Fortune Small Business Magazine Article on Leadership

[PBGray]

I'm writing an article for Fortune Small Business Magazine, a sister publication of Fortune. We have a circulation of two million; the article also will appear on the combined website of CNN/Fortune/Money, reaching millions more viewers online. The article is for the section called Leadership. More specifically, I'm writing about a recent analysis of leadership style by a former professor at Harvard Business School. His theory: Many entrepreneurs have a style he dubs "pyromaniac," which means they are constantly firing off emails via Blackberry or calls to the home office when they're on the road that cause staffers to drop everything to respond.
Are you a pyro? Even more interestingly, are you a reformed pyro? What are the pros and cons of this kind of leadership style?
Have you sworn off the Blackberry, the emails, the office "fire drills"? If you are interested in discussing the topic, please drop me an email at
pbgray@comcast.net
Many thanks,
Patricia B. Gray
Contributing Writer
Fortune Small Business Magazine

[bballoakie]

I would think that a Style like that would be very detrimental to a business. I can understand doing that for VERY important things, but not constantly. I think that Entrepreneurs need to have to be true leaders in the sense that they teach someone to manage their business while they are away. Being a "pyro", as you put it, would be a bad thing for the Entrepreneur also.

Entrepreneurs need to take a more passive approach to their businesses, they need to guide the business, not baby it. They are there to help the business grow, if you baby your business you can miss out on very important things, such as places to expand, etc.

I do think it is necessary to baby a business while it is a baby, how long it needs to be babied depends on the business, but the goal in creating a business is to help it to grow, so that it can be self sufficient, just as you do with children. If you hound your teens constantly(I mean constantly), you will see your teens pulling away from you, if you check up with them on major things, they may appreciate it. The same will apply in business. You want to aim to make a business self sufficient, you want to be able to teach someone how to run your business, and then sit back(or pursue another opportunity)while it takes care of itself, and then reap the rewards.


If you would like to use any of this in your article, please contact me at eric@teenbusinessman.com for permission.

~Eric

[Young Spark]

OoOoOoOoOoO. DEFINITELY interested in reading this article, I'll shoot you an email later. I will say I'm not necessarily a pyromaniac, but I can have times where I feel like business need's to be taken care of in a timely manner (meaning if I'm doing something, I have to put it on pause unless its a event that can't be... example, funeral or wedding or something... just so I can take care of a little business.)

[The Stealthy One]

Sorry, I'm not (for the most part) like this. I tend to let good people do work - if they screw something up...now that's a different story!

[columbus]

His theory: Many entrepreneurs have a style he dubs "pyromaniac," which means they are constantly firing off emails via Blackberry or calls to the home office when they're on the road that cause staffers to drop everything to respond.
Are you a pyro? Even more interestingly, are you a reformed pyro? What are the pros and cons of this kind of leadership style?

The successful entrepreneurs are the smartest part of society. That is why they are not pyromaniacs.

[Young Spark]

Yeah, pyromaniacs are as the name implies... PryoManiacs Now, like I said, I'm the type that when business needs to be handled I handle it, but don't get me mixed up with being demanding like a pyromaniac... that's a different story.