Tzakhi (00:00)
Daphna.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (00:00)
Bye, tzachli!
Tzakhi (00:02)
Thanks so much for coming. I'm with Daphne Hovitz, a leadership coach that's been working for many years, published two books. One is called Courage to Lead, the other is Weekly Habits for Extraordinary Leaders. And I think you're an extraordinary coach. You've worked with so many people over so many years. And I've also enjoyed some of your coaching. And...
Also, we're both in Founder Institute Israel, which is also how we kind of lately reconnected. So thanks so much for coming.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (00:36)
Yes, it's a pleasure. Wonderful to be here.
Tzakhi (00:41)
So let's talk about leadership for startup founders. I think that's a topic which is, you know, we discussed this a bit before the call. And yes, in the beginning, startup usually has a very, very small team. And one of the challenges of being a founder is that you're...
Leadership skills have to evolve very quickly as your startup grows and as challenges come along the way. And there are leadership challenges in handling a small team or working with your co -founders. Then there are different leadership challenges when you start bringing in your first hires. And there's also a leadership challenge when talking to investors. So I don't know if we'll be able to touch on all those things, but...
These are some of the things that we discussed before the choir and I'd love for us to kind of get into a little bit.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (01:43)
And thank you for bringing me on this show because I think this is a really important topic for startup founders, because as you say, there are those different stages and the way you think and talk about leadership at the different stages is quite different. The way your awareness works around it as a startup founder is different at each stage. And what I find at the beginning, early stage,
You generally have one founder. If there's co -founders, it's generally one founder that does everything. The other founders bring in their expertise and they're brought in for specific reasons. But there's one person who usually does everything. I call it the Chief Everything Officer. So I am also known as the CEO coach because I work with many CEOs across different levels and sizes of organizations. And I see particularly at the start of a startup journey, the
person who takes on the largest role of getting things done and moving things forward and progressing things. I call him the, him or her, the chief everything officer, because that's how it is in a startup. And even as your team grows, everybody is responsible for everything in some way, because there's a lot to be done and the roles aren't so clearly defined and they shouldn't be. But at the same time, there needs to be order and structure around how it's done.
and some thinking towards the future about what it's going to look like. Because then we get to the stage of needing to grow your team, needing to define roles more clearly, and it becomes challenging because not everybody knows exactly what role they want to fill, what their strengths are, and how to really draw on that. Some people might want a certain role because it sounds exciting to them, but their strengths actually lie elsewhere.
And I've also been involved in, you know, advanced and coach startups where the founder needed to be moved off the CEO role because they weren't ideal for that role. So there's a lot of questions that come up. And what I say is that in the beginning, the focus is very much on doing, getting things done, moving forward, progressing, getting that funding in place, but just plant the seed for what needs to come in future. Start thinking about.
what your leadership is going to look like, what your company is going to look like, what kind of culture you want to create and what kind of team you want to create. Because when you get there, you'll want to start hiring and growing and scaling in the way that is going to set your business up for success. Because if you don't think about it, those problems do surface later on and they've got to be dealt with.
Tzakhi (04:30)
So how does one start to think about leadership when you're really just a small team, maybe two or three founders and one that's maybe taking most of the or leading most of the way or taking most of the assignments on him or herself? So how to start there?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (04:50)
I would start even with the smallest team talking about key aspects such as why. Why are we here? Why are we starting this startup? Why are we going on this challenging journey which looks like a roller coaster with so many ups and downs? So first of all, to get some cohesiveness around why. Why are we doing this? And then discuss a little bit about values. How do we want to work together?
What are the things that are really important for us to uphold as we go on this journey? And then it's the next level of, well, what does it look like? Some guidelines for how we're going to interact together. Whether it's two or three people just starting out and one person taking on a lot of the doing aspects, getting some thinking going and clarity at the outset on this particular, on those three aspects that I gave you would set the basis, the foundation.
for what we want our company and our business to look like when we're starting to grow and scale. It sets a good foundation for also when you bring people in and you're hiring people, you know what you're hiring them into and what kind of culture you want to create. So it creates more alignment with the type of person that you want to bring on board as well.
Tzakhi (06:09)
OK, a lot of advice that I hear for startups is, or for startup founders, is to kind of think about your core strengths as a founder, and then how to distribute those, or how to find maybe co -founders that complement your skills. What do you think about that? Because the other side of it is that you really need to go beyond your skills, tendencies.
