New Year's reSOLUTIONS: Trust & Discipline

As a company grows, two leadership qualities will help an executive vice president stay excellent

By Michel Bayan

I work for a mobile salesforce automation company, Fragmob. This has been one of the best business years of my life because of the company’s (and some other companies I’m involved in) tremendous growth. A year ago, we had a single business customer and were virtually unknown in our industry. Today, we are working with 7 direct selling companies, two of them on the Inc 500 and one, a multibillion dollar company. In early 2015 the Fragmob platform will be available to almost seven million independent reps in about 20 countries. But, with great success comes new challenges. For us the biggest challenge will be to scale and to do so very quickly and efficiently. In order to accomplish this, my resolution for next year can be boiled down to one word: focus. Focus brings clarity, and clarity is power. There are two main elements of this for me:: trusting the team and staying disciplined.

Trust

As I move onto new projects I have built a larger team around me to take over and level up on the tasks and responsibilities I have had all year. However, it is not always easy to give up control of the tasks that have been my focus for so long. I need to trust that the team I built can handle it with the same level of efficiency I expect from myself. With the rapid pace our business is growing, it is essential for me to delegate tasks. They don’t have to do exactly like I would in order for it to be done right.

Discipline

Leaders need discipline. andI need to make sure I take time to plan the day and do the most important things first, not just the easiest things. As an executive, people are constantly throwing things your way, you need to be able to sort out the chaos and prioritize. Don’t let anything onto your agenda that will get in the way of your goal. Time is our most valuable asset.

This year we have added a significant number of customers and next year, we will double that number of new customers. Continued growth and focus will be the key pillars to our success in the years to come. Constant and never-ending improvement is a mantra for the team.

Michel Bayan is the Executive Vice President of Fragmob