I don’t know who might need to hear this today, but as a founder, are you spending some time each day thinking like a business designer rather than a doer?
Here are some significant differences between a doer and a designer:
❌ Doer: Focusing on day-to-day tasks
✅ Designer: Envisioning the future of your organization and developing strategies that align with long-term goals
❌ Doer: Managing operations reactively
✅ Designer: Proactively building scalable systems and processes
❌ Doer: Working in the business
✅ Designer: Working on the business to foster innovation and growth
❌ Doer: Handling every detail personally
✅ Designer: Delegating smartly and pushing ownership deep
❌ Doer: Resisting change to maintain control
✅ Designer: Embracing agility and adapting to market dynamics
❌ Doer: Overwhelmed by daily firefighting
✅ Designer: Prioritizing strategic initiatives and long-term planning
❌ Doer: Focused on short-term gains
✅ Designer: Investing in unique capabilities that capture growing opportunities
❌ Doer: Limited by personal capacity
✅ Designer: Scaling your impact through your strategic execution team
Making this shift requires stepping back from the operational pressures and dedicating time to envisioning and designing where your organization can go.
It’s about setting clear goals, designing systems that support those goals, and building the best team to execute.
By adopting a designer mindset, you not only position your business for scalable growth but also free yourself to focus on steering its strategic direction of your company. .
Adopt this phrase as your personal rallying cry: “I design the game for others to play.” :-)