And often when there's a small team, there really isn't anyone else to delegate those aspects that maybe you think you're not so good at. And you simply need to grow into doing things that maybe you didn't think that you were supposed to be doing. So how do you balance between those?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (06:58)
Yeah, I think this is a great question. And I do have my own model, which I've created, which is called the ABC of leadership symbol. And when we look at the ABC, each part of it, each component has the practical level and the deeper level. And you've got to look at both elements when you're looking at them. And the A stands for awareness, which is self -awareness. I think a startup founder needs to be aware of their...
Tzakhi (07:06)
Okay.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (07:25)
strengths and weaknesses, their blind spots, the things that they can't do. The practical level is just so that you can hire the people that are going to fill the gaps for you for the things that you are not good at, for the practicality of knowing what you're good at and working in your zone of genius. This is really important because the best we can get out of people is when they are working in their zone of genius. We can't always be working in our absolute unique value and ability all the time.
But for me, it's an 80 -20 % model. 80 % of the time, you should be leveraging your unique abilities and strengths. So again, that's practical. And then on a deeper level, it's about knowing how to be real and vulnerable and things like asking for help, getting advice from people around you when you're not sure. That's being vulnerable and being courageous about what do you need to know, who do you need to go to, how do you bring people in?
And for that, all of that is about self awareness. You need to begin with yourself, know who you are, know why you're doing this, know what you have well and what you are lacking so that you can fill in all those gaps. And it starts every leadership journey starts with self awareness. You can't get around it. So I think people try to skip it sometimes because the natural tendency is to go into the doing. Let's take action.
interestingly, also an A. And I think that's a very big part of what we need to do in order to make a business successful. But that's not your first thing. That really isn't your first thing. Action has to be driven by self -awareness, knowing who you are, knowing why you're here and doing the things that help to create a holistic picture and not just focusing on action, go, go, go, go.
Tzakhi (09:15)
Okay, so that is the A is awareness. At what stage do you think startup founders should seek help on that part, on that type of awareness?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (09:25)
you're talking to a coach, right? So I think again, you know, my, my style of coaching has got the practical element and the deeper element. And that's how I work. And the practical element is in working with leaders and founders to make sure they progress and move forward. Although I have to say the people that I work with are usually high achievers, ambitious, intelligent people who can get things done and know how to get things done. So it's not about that.
Tzakhi (09:28)
Yeah.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (09:54)
It's about getting the right things done and getting the thinking in place to make sure that you're on the right path or if you have strayed off the path and made mistakes, knowing how to pivot, adjust and change as you go along. So that's the practical side. The deeper side is really working on that self -awareness piece. And self -awareness, I have to say, you cannot do this on your own. You cannot, you know, there's, we always talk about strengths and weaknesses. Our weaknesses,
part of our weaknesses are called blind spots. And that is because those are the things that we cannot see for ourselves. We need to have someone else give us feedback, work with us, look at situations and think together and analyze them so that you can gain perspective that you cannot gain on your own. And the self -awareness piece has to be worked on together with a trusted person, could be a partner, colleague, friend, and of course a coach is trained.
to work with you on getting a higher level of self -awareness. And I say, it's never too early to start working on that.
Tzakhi (10:57)
Could that other person?
Do you think that that other person could be a co -founder or is that actually not a good idea to have these kinds of discussions with your co -founder? Is that something to look for outside help?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (11:14)
So I think both, actually. I think co -founders are in a very unique and special partnership and relationship where when you're open with each other and you can really give each other feedback and hold up the mirror for certain things that you're doing that aren't working so well, it's fantastic. You've got to work with people you can trust, you can have honest, real conversations about what's working well and what's not working well. At the same time, your co -founder cannot be completely objective.
because first of all, you're both working towards something that you both want to succeed. So they're going to be blind spots in the nature of that relationship. And that's always good to have an external coach or consultant come in and offer that perspective as well. So it's not an either or, it's actually a both.
Tzakhi (12:02)
Okay. Yeah. I think that's very good. I think, okay, we've covered A out of the ABC. So what's B then? Yeah.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (12:10)
Yes. What's B? B is the bold moves. Okay. So bold moves are about making decisions that where you don't always have all the information. So as I said, there's the practical and the deeper, right? So the bold moves is actions you need to take that are sometimes bigger than you might feel comfortable with. I found a big question around leadership is making decisions when you don't have all the information.
