As the entrepreneur who wants to grow your business, there are many demands on you. It is not possible to attend to all of them by yourself, especially as the business continues to grow. And to add to the overload issue, new skills will be demanded of you. What brought you this far very likely will not take you through subsequent company stages.
The main roles are to establish vision, set strategy, build a top team, and create a culture in which other team members can do what needs doing. Think of it as moving from the first violinist’s chair to the conductor’s podium –we direct and lead, the company makes the music. Perhaps step in now and then to play a certain piece our good at, but keep it limited – we are most needed in the leadership role.
Surround ourself with smart, good people. This includes our top team, mentors and advisors, and family and friends. our top team executes our goals through the day-to-day operations. Mentors and advisors will assist and coach we in thinking through strategy and leadership issues. Being an entrepreneur – the leader of the business – is a lonely job. Strong networks of friends and family will provide support during the rough times and be there to celebrate the great times.
Continue to grow our own skills. Look ahead to the next stages of where we want our business to go and consider what will be required of you. At some point, it might be that we will want to bring in a new CEO with the particular skills our company needs at that point.
Ewing Marion Kauffman: (September 21, 1916-August 1, 1993) was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner.
Born near Garden City, Missouri, Kauffman grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He was bedridden for a year at age 11 with a heart ailment, during which he read as many as 40 books a month.
After serving in the United States Navy in World War II, Kauffman worked as a pharmaceutical salesman until 1950, when he formed Marion Laboratories with a $5,000 investment, operating it initially out of the basement of his home. He reportedly chose to use his middle name rather than his last name in order to not appear to be a one-man operation.
Marion Laboratories had revenues of $930 million the year before it merged with Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (now part of Aventis) in 1989. The company sale made more than 300 millionaires.
Kauffman founded the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the mid-1960s to provide cash grants to encourage entrepreneurship across America and improve education for children and youth, mostly in and around the Kansas City metropolitan area.
At the encouragement of his wife, Muriel, Kauffman bought the Kansas City Royals baseball team as an expansion franchise in 1968 and owned the team until his death in 1993. During his ownership the team won six division titles, two league championships, and a World Series Championship (in 1985).
In his will, Kauffman stipulated that proceeds from the sale of the Royals would go to Kansas City area charities. A month before his death, Royals Stadium was renamed Kauffman Stadium in his honor.
Business Facts of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private foundation established by the late Ewing Marion Kauffman, founder of Marion Laboratories (now Aventis) and original owner of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. The Foundation focuses its grant-making activity in two areas: Youth development and entrepreneurship. The foundation works toward a vision of "self-sufficient people in healthy communities."
In the 1980s Mr. Kauffman launched several operating programs that encouraged young people to stay in school and away from drugs. By the time Mr. Kauffman died in 1993, the foundation was engaged in grant-making partnerships in youth development, primarily in the urban core of Greater Kansas City, and in activities to accelerate entrepreneurship nationwide through the creation of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
The foundation works in partnership with people who share our vision, passion, and outcomes for youth development and entrepreneurship. Our partners include nonprofit organizations, schools, community development corporations, colleges and universities, and other organizations that provide education, family support, youth services, community development, and entrepreneurship education.
Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century
The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a March 26 conference, “Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century.” The conference, which will be held in Washington, DC, will explore economic issues likely to affect small business in the coming decades.
Small businesses are a major force in the U.S. economy. They account for half of private, nonfarm gross domestic product, employ half of the private work force, and generate 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs each year. Research continues to document the role that small firms play in innovation and new firm formation.
With such facts, academics and policymakers have paid more attention to small business interests and the important role that entrepreneurship has on our economic growth. The intent of the one-day conference is to flesh out those issues that will shape small business's future contribution to the nation's economy.
The Office of Advocacy, the “small business watchdog” of the government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the President. It is the source for small business statistics presented in user-friendly formats and it funds research into small business issues.