Posted on Tue, Oct 11, 2005 @ 01:36 PM
Madison, New Jersey – Mike Martorella, Founder of MMI Communication, spoke recently about entrepreneurs as leaders at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies. Martorella is an executive coach and management advisor who works one-on-one with senior leaders at companies including Bunge, IBM and MCI. He has also been an entrepreneur, having started, built and then sold a successful marketing agency.
In his talk, Martorella focused on the journey from business owner to leader. “Leadership starts with the big “A” word – attitude,” said Martorella. “You start on the path to leadership by becoming aware of what you need to do – how you need to change – to allow success to happen. Effective entrepreneurial leaders embrace the unknown, they take the risk. They confront reality honestly and openly and have the attitude that failure is not an option.”
It’s also crucial for the entrepreneurial leader to engage others, Martorella observed. He talked about how one coaching client, an engineer, had to learn how to deal with the “fuzzy stuff” in order to influence the attitudes and behaviors of others. “When we first began working together, Kelly would put together plans for her team that were very task oriented. With coaching, she realized that people don’t do things because they’re told they should, but because they personally feel they must, to be successful. Then she was able set clear expectations and create an attitude of trust. She discovered that she didn’t need to micromanage. Once trust was established and people felt safe, they were willing to go the extra mile so that the team would succeed.”
Leaders must also become comfortable with the fact that they are no longer the “doers.” “They have to give themselves a promotion to leader and become the one who achieves results through others,” Martorella pointed out. “Communication becomes the primary part of a leader’s job. When a leader thinks they have communicated effectively, they need to find out if their messages are clear. They must continually ask questions and get feedback.”
Ernest Hemmingway once commented that he would have written that great novel, but he had to clean the refrigerator. Martorella noted that, like Hemmingway, every entrepreneur finds themselves with mountains of stuff to do. He advised the audience to focus on what matters most. “What are the one or two most important things you can do each day to reach your goals? Get moving on them and you build momentum towards success. Small successes are cumulative and have a positive impact on the attitudes and performance of others.”
Martorella closed the seminar with several more examples from his experience as a coach and CEO. His parting advice to students was to “love what you do. Have fun with it, or don’t do it at all. When you love what you do, you develop the clarity of purpose that leads to success.”
Mike Martorella’s communication career spans 20 years. Prior to founding MMI Communication (www.mmicom.com), he was vice chairman of Magnet Communications and CEO of ACG Communications, Public Relations and Integrated Marketing agencies. Mike has been an adjunct professor in Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Silberman College of Business Administration where he taught an MBA-level course on Executive Communication and Leadership. He is a Vice President of Professional Development for the New Jersey chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants. Mike has an undergraduate degree from St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and Master’s degree from the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut.