“Why I’m a Sucker for a Champion!”

There has always been something irresistible about the winning mentality of people like Lance Armstrong, Bill Clinton and Michael Schumacher. Many would perceive them as ruthless and divisive figures who wanted to win at all cost. Take my raw admiration away and I see what the world saw. Whilst I wouldn’t cross the line they often ploughed through, there are certain characteristics I have sought to emulate.

This admiration embedded itself throughout my own career and from seeing at close quarters some great leaders in my industry. For example, my first boss in investment banking was sharp and seriously challenging. His management style was very direct but fair, and he rewarded his team when they surpassed expectations. These same traits were attributed to the former Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive, Sir Ralph Norris, who I also had the pleasure of working under. This inspired my leadership style and it’s something I try to adopt as the CEO of a scaleup company.

Generally speaking, I’m a sucker for champions. Irrespective of whether the world holds a mirror up to where and when they crossed the line, they remain my heroes for their ruthless devotion to achieving their objectives. Some of the traits and characteristics they embody have helped me lead Funding Options on its growth journey, resulting in making the top quarter of the FT1000 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe List for 2021.

There are various traits, values and attitudes I feel are the core ingredients to being at the helm of a fast-growth business.

Attitude: The bold, ambitious risk-taker

I have always been drawn to bold leaders who aren’t afraid to make ambitious statements of intent. One who springs to mind is Elon Musk. He has the gumption to make bold claims and transgress lines others won’t even approach. His tweet that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments due to the enormous amount of energy Bitcoin mining consumes, resulted in a near-meltdown in the crypto market. Musk’s mindset has made him a formidable entrepreneurial force, but with power comes responsibility when a social media post can influence markets.

If you want to be successful as a CEO, you have to cultivate the willingness to challenge previously accepted norms and structures. It’s healthy to know you do not know everything about the business, no matter what your expertise or experience. Strength lies in being prepared to ask questions and having a team that is eager to do that too. People too often don’t like to ask questions or make requests, especially if they worry it might expose their ignorance.

It is always important to push boundaries and ask for more. Sometimes the ‘dumbest’ questions are the smartest. The worst that can happen in these scenarios is you either confirm what you thought you knew or someone says ‘no’. I’m not afraid of exposing myself and taking risks if the reward is handsome.

A leader who acts with integrity and leans on their team inspires and motivates others to do the same. The importance of people management and representing everyone within your team cannot be overlooked.

The approach of certain winners might not always be popular – but putting bread on tables will be.

Values: Integrity and authenticity

Uniting behind a “common cause” or objective remains a challenge when teams are scattered as we have witnessed during the pandemic. With teams operating in their own bubble, staying connected and working collaboratively was pivotal to ensuring everyone was aligned. Not only this, being able to capture a ‘spirit’ of togetherness, even when apart, was key for morale and motivation.

As clichéd as it sounds, being the CEO of a business is a lonely place. This is why your company’s most valuable asset – your team – needs to feel connected to you and vice versa. At Funding Options, in what I like to call a ‘Zoom Bomb’, I randomly call on video to chat with team members who might not expect direct access to see how they are doing. Inevitably, it also enables me to gain greater insight into other areas of the business.

No matter how large or small, every employee plays a role, and it’s vital to convey a sense of that community every day. As we grow, and for larger organisations where the CEO’s capacity is stretched further, the same approach can be adopted by senior leaders across the business. As a scaleup CEO tasked with moving the company towards growth, your team needs to know you have their back and value what they bring to the table.

Execution: Stable and sustainable growth

To quote Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game: “Great leaders are the ones who think beyond ‘short term’ versus ‘long term’. They are the ones who know that it is not about the next quarter or the next election; it is about the next generation.” I have sought to embed this attitude and mindset at Funding Options from the moment I took over as CEO from the founder as part of the natural next phase of growth for the business.

I purposely stepped away from the common startup mentality of creating a dream environment (e.g. “the office has to be super cool”) to focus on the impact it has on the cost base versus growth. To avoid implosion, leaders need to identify what is absolutely necessary and will enhance performance, and what could more easily be considered ‘fluff’.

Founders of Stripe, Plaid and the inimitable Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, are great examples of this. These businesses have rock-solid foundations from which to deliver their core propositions to grow exponentially. Plaid and Stripe, in particular, have made themselves indispensable across multiple industries. By focusing on the basics first, they have been able to reap the commercial rewards – with the “cool stuff” following later.

For us, the pandemic shined an almost blinding spotlight on the fragmentation in the SME finance market. We responded to the urgent needs of SMEs by investing heavily in our own digital proposition, which has resulted in our platform achieving a new record of just 20 seconds from loan application to credit approval, with the previous record being 2 minutes and 56 seconds. Prior to that, it was 11 minutes. This illustrates why it’s key you don’t stray from your core proposition.

It all boils down to attitude, values and people which paves the way for growth. The approach of certain winners might not always be popular – but putting bread on tables will be. A business that has core values and fundamentals in place to ensure sustainable and profitable growth will earn your team’s enduring respect and cement a collective sense of purpose.

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