Tzakhi (12:16)
Okay, interesting.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (12:38)
Some people are better at it and some people are really, it's very challenging for them to make a decision because they want to make the right decision. But if you don't have all the information and very often you don't have all the information, we're living in times of uncertainty, there's nothing that's really stable and solid for a long period of time. So you need to know how to operate within an uncertain environment and make decisions even then. So that's the practical side of making those bold moves, taking the calculated.
risks. The deeper side of that is again goes back to yourself and that is having the courage. So while you can look at the pros and cons and do some really good analysis of the situation, different scenarios and what are the possible options and what decisions you can take, the deeper level of that is having the courage to sometimes take a decision that you're not sure about, being bold,
may be bolder than you're used to. For some people, it might mean holding back on some of the boldness. Okay, we do have some personality types that are very good at shooting from the hip and being maverick. So they might need to rein that in. So when I say bold moves, it's about knowing the right type of bold that is going to actually progress your business.
Tzakhi (14:00)
Okay, I think you mentioned courage. Is that the C? Okay.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (14:03)
No. But it's important for the C also. So the C, and I have three things on the C I have to say, but the first C is communication. Because, and I know that's a topic that is often spoken about in relationship to leadership. I see that it's one of the big drivers of leadership as well, just like self -awareness and bold moves. And communication is absolutely critical.
Because if you don't have that right, you are not going to get your message across. You are not going to have your business do what it needs to do in the world. And again, if we take a practical and deeper, practical is the communication you need to share information. You need to do it with crispness and clarity and really make sure that your message lands the way that you want to. And then the deeper level is connection. How do you communicate in a way that creates connection?
And I'll just follow on from there because my second C is about connected relationships. And we know that in order to be a leader, you need to have connected relationships and strong networks because that is how you progress yourself, your leadership and your business. So the connection that is created through good communication leads to those connected relationships that are absolutely critical for good business book, good business practice and success.
And the third C is curiosity and learning. And that is because a leader is always growing and always learning. You can't think that you know it all, have it all, don't need to learn anything, don't need to hear anybody else's opinion. And even when you do think you're absolutely right and you have the right answer, I have seen many, many times that people that open up to hearing other people's perspectives,
Sometimes even from their own employees on the ground, they learn a lot more and that can only improve their business. So yeah, so that is my whole model in a nutshell.
Tzakhi (16:09)
So awareness, boldness, and then communication. And the other two Cs.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (16:17)
So communication, connected relationships and curiosity.
Tzakhi (16:21)
Okay, so this is kind of a framework that works for early stage startups and then it's the same framework when they move forward, right?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (16:31)
Exactly, exactly. Because how you do it changes. The amount of focus you put on each item changes. And it not only changes according to the stage of your startup, but it also changes according to the stage of your evolution as a leader, which is also very connected to what stage your startup will be in. But this is a basic framework that can work for, or I believe works actually for
any business at any stage of development.
Tzakhi (17:06)
So, okay, so how do you put that into practice? So if there's something that's stuck in the startup, how do you put this kind of framework to work to help the founder or the founding team?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (17:23)
Yeah, I think for me, first of all, if you start with self -awareness, for example, and work on it yourself, make sure that it's not something that is just a concept that you don't really understand. There are practical things you can do to increase your self -awareness. Like I said, whether it's working with a coach, whether it's asking for feedback from the people around you about what you're doing well and what you're not doing well.
taking time to reflect and plan your day, both on a practical level and on a level of how you are being. For example, if you've just done a pitch to investors, take a few minutes off. Don't just move from that pitch to the next thing. Take a few minutes to reflect on your performance in the pitch. If there are other members of your team in that meeting, ask them for feedback. Sit down with yourself and say, what do I think I did really well and what would I have liked to do better?
What did I forget to say? How did I come across? Was I able to connect with the investors? Was I able to, something we discussed, really own my business and what I need in that meeting? Or was I trying to just please and beg to get some money in? You know, that for me, that period of reflection and planning is absolutely essential for any leader. And that I think is something that startup founders, especially at the beginning stages, miss because you are so just running all the time.
I say take out, I want to say an hour of your day at the beginning of the week to just plan out your day and plan out your week. And I know that's a lot, but I do say to the people that I work with, if you can start with 15 minutes every day to just sit down, think about your day, think about how you want it to look, think about the meetings that you have and what are the actions that you need to take or what kind of presence you want to bring into them.
Take a moment to reflect about it. And then at the end of the day, take 15 minutes to reflect back on your day. What went well? What could I have done better? What have I learned from today? That's self -awareness, and that's practical. But that is the thing that gets put last on the to -do list often.
