Creating Your Community
It can be lonely at the top. We’ve all heard the Shakespearean epithet, updated because most of us aren’t royalty. But for those of us who are founders & CEOs, the saying nevertheless holds true.
Good advisors are one thing. A great team is another. But having support for the unique challenges of leading an organization - particularly through a growth or funding cycle - might mean finding a new crowd. Surrounding ourselves with the right people helps us feel seen and understood in times of stress, and provides us with support in restoring ourselves to our best.
Community Is Key
Community is both hardwired into us as human beings and is also a crucial component of good mental health. We’re driven to it because we need it, even if that looks different for everyone. Community for founders is particularly important, because of the unique challenges of the role.
Smart founders will call in family and friends for emotional support, even if they know nothing about business. Smart CEOs usually have a therapist they see regularly. Most leaders both mentor others and have their own mentors. But how many have a group of peers who understands exactly what they’re going through, and has the experience and insights that can make the difference between ‘done the easy way’ vs ‘done the hard way.’
For instance, the right community will understand just how impactful your small wins are to you; a group of peers willing to open a virtual bottle of sparkling because that product bug that’s been holding you back for way too long has now been confirmed as fixed, and you can finally ship the update your customers are waiting for.
The Networking Hustle
Networking is important for founders, too. Mainly for the sake of business relationships and partnerships, it might also be a place to find members of your community “in the wild.”
Network at local events to find new clients and potential strategic partnerships; these connections can be invaluable for revenue growth and marketing reach. Networking can also uncover super-connectors, people who are tapped into your local - or global - business community.
But a network is a very different thing than a community. You will likely be able to find people in your network who can answer questions for you and help you out. But community is different; it’s about people who not only understand your challenges, they see your challenges reflected in theirs. They care about your outcomes. They value connecting over a shared passion - entrepreneurship - because they know they will get as much out of it as you do.
What’s Holding You Back?
Especially when you’re talking about something as specific as leading a growing business, it’s tough to find true peers. And even if you find fellow founders who also see the value in setting up a peership community, It can be tough to get something started, especially when you’re talking about people with a lot of responsibilities and very busy schedules.
Balancing running a business, having a family, trying to guard some personal time, all on top of the requirements of merely adulting in 2024…it requires concerted effort.
That’s not a bad thing. If you have a talent for organizing, take advantage of that to set up a group that meets regularly enough and commits to each other. (Mine, set up by not me, has a fun name to represent that support each other…we call ourselves The Underwires.)
If you’re not an organizer but you like the sound of something organized, keep an ear out when you’re at networking events, or you could put out a call on your favorite social media platform for leads. If you know a super-connector, ask them.
Curated vs Creating Community
The alternative to figuring it out on your own is to participate in a curated CEO development group or course that suits your needs and the needs of your business’ future. There are many that exist, and at every price point.
“Masterminds” are one of them, developed in the 1920s by Napoleon Hill. For decades, they have been successfully leveraging peer mentorship within a proven framework to coach leaders to the right solutions to their problems.
This is exactly why CanWCC’s Flip the Script program includes Roundtables as part of the free curriculum. The women going through the bias training and practicing in the pitching simulation can bring their roadblocks to their peers and get insight and feedback from women who are also in the program and experiencing their own challenges.
In this format, everyone learns solutions to problems they may have not encountered yet, preparing them for the day they do.
The Collective
Professional peer mentorship programs often resonate with women who have relied on “a good brainstorming session” to help them achieve some of their most impressive of successes.
If you are interested in participating in a mastermind program, sign up for CanWCC’s free community newsletter to be first in line for the launch of The Collective in 2025.
Flip the Script is funded by the Government of Canada through a grant from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED)’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy.
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