Article

Avoiding the Lone Wolf Syndrome-- Together We Can Do So Much

July 29, 2024
Unlocking Success Through Collective Effort: The Essential Role of Teamwork in Startup Growth and Innovation

In the early days of a startup, founders often find themselves wearing multiple hats, doing everything from coding to customer service. This hands-on approach is essential for getting the business off the ground. However, as the company grows, it becomes clear that no single individual can drive sustained success alone. The true power of a startup lies in its team. As Helen Keller famously said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”


The Lone Wolf Syndrome: A Recipe for Burnout

Founders are often celebrated as lone wolves—visionary leaders who can single-handedly steer their companies to success. This myth is perpetuated by stories of iconic entrepreneurs who seemingly did it all by themselves. However, this perception is not only misleading but also dangerous.


Trying to do everything alone leads to burnout, mistakes, and missed opportunities. Founders may find themselves stretched too thin, unable to focus on strategic vision while getting bogged down in day-to-day operations. The pressure to be everything to everyone can be overwhelming and ultimately unsustainable.


The Power of Teamwork: Leveraging Collective Strengths

The reality is that successful startups are built on the collective strengths of their teams. Each member brings unique skills, perspectives, and energy to the table. By leveraging these diverse talents, startups can achieve far more than any individual could alone. Diverse perspectives drive innovation. When a team is composed of individuals with different backgrounds and experiences, it brings a variety of perspectives to problem-solving and decision-making. This diversity fuels creativity and innovation, leading to more robust solutions and breakthrough ideas.


Moreover, a shared workload reduces burnout. Delegating tasks and responsibilities allows founders to focus on their core strengths and strategic vision. A well-balanced team ensures that no single person is overwhelmed, reducing the risk of burnout and improving overall productivity. Complementary skills enhance execution. A successful startup requires a mix of skills, from technical expertise to marketing savvy to financial acumen. Building a team with complementary skills ensures that all aspects of the business are well-managed and executed effectively.


Furthermore, collaboration fosters a supportive culture. A collaborative environment encourages open communication, trust, and mutual support among team members. This positive culture boosts morale, enhances job satisfaction, and fosters loyalty, leading to lower turnover and a more resilient team. Collective problem-solving accelerates growth. Tackling challenges and obstacles as a team allows for faster and more effective problem-solving. Collaborative brainstorming sessions can uncover solutions that might not have been apparent to a single individual.


Building a Strong Team: Key Strategies

To harness the power of teamwork, founders must prioritize building and nurturing a strong, cohesive team. Look beyond resumes and qualifications to find individuals who align with the company’s values and culture. Focus on hiring team players who show potential for growth and a willingness to collaborate.


Encourage transparency and open dialogue within the team. Regular check-ins, team meetings, and feedback sessions are essential. Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, concerns, and suggestions. Delegate responsibilities and empower team members to take ownership of their roles. Trust in their abilities and provide the autonomy they need to excel, while being available for support and guidance.


Provide opportunities for professional development and team-building activities. Encourage continuous learning and skill enhancement to keep the team motivated and capable. Recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements. This reinforces a sense of unity and shared purpose. Celebrations, both big and small, build camaraderie and reinforce the team’s collective efforts.


The Path to Collective Success

In the journey of a startup, the founder’s vision is the starting point, but it is the collective effort of the team that transforms that vision into reality. Embracing the power of teamwork allows startups to leverage diverse strengths, drive innovation, and navigate challenges more effectively.


The most successful startups understand that their true power lies not in the brilliance of a single individual, but in the collaborative spirit of their team. By fostering a culture of teamwork, founders can ensure that their company not only survives but thrives, achieving heights that would be impossible alone.



Remember, as the saying goes, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Embrace the power of your team, and watch your startup soar.

