BTL Ventures, Start-ups and Leadership Lessons from X-Men: Apocalypse
In 2016, the ninth installment of the X-Men series, Apocalypse hit the theaters.
Accidentaly awakened in 1983 after being entombed for thousand of years, En Sabah Nur, the first mutant, decided to destroy and then reshape the world according to what he envision.
Also hailed as a god named Apocalypse, he began building his team by recruiting weather-controlling mutant Ororo Munroe, Angel and Psylocke and then strengthening their abilities.
Apocalypse mere presence amplified the abilities of the mutants in his team.
While enjoying the film, I couldn’t help but see the resemblance, a perfect example if you will, of what leadership looks like when it’s working right.
Leadership Lessons and BTL Ventures.
Minus the obsession to rule the world, Apocalypse got it right in terms of team leadership by upgrading the capabilty of those he lead.
At BTL Ventures and the start-up companies in its network, we have a saying: our businesses are built on Intern blood.
It is through this we practice The Apocalypse Effect: the people we lead become better because of our leadership.
We strengthen the team’s skill set by providing them opportunities – a platform – where they can practice their profession.
College students who haven’t earned their degree yet are asked to start teams and build departments from scratch.
Case in point: our client engagement associates – all Interns – are expected to research, reach out and connect with clients to convince them to invite us to be their Strategic Partner and help them grow their business.
In the corporate world, leadership is a position people aspire and get promoted to. Not at BTL Ventures.
In our firm, leadership is a platform that’s provided to the team where they can showcase their capabilities.
For sure mistakes are made, lots of it. But that’s how you and I and the millions of successful leaders grew and got better: by doing it and learning from experience.
Final thoughts.
The most important job of the leader is to help their team get better.
The best way to do that is not to dictate every single thing individual team members must to do but to act as a platform by giving opportunities and empowering those who are under one’s leadership to exercise their abilities.
It’s time to shift from Positional Leadership and start practicing Plarform Leadership.
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Florentino Hernando is the Managing Director of FA Hernando Consulting, a managment consulting firm with the mission to build great companies.
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