Managing director of the Foundry Group and co-founder of Feld Technologies, Brad Feld, advises entrepreneurs to be up front about their challenges.
“A lot of entrepreneurs feel like ‘I can’t do that because my investor won’t support me or my team won’t follow me,’ and I think that’s sort of the conventional wisdom and backdrop we’ve created around entrepreneurship,” Feld said in a Kauffman Founders School video. “But it’s really not how we function as human beings.”
He’s right. Society perpetuates a warped perception of fearless, daunting leaders that we ourselves must know can’t be healthy or sustainable most of the time.
The reality is that starting a company is really hard work. It’s stressful, and with that comes the emotional ups and downs of being an entrepreneur. But there are ways to navigate through these struggles in a healthy way—for both the entrepreneur and the business.
Be Self-Aware
The first step to healthy leadership is being able to recognize when you’re worn down, burned out or suffering emotionally.
Trying to launch a new product or feature with a worn and battered mind leaves room for mistakes and oversight. Bringing on a new set of employees with a burned out mentality can breed lackluster enthusiasm. How can they be expected to carry a fiery passion for the company’s mission when the founder can hardly muster the energy?
“I think the notion of a leader being vulnerable, being human, allowing him or herself to express how he or she actually is feeling in the context of leadership is very, very powerful,” Feld said. “I had a two-year depression in my mid-20s when I was running my first company. But by being open about my depression with the people around me—partners, my significant other, and other CEOs, it allowed my relationship with them to be even stronger in those periods.”
Being aware of when you are suffering can help you recognize the symptoms and counteract the repercussions. Whether it’s scheduling a simple day off, a long walk to clear your head or personal activity, self-awareness can help you circumvent the poor results that accompany being burned out.
NOTE CREDIT: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kauffman/2015/10/20/how-to-navigate-the-ups-and-downs-of-startup-life/