Small is beautiful
When I started Founder to Leader, I was hoping to find a way to make a living while helping technologists bring their solutions to the world. I wanted to have a big impact - and also do it on my own terms, making work work for me as a single mom.
With so many of my clients being venture-backed startups, I began to think about impact at Founder to Leader as being 10X. What I mean by that is, scaling is always part of the conversation when you talk to venture capitalists. The business model of early stage investment only works when there are big returns, which requires high-growth.
You may have seen on LinkedIn that, in between my second and third year at Founder to Leader, I added a lot of coaches to my team. I got stuck in the trap of assuming bigger is better. In my mind, I was thinking “if we have more coaches, then we can help more founders and leaders, and ultimately we can do more good for human health and climate.”
It ends up bigger isn’t better for Founder to Leader. I hit a breaking point this past summer. I ended up being unbelievably busy. I call it “un-fun busy,” when you’re calculating to the minute how to use your time. I had bought myself a kayak at the start of the summer and only took it out three times. I couldn’t justify spending time on these leisures when I had enormous deliverables looming on my task list. The Founder to Leader team had grown so big that I no longer knew what was happening across the company’s portfolio. I was overwhelmed. Instead of reaching out for help, I retreated — I turned inwards and went heads-down to stay above water.
I credit my Partner, Shelby Doyle, for helping me realize that things were broken. After a summer of being stretched way too thin, she called me up and told me she was inviting herself over to my house for a 24 hour “retreat.” She helped me go back to the beginning: Why did I start Founder to Leader? How do I define my own success? What does a good life look like? This is work I do all of the time for my clients but got stuck in my bewilderment and had trouble doing for myself.
After literally 5 hours of talking in my garden, I felt ashamed that I strayed from my own first principles and values. I grew too quickly, lost control, and realized that to stay focused on what matters, I need to adopt a “small is beautiful” philosophy.
I learned this phrase during a summer in college, when I was working out in Rocky Mountain National Park. I had visited a beautiful organic farm at the base of the jagged mountains and they introduced me to this concept. “Small is beautiful” is a philosophy that advocates for human-scale, localized, and ecologically conscious agriculture over large-scale industrial farming. The concept, popularized by economist E.F. Schumacher's 1973 book Small Is Beautiful, argues that bigger is not always better and emphasizes the social, environmental, and economic benefits of smaller operations. I created my own “small is beautiful” farm in my backyard this past spring.
My own “Small is Beautiful” micro farm in my backyard.
How does this apply for a coaching company? I reminded myself of my own answers to Jim Collins’ Hedgehog Concept: What am I passionate about? What drives our impact/revenue? And what can we be best at in the world? I asked myself what a good life looks like. I recommitted to taking my dog for an hour-long hike in the woods every day and for only taking on as much work as I can reasonably do during the work-week, without having to sprint every weekend to keep up. I doubled-down on a small, core team of coaches and gave myself permission to say no to work that isn’t aligned.
I also decided to formally make Shelby my official teammate and partner.
Shelby and me, during our summer retreat in my greenhouse.
I have known Shelby for over a decade now. We first met when she was a Comm Lab Fellow at MIT and, over the years, our relationship has evolved from boss, to mentor, to teammate, and to dear friend. I have seen her in a billion contexts and worked closely with her on a myriad of projects. We have worked through hard hard things together. I have always been impressed with the quality of everything Shelby does. Shelby’s integrity and humble vulnerability are unparalleled. She is whip-smart, detail-oriented, off-the-charts creative, and wildly visionary. Her human-first commitment never wavers.
I have to tell you: it feels incredible to have Shelby as my teammate, running Founder to Leader with me now. November 1st was her first day in her new role and it is so much better having her by my side in an official capacity. Together, we are doubling-down on our commitment to “small is beautiful” this year - and moving forward. We want to make sure that everything we do is of the highest quality. We are in this for the long-haul. Together. We both are passionate about doing good work and shaping our lives to be meaningful, impactful, and right-sized.
It’s so easy to get pulled from your North Star. This summer was a huge reminder to never leave my compass behind. The irony here, of course, is that although we are experts in scaling (scaling is even in our company’s tagline!), it takes real discipline to not flex muscles just because we know how to.
As you think about wrapping up the year and setting goals for another new one, I encourage you to revisit your values and recommit to your vision of success. Is there anything you want to change? Is there anything you’re doing because you feel you have to? What sparks joy for you? What are you curious about learning? How do you want to learn and grow? And, if you want some help doing that reflective work, let us know. We’ve got you.
