ventures, and drive significant change within their organizations. Peterson outlines a path for developing these leadership skills through four core philosophies: building trust, creating a mission, securing a team, and delivering results.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Build Trust
   • Assessing Core Values
   • Rewriting Your Operating System
   • Establishing Your Personal Brand
3. Create a Mission
   • Finding Meaning
   • Setting MAD Goals
   • Building Alignment
   • Crafting a Culture
4. Secure a Team
   • Hiring Great People
   • Demonstrating Effective Attitudes
   • Helping People Improve
5. Deliver Results
   • How to Make Decisions
   • How to Communicate
   • How to Drive Change

Build Trust

Trust is the foundation of entrepreneurial leadership. It legitimizes the leader and unites the team. Peterson emphasizes the importance of assessing core values, rewriting personal operating systems, and establishing a personal brand.

Assessing Core Values: Entrepreneurial leaders must conduct a deep self-assessment to identify and reinforce values that foster trust. Peterson highlights the significance of humility, integrity, and perseverance.

"Unwavering values allow one to behave predictably, which is a requisite for building trust." - Joel Peterson

The journey towards entrepreneurial leadership begins with a thorough introspection of one's core values. Humility, as described by Jim Collins in "Good to Great," is a defining quality of successful leaders. It involves recognizing one's limitations and being open to feedback, thus fostering an environment of continuous learning and growth. Integrity, another crucial value, ensures consistency and predictability in a leader's actions, which is fundamental for building trust. Perseverance, or "intense professional will," enables leaders to persist through challenges and setbacks, inspiring confidence and trust among their team members.

Rewriting Your Operating System: Like a computer, leaders need a reliable personal operating system that translates priorities into actions. This involves continuous self-improvement and feedback.

"We become what we think about. Decide what you want to be, design your personal brand, and repair the operating system you inherited." - Joel Peterson

A leader's operating system is their set of behaviors and decision-making processes. It is shaped by their core values and is critical in guiding their actions and responses. Peterson emphasizes the need for leaders to actively refine their operating system, ensuring it aligns with their values and supports their goals. This process often involves receiving and acting on feedback from others, as well as learning from role models and mentors.

Establishing Your Personal Brand: A strong personal brand reflects a leader's core values and operating system. It is built intentionally and consistently through behavior that aligns with the brand attributes.

• Identify five people who know you well and ask them to describe you using a few adjectives.
• Reflect on their feedback and make intentional changes to align your behavior with your desired brand attributes.

In the professional realm, a leader's reputation is their personal brand. It represents what others think and say about them when their name is mentioned. Building a strong personal brand involves selecting attributes that resonate with one's core values and consistently demonstrating these attributes through actions. This intentionality in behavior not only solidifies a leader's brand but also fosters trust and reliability among team members.