Description
A key issue for entrepreneurs is access to, and retention of, great talent. This is especially tough when starting up and when scaling the business. Most startup founders are lone wolves; the things that make them absolutely great at starting a business sometimes make them not that great at building and leading teams. In order to start a company and take the kind of risk that entails, it’s required that they ignore criticism and doubters, especially early on. If you don’t have a healthy ego, you won’t survive. But that can make it tough to build a great, high performing team. There’s no real place for a founder to go within his or her team to get the straight story, to have conversations about their own growth opportunities, or share the frustrations and fears of running a company. Being the leader can be a really isolating experience. So, as a founder, how do you deal with accepting feedback? Can you adapt your vision to build a team, without giving up the singular focus you need to succeed? What are the tools you need to be a better leader? A founder and entrepreneur himself, Ian can talk about strategies for how to accept, give and use feedback to build a stronger business. How founders can maintain their focus while still leveraging the diversity of perspectives and approaches needed to stay competitive and scale. Ian McKelvie is an internationally recognized leadership expert, consultant and speaker. He thrives on challenges and inspires others to bring their best as he helps guide organizations culturally, behaviorally and strategically. Blending rich perspectives from a life shaped on four continents with an intense entrepreneurial mind, Ian is a catalyst who harnesses organizational strategy and leadership development to accelerate tangible, measureable results. Ian’s perspective on business leadership was shaped by his more than two decades in marketing and finance. His leadership roles for Fortune 500 Firms including IBM and Xerox gave him in-the-trenches experience setting strategy and coaching teams to deliver exceptional results. As an entrepreneur, Ian has developed and led three successful start-ups. A sought after speaker, Ian has delivered high-impact presentations to global audiences of all sizes for firms including Microsoft, Avanade, Point B, The Gates Foundation and Siemens. He consistently wins praise for his dynamic stage presence, his ability to connect with audiences and to deliver practical, relevant content that inspires action. His wealth of business experience combined with his conversational style make him a powerful speaker on topics as diverse as leadership, business excellence, organizational culture and change management. Ian received a BBA with a concentration in Finance and his MBA equivalent from Simon Fraser University in Canada. He is a recipient of Inc. Magazine’s prestigiousMarketing Masters award.