Leadership Foundations
8 concepts · ~25 min · Advanced
The 5 pillars of startup leadership: build teams, shape culture, make decisions, hire right, and delegate effectively. From first-time manager to CEO-level thinking.
What You'll Learn
- ✓Implement continuous performance management that actually changes behavior
- ✓Resolve peer conflicts without resorting to artificial harmony
- ✓Guide your team through massive organizational changes without tanking morale
- ✓Audit your team on Google's Project Aristotle dimensions and fix the weakest one
- ✓Define your company culture as observable behaviors with real examples (not wall posters)
- ✓Classify every decision as Type 1 or Type 2 and use the right framework for each
- ✓Design a structured hiring process that predicts job performance
- ✓Use the Delegation Ladder to push 90% of decisions to team level
Team Building
Leadership
💡 The Concept
Team building is the deliberate process of assembling and developing a group of individuals into a high-performing unit. Google's Project Aristotle studied 180+ teams and found that WHO is on the team matters less than HOW the team works together. The #1 predictor of team performance is psychological safety — the belief that you can take risks without punishment. Teams with high psychological safety are 76% more engaged, 50% more productive, and have 27% lower turnover. Beyond safety, optimal teams have clear roles, dependable members, meaningful work, and impact visibility.
⚠️ The Trap
The biggest team-building trap is hiring exclusively for skills while ignoring team dynamics. A team of 5 'A-players' who can't collaborate will be outperformed by a team of 'B-players' with high trust and clear communication. Studies show that adding a high-performer who disrupts team dynamics reduces overall team output by 30-40%. Another trap: assuming larger teams are better. Amazon's Bezos found that teams above 8-10 people spend more time coordinating than producing — the 'communication tax' grows quadratically.
🎯 The Action
Audit your team on Google's Project Aristotle dimensions: (1) Psychological Safety — does everyone speak up equally in meetings? Track speaking time ratio — if one person talks 60%+, safety is low. (2) Dependability — does the team hit commitments 85%+ of the time? (3) Structure — does everyone know their role and what success looks like? (4) Meaning — does each member see how their work connects to the mission? Score each 1-5. If any dimension scores below 3, address it before scaling the team.
Scenario Challenge
You're building a new product team. You have 2 candidates for the final engineering spot. Candidate A: exceptional individual contributor, built systems at Google, prefers to work independently, and has left 3 teams in 2 years due to 'disagreements with colleagues.' Candidate B: strong (not exceptional) engineer from a startup, known for mentoring juniors, excellent communicator, and stayed at their last company for 4 years.