Tzakhi (19:37)
Yeah, for me, I can say that it's part of my daily routine, actually, to spend some time thinking because in the end, as business owners or startup founders, in the end, it all comes down to taking decisions. And to make good decisions, you have to think about them. So we have to work on our...
our thoughts. If we do only thinking, of course, we will get nowhere. But where will we get if we take action without thinking all the time, without thinking it through? Yeah.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (20:07)
Don't do any. Exactly. And if I can just add there as well, when I spoke about Zone of Genius earlier, I think it's also really important to remember with many startups, the reasons that they start up is because the founders had some idea. They saw a problem that they wanted to solve or they experienced a problem that they're passionate about solving, or they got excited about an idea that they wanted to implement.
And they need to think, what is the unique strength and ability that I'm bringing into this business that made me want to start it in the first place? And you've got to understand that you want to spend most of your time leveraging your unique ability. And in order to do that, you need time to think and reflect about how you're going to bring it into your day. Because otherwise, you can get caught up with doing so many things that are really not part of your unique ability. They might need to be done, but they're not.
part of your unique ability and they distract you from bringing actually that thing that is the leverage that's going to make your business a success.
Tzakhi (21:12)
Yeah, I think that's very valuable thoughts. And actually, I think that we could probably go keep on going and breaking this down. But we're close to our end. So before we go, I want to ask you, as I ask our guests here every week, could you please give us five tips for startups around leadership?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (21:37)
Wow. So when I knew the five tips were coming up, I thought, well, my leadership model is the classic answer to that, right? Spend time on self -awareness, reflection, meditation, analyzing, getting feedback, grow yourself as you grow your business, because that is what's going to be your unique leverage to success. The second is the B, bold moves. So let's make it practical. What are the bold moves you need to take? I'll ask everyone listening or watching now.
What is a bold move that if you would take today would grow your business substantially? And if you knew you couldn't fail, what would be that bold move? And why aren't you doing it already? Okay. And then the C, communication. I think there's something about openness and transparency that I see sometimes leaders are really scared of communicating something when they don't know for a hundred percent certainty that it's true or that it's going to happen.
And another thing that I often say is there is no such thing as too much communication. Sometimes people need to hear messages over and over again, whether it's to make them feel more secure or just to make them feel like they're connected to what's going on. So again, a question to leave you with is what do you need to communicate? What can you communicate that you haven't communicated in a while, whether it's to your team or to your stakeholders?
something that would help to create more connection and to bring more information to people. And then the connected relationships, I'll challenge you with that one. What is a relationship that you want to have that or someone that you know that you wanted to reach out to that you haven't had the courage to do as yet? And I would say, okay, here's your challenge for today. Reach out to that person.
see what you can say that can create that initial connection, whether you want a meeting or if you want advice or whatever it is, go on and do it, try it and see how that works out for you. And the last piece which was about curiosity and learning, what's a challenge that I can give? Yeah, I would say go to someone and ask their advice about something you think you already know all the answers to.
And maybe I would even stretch that and say, ask three different people and see if you can learn something new, hear something different and get a different perspective on what you already think. Because I think that, and this is great for me to end on, I think that we are living in a world where we are often in our own echo chambers and what we are fed is more of the same of what we already believe. So it's actually a real challenge for us to find.
perspectives and points of view that are different to what we already think. And I would like to encourage you to go out and speak to someone who thinks differently to you, someone you think you have no connection to, and just hear them listen and see if you can learn something new, because I believe you can always learn something new. And sometimes it's surprising where we can learn something new from. So those are my five tips based on my ABC model, and I think it works quite well.
Tzakhi (24:56)
Wonderful, wonderful. Daphna, thanks so much. Could you tell us where should people find you and who should reach out to you?
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (25:05)
Cool. So I would love to hear from you if you are a CEO or a leader or a founder of a startup or a small to medium business. I always help startups even at starting stages because I'm passionate about that. And that's my involvement with the Founder Institute as well. So.
For me, it's about leaders who really understand the need to grow themselves as they grow their business and they want to work on that self -awareness piece together with making their business a success. So you can find me on LinkedIn. I've got my website, daphnahorovitz .com and YouTube. I'm actually all over, very easy to find me. Google me and you'll find my name. And yeah, I look forward to hearing from you.
Tzakhi (25:51)
Awesome, I'll include all the links in our notes. And just a word to if you made it so far, subscribe on YouTube, on Spotify, wherever you're listening. And if you haven't yet, come to meet .capital and subscribe to our newsletter where you get startup tips to your inbox. Daphna, thanks so much. Bye bye.
Daphna Horowitz Leadership (26:15)
Thank you, Safi.