share this

Related Articles

Related Articles

e
By Rich Hagberg August 9, 2025
Introduction: The Brutal Truth About Change If you’re leading a company, here’s one brutal truth you can’t dodge: resistance to change isn’t just inevitable—it’s a gift. Most leaders don’t see it that way. They treat it like an obstacle to bulldoze, something to out-argue, out-maneuver, or silence. But resistance, if you know how to read it, is a living, breathing diagnostic tool. Every objection, every sideways comment in a hallway, every moment of awkward silence in a meeting—it’s all data. It tells you where the trust gaps are, where the communication breakdowns have happened, and where your people’s unspoken fears live. If you ignore that data, you’re flying blind. The hard numbers back this up: more than 70% of organizational change initiatives fail, not because the strategy was flawed, but because leaders underestimated what it would take to guide people through the emotional turbulence of transformation. If you want your next big initiative to succeed, the shift starts here: stop seeing resistance as the enemy, and start listening to what it’s telling you. When you do, you’ll discover that resistance isn’t a wall to break down—it’s a map showing you exactly where to go next. 1. Rethink Resistance: It’s Data, Not Defiance Let’s flip the lens. When people resist, they’re rarely doing it for sport. They’re sending up flares. They’re telling you something’s unclear, untested, or untrusted. For example, I worked with a CEO rolling out a sweeping technology overhaul. His first instinct when his managers hesitated was frustration—until we sat down and dissected the resistance. It turned out the managers weren’t doubting the technology; they were worried about the gap between the training timeline and the rollout date. They didn’t fear change—they feared being set up to fail.  When you stop labeling resistance as “non-compliance” and start treating it like intelligence gathering, you find it points to the very levers you can pull to move the change forward.
How
By Rich Hagberg August 1, 2025
Most startup founders are brilliant at innovation, disruption, and blazing new trails. They're visionaries, incredibly driven, and fiercely independent. Unfortunately, those same powerful traits often sabotage their ability to foster genuine collaboration—a critical ingredient in startup success. I've spent decades coaching founders, and one of the biggest blind spots I've observed is the gap between what founders naturally do well and what's required to create truly collaborative cultures. Understanding these tendencies—and knowing how to counter them—can mean the difference between startup stagnation and breakout growth. High Independence, Low Collaboration Founders thrive on independence. They love breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, and pushing limits. But independence can quickly morph into isolation. The very idea of slowing down to seek consensus or accommodate team input feels restrictive, even suffocating. Implications: This independent streak inadvertently sidelines team members, suppresses input, and reduces engagement. Talented people quickly learn their ideas don't matter, and teams become passive or defensive. Actions to Counter: Practice deliberately inclusive decision-making. Clearly define which decisions you'll make alone and where you'll solicit team input. Regularly check in to see if team members feel heard and involved. Dominance Isn’t Always Dominant Many founders naturally take a commanding stance. Their assertiveness, directness, and forcefulness can spark initial progress but, over time, it creates resistance. When team members feel steamrolled or fearful of speaking up, creativity vanishes. Implications: A dominant style shuts down communication, makes feedback difficult, and kills the very collaboration needed for sustained innovation. Actions to Counter: Make intentional space for quieter team members to speak. Foster psychological safety by modeling vulnerability and humility Balance assertiveness with curiosity—actively seek feedback rather than waiting for it. The Curse of Poor Delegation Delegation isn't just handing off tasks—it's handing off trust. But founders notoriously struggle with this, often believing only they can execute properly. Every task not delegated reinforces the message that the team isn’t capable. Implications: Poor delegation creates bottlenecks, slows execution, and demoralizes talented employees who feel undervalued and micromanaged. Actions to Counter: Start small by delegating lower-risk tasks clearly and thoroughly. Regularly check your impulses to micromanage; remind yourself why you hired capable people. Invest in mentoring and coaching rather than controlling. Communication Breakdown Founders are famously impatient. They think fast, act fast, and often communicate quickly or incompletely. What seems obvious to them might be totally unclear to their team. Implications: Poor communication creates ambiguity, confusion, and frustration, grinding collaboration to a halt. Teams waste energy guessing expectations rather than innovating. Actions to Counter: Slow down to clearly articulate the "why" behind your decisions. Confirm understanding by asking team members to reflect back their interpretations. Regularly solicit feedback on your communication style and clarity. Arrogance: The Silent Collaboration Killer Confidence is crucial. But confidence unchecked can veer into arrogance, leading founders to dismiss feedback, overlook critical insights, and alienate key contributors. Implications: Arrogance destroys trust, stifles dialogue, and creates a toxic environment where collaboration is impossible. Actions to Counter: Intentionally invite critique and respond openly and constructively. Regularly acknowledge your mistakes publicly to model humility. Actively seek alternative viewpoints before finalizing decisions. Conflict Avoidance (or Aggression) Many founders fall into two extreme camps: conflict avoiders or conflict initiators. Both extremes are deadly to collaboration. Avoiding conflict leaves critical issues unresolved. Aggressive conflict handling creates resentment and fear. Implications: Poorly managed conflict erodes team cohesion, undermines trust, and can spiral into prolonged dysfunction. Actions to Counter: Establish clear, structured conflict resolution processes. Practice direct yet respectful conflict conversations. Use neutral facilitation for emotionally charged discussions. Systems Thinking vs. Reactive Planning Startups prize agility and adaptability. But too much short-term thinking neglects the processes and structures that sustain collaboration. Without clear systems, teams fall into chaos. Implications: Reactive planning leads to burnout, inefficiency, and frustration as team members constantly fight fires rather than building strategically. Actions to Counter: Balance short-term agility with consistent investment in systems and clear processes. Regularly revisit and improve structures as your company scales. Empower process-oriented thinkers in your organization to build effective systems. Workaholism and Burnout Culture Founders set the pace. But when founders turn workaholic, they unknowingly create an environment of exhaustion, anxiety, and diminished psychological safety. Exhausted teams are seldom collaborative. Implications: Productivity drops, innovation dries up, and talented employees start to leave. Actions to Counter: Actively model sustainable work-life balance. Publicly recognize and reward collaborative, balanced behaviors. Regularly monitor signs of burnout and intervene early. Ambiguity Isn’t Always Your Friend Founders typically tolerate ambiguity better than most. But your team needs clarity and direction. Too much ambiguity creates stress and undermines collaborative execution. Implications: Team paralysis, lack of initiative, and increased frustration. Actions to Counter: Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and expectations. Regularly ask your team what clarity they need to be effective. Balance your tolerance for ambiguity with your team’s genuine need for guidance. The Collaboration Paradox Founders face a paradox. The same traits that fuel their success—independence, assertiveness, rapid execution—also sabotage the collaborative environments crucial for scaling. Acknowledging this paradox is the first step. The second is intentionally adopting behaviors that might feel unnatural at first: fostering inclusive communication, delegating with trust, managing conflict constructively, investing in systems thinking, and balancing your independent streak with genuine empathy.  The good news? These skills are learnable. Great founders don’t have to become entirely different people; they simply need to expand their toolkit. Start today by picking just one area and committing to small, consistent improvements. Your team and your startup—will thank you.
The Recognition Paradox: 
Why Truly Outstanding Leaders Thrive by Indifference to Personal Glory
By Rich Hagberg July 31, 2025
The Recognition Paradox: Why Truly Outstanding Leaders Thrive by Indifference to Personal Glory
ALL ARTICLES