The Delta Awesome Primary Advisor model was designed to get ahead of preventable problems by working directly with the Founder|CEO. By combining strategy, business, and executive coaching directly for the Founder|CEO, we are able to shepherd startups through the good luck wasteland.

When we begin working with a Founder/CEO, the first thing we ask them is, “What is your definition of success?” As in, when you look to the future for your company, how will you know whether you’ve succeeded or not? For example, we here at Delta Awesome define success as flipping the entrepreneurial success ratio. Typically, nine out of every ten startups fail. We will know if we have succeeded as a company if that ratio has changed to 8/10 or smaller. Examples of other definitions of success from founders who we work with include:

How many times in the last 60 days have you heard someone say the word, “resilience.” When I hear it in a commercial on TV, a podcast I love, even on the radio, I cringe. Yes, I cringe. And, yes, you are right, I do talk about resilience for a living.

Our final workshop session is coming up this Friday, May 1st at 10am. The primary focus will be one major topic we have all been waiting for: What comes after Stage 2 - what exactly is the Good Luck Wasteland?

The topics we have discussed over the last four weeks have carved out space for us to not only work through stage 2 but prepare us for success in stage 3.

This week, our session is focused on which of the “30 Skills Every Founding Team Must Have” our participants want to focus on.

We’ve met with entrepreneurs and community members almost every day for the last 7 weeks. Through all our conversations, we have learned: As leaders, it is not our job to be a light in the darkness, but our eyes are trained to adjust quickly. We can continue to lead if we can see the way through the shadows.

Each week our sessions have transitioned to more workshop time for our participants, digging into how they can directly apply our topics and tools to their work. As we kick off registration for our fourth session, we wanted to give participants the opportunity to weigh in on what we’re going to cover.

This week, our session is focused on which of the “30 Skills Every Founding Team Must Have” our participants want to focus on.

It’s incredibly difficult to write this article. The world feels like it is falling apart, and firing someone is already not fun. In fact, it can be downright dreadful. Given COVID-19, we are in the midst of a terrifying time to terminate an employee for cause. However, it is still part of running a company, and a big part of our job as leaders is to maintain the integrity of the business and the team. This is the uglier side of being a leader.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first two sessions. It has been a privilege to learn, share, laugh, and deepen the connection between Founders. We’ve worked together to discover and discuss ways to enable entrepreneurial success in tumultuous times.

What’s the best thing you can do for your business right now? We’ve been hosting conversations with our group of a couple dozen CEOs, from entrepreneur to enterprise, each week to continue our discussion about how we can show up as leaders during this time. Through these conversations, the group has come up with the conclusion that, if your business is still operational and running, the best business thing you can do right now is simply, work on your brand’s reputation.