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How vision defines a successful entrepreneurial business

Tradesquare
Posted by Tradesquare on Jul 28, 2021 4:50:49 PM

Great leadership in business starts with defined vision, mission and values, explains Jack Delosa - founder of The Entourage, and high-profile Australian author and television host. 

“Businesses are always a reflection of people,” Delosa tells TradeSquare’s Catherine van der Meulen in an interview you can listen to here

“Creating meaningful and authentic leadership starts by defining who you are as a company. Ultimately, there are some businesses in the world that hold a different place in our hearts to other businesses. These businesses might be companies like Apple, Facebook or Mercedes. They're businesses that stand for something and resonate with us on a level that transcends just the products or the services they offer.”

 

The critical role of vision

Crucial to the success of businesses like these is vision, says Delosa: “What is it that differentiates these businesses from others? It is their DNA, it's who they are. It is not a marketing slogan, or branding strategy that they came up with one day. These businesses have a distinct and unique DNA and they stand for something.”

He breaks DNA down to vision, mission, and values. Vision is about the ultimate purpose for the business to exist – not to make $100 million, but fulfilling a consumer need. 

Then comes the mission: what the company needs to do every day to achieve that vision. “I'll give you an example. At The Entourage, our vision is to move the world forward through entrepreneurship. It is entrepreneurs who push humanity forward and we are here to enable entrepreneurs to do just that. Our mission – how we plan to get there – is that every day, we give entrepreneurs everything they need to build great companies and to lead meaningful lives.” 

The final of the three – values – are “the principles that govern and guide who we are and what we do along the way”. 

“If we look like our best selves, what are the principles we're upholding in those moments? Values are a really good way to clarify and define and communicate what would otherwise be unspoken expectations and principles, attitudes and communication styles of a particular organisation,” explains Delosa.

Leadership starts with a clear and distinct DNA that comes from identifying what your vision and mission are about, then recruiting, promoting, marketing, selling, and building products according to that. 

“Every single thing needs to stem from who you are as a business. And our best attempt at defining that is vision, mission and values.”

 

True entrepreneurs deliver a business, not a product

Delosa is still amazed by how prevalent the misconception is that when somebody starts a small or medium sized business, they should be the person in the business delivering the product. 

“The entrepreneur is often front and centre, doing what the business does at a product level. But as the organisation grows, it should be the aim of every great entrepreneur to build a business that ultimately operates without them.”

As an entrepreneur, he explains, your product is not the product you produce, rather it is the business that you build. “So it's really important that entrepreneurs distinguish between: Am I being a technician – in which case I have a job – or am I being a business owner and entrepreneur, in which case, I'm building a structurally sound company that can operate without me.

“Now, obviously, businesses need to be coming up the growth curve and delivering good revenues and have the cash flows in order to start building out a team and to build those structures. So in the beginning, you got to be wearing more hats. But as the organisation grows, you should really be looking at how to elevate into the state of entrepreneur and ultimately build a business.”

 

TradeSquare – a disruptor for the times

Delosa believes TradeSquare is an exciting concept that is incredibly valuable and will disrupt the business landscape over the next five to 10 years. 

“I think by connecting wholesalers directly to small to medium sized retailers and businesses, which TradeSquare represents, is smart wholesaling. 

“It's essentially the model of the future. That's hugely disruptive and hugely beneficial.”

An entrepreneur and investor, Jack Delosa became a business owner when he was a teenager. Eleven years ago he founded The Entourage, now Australia's largest business coaching and training institution. 

 

You can listen to Jack Delosa talking to Catherine van der Meulen here.

Topics: startup, small business, australian businesses, entrepreneur

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