5 Year Anniversary: Part 3 — Finding Room to Grow

In continuing on with my anniversary reflections, I’m going to get a little bit vulnerable and own up to my areas for growth and opportunity. While I bring certain strengths to vChief in my role as founder and entrepreneur, I recognize there are areas where I have heavily leaned on the support of my team and also areas where I can continue to develop my own skills for the growth of my business.

Opportunity to Grow

My biggest area for growth and opportunity? I wish I were more of a visionary leader who thought outside of the box. I admire entrepreneurs who have big dreams that they go chasing after. My orientation is very much that of a chief of staff who is great at executing and getting things done, which is only natural since I spent much of my career in that role. In addition to keeping myself on task, my intimate familiarity with the chief of staff role is definitely helpful in supporting clients and understanding their needs, as well as getting a good read on each of our chiefs and their best fit within the organization.

However, oftentimes I struggle with thinking expansively about what could be; this is not my natural inclination since I tend to be more focused on the day-to-day details. I think some of the best leaders are those visionary people who can think of the crazy, pie-in-the-sky idea and then have someone who is more of that chief of staff or operational person that can stay grounded while helping to bring those crazy visions to reality.

In some ways, I think it would be great to be able to outsource that visionary leader part. But I realize that, as an entrepreneur, I shoulder the responsibility for having those big ideas and creating the big picture plans for the organization. I’m always looking for ways to think and grow in that area, whether it’s finding content — books, articles, podcasts — or seeking out mentors that will inspire me to become more at ease with that visionary aspect of leadership.

I definitely find it helpful to reflect on where I’ve come as a leader and to dig deep into the areas where I have the opportunity to improve. As I look ahead to the next five, ten, twenty years of vChief, I’m excited about the potential for growth in our organization and I’m practicing using my “big picture” glasses to see the potential in what we can do in our future.