Step 1: The Real Me (Looking Inward)

The first step in any transformative process is recognizing that change is needed. However, too often we want the reality to change around us rather than to change ourselves. Entrepreneurs have an especially difficult time facing their own reality as it is generally in nobody’s interest to be one-hundred percent honest with respect to which activities of the entrepreneur are helping the business and which are hindering it.

The entrepreneur must have a clear, objective and unmistakable self-awareness so that his true strengths can be maximized and his true weaknesses can be either changed or compensated for. Such awareness does not come from simply asking others “What can I be doing better?”

In this first critical step, the entrepreneur undertakes a robust and objective 360 feedback process which consists of no less than 2,000 data points and a full day of review. While this may seem daunting, it is in fact a relatively simple exercise (both the data gathering and analysis). This step concludes with a set plan of how the entrepreneur will maximize his strengths in the business, how he will begin to fix any glaring weakness (with a specific action plan) and what other areas of the business he will delegate full authority.

By engaging in a 360 degree process, the entrepreneur sends a strong signal to the rest of the company that he is committed to transforming himself into an entrepreneurial leader laying the groundwork for future steps.