Lead with Confidence

As seen in the APeeling Magazine April 2020 Issue

All of us leaders, whether we are in a startup at various stages all the way to large corporations, have been faced with unparalleled challenges in the past few weeks. Every touchpoint in our org’s have felt it deeply. The human race as a whole is faced with stressful scenarios, juggling food shortages, children at home, working from home in chaotic environments. These factors and many more affect every part of a company at a time when liquidity is king.

At zero, our team has stepped into high gear. We continue to hire and grow while achieving unexpected milestones each week, shocking investors, clients and strategic partners alike.

I wanted to share a few elements of what has contributed to that ability. First of all, we all work predominantly remotely which has given us a leg up on teams that were not already set up to do so. However, even with the increased stress levels, the challenges are the same as everyone is facing.

We have built our culture on the metrics I base every decision on, which our team fondly refers to as “the ZERO way.” At zero, as each employee is onboarded, we make sure that each new team member is a good cultural fit, and understands the great value these metrics hold in our company.

Our focus in every decision is zero’s the “vision and & mission.”

In our left hand, we hold our “4 phases of growth” which is a living document of our company’s goals for the next 24 months and they are broken down into 4 key segments.

In our right hand, we hold the metrics that we use to validate every initiative, being “desire flow profitability”.

Desire

The level of desire on a scale of 1-10 for the stakeholder of every touchpoint the solve in question has.

Flow

The flow helps to eliminate actions, making life easier for the stakeholder at each one of those touchpoints.

Profitability

Can we deliver the first two with a targeted sustainable level of profit for the desired level of scale.

With these two in balance guided by integrity & credibility we have our core values bonding us as a team; glued together by our promises to ourselves, our teammates, our customers, our investors, and any other stakeholder.

With these so clearly defined zero actions, every employee is able to disagree, align, and commit to every initiative set forward, because together or apart we have a clear foundation that each person in our organization embodies.

This method is how we are able to not only hold strong, but adapt and grow with agility and clarity. This process is driving our success forward to achieve our “mission and vision.” I firmly believe it takes a village, and since our world “village” has gone remote, we are all in this together. I am opening up in the chance it makes a difference for you and your team.

Stay Home & stay safe. Let us build a strong future together.

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James Boskovic is the CEO of Zero, an innovative recycling platform and system that will revolutionize the way we recycle items and manufacture them.