Brewdog Founder: The Untold Story Of One Britain’s Fastest Growing Companies: James Watt

1. Embrace Constraints as Catalysts

View constraints not as limitations but as beautiful, catalytic forces that compel you to think differently and find innovative, better ways to achieve your goals. This approach can lead to breakthroughs like crowdfunding or unique marketing strategies when resources are scarce.

2. Confront Brutal Facts with Faith

Adopt the ‘Stockdale paradox’ by confronting the harsh realities of your current situation head-on, while simultaneously maintaining unwavering faith that you will ultimately prevail. This balance prevents blindness to challenges and fuels resolve.

3. Align Employee Incentives with Ownership

To inspire employees to act like owners, make them owners by aligning incentives through equity or profit-sharing. This fosters a shared sense of investment and motivates the team to contribute to the company’s collective success.

4. Take Full Leadership Responsibility

Accept full personal responsibility for every issue within your business, recognizing that all outcomes are a direct consequence of your actions or decisions. This mindset prevents scapegoating and drives genuine problem-solving and self-improvement.

5. Co-Create Culture with Your Team

Build your company’s culture collaboratively with your employees, rather than in isolation, to ensure it genuinely reflects how people feel and act. This approach creates a stronger, more inclusive, and impactful workplace environment.

6. Master Business Finance

Prioritize understanding finance as the language and scorekeeping system of business, as ignoring it is often the downfall of small businesses. This fundamental knowledge is crucial for tracking performance and making informed decisions.

7. Apply Two Marketing Tests

Before launching any marketing initiative, ask two questions: ‘Could another business do this?’ (if yes, reconsider) and ‘Will this give me a 10x return compared to competitors?’ This ensures uniqueness and maximizes impact, especially for challenger brands.

8. Prioritize Difficult Discussions in Meetings

Start senior team meetings by having everyone write down and discuss the three most difficult challenges the business is currently facing before addressing anything else. This ensures problems are confronted directly and not overlooked.

9. Foster a Community of Advocates

Shorten the distance between your business and its customers by involving them deeply, turning them into advocates, ambassadors, and even owners. This builds loyalty and creates a powerful, engaged community that supports your mission.

10. Embrace Personal Transparency as a Leader

Be transparent with your team about your struggles and fears, especially during difficult times, to build trust and foster a sense of shared experience. This approach can be more effective than maintaining a stoic facade.

11. Seek External Leadership Guidance

Actively seek help and guidance from external advisors, like an independent non-executive chairman, to evolve your leadership style as your company grows. This support is crucial for transitioning from an intense founder to a CEO of a larger organization.

12. Understand Your Personal History

Engage in self-reflection or therapy to understand how your early life experiences shaped your worldview and default patterns. This self-awareness allows you to identify and change unhelpful behaviors for personal and professional growth.

13. Practice Daily Breathwork

Incorporate daily breathwork or similar calming techniques into your routine to manage anxiety and maintain an even keel. This helps in making better decisions and being a more effective leader, especially during stressful periods.

14. Monitor Phone Usage

Regularly monitor the minutes you spend on your phone each day to manage anxiety and improve mental well-being. This helps in maintaining a healthier relationship with technology in an increasingly anxious society.

15. Use Inadequacy as Motivation

Leverage feelings of inadequacy or having a ‘chip on your shoulder’ as a powerful motivational force. This internal drive can push you to achieve ambitious goals and prevent you from quitting when faced with challenges.

16. View Competition as Success Metric

Consider competitors copying your ideas or attempting to undermine you as a sign that you are doing well and are a significant threat. This perspective encourages continuous improvement and reinforces that you are on the right track.

17. Design Marketing with Inseparable Context

Create marketing campaigns where the underlying context and genuine intention cannot be easily separated from the message itself. This prevents misinterpretation when people only see a snapshot of your campaign.

18. Avoid Outsourcing Key Early Functions

In the early stages of a startup, avoid outsourcing core functions like marketing, even if you have the cash, to stay close to the data, insights, and maintain authenticity. Partners may not care as much or understand your business as deeply as you do.

19. Ensure Marketing Authenticity

Ensure all marketing activities are genuinely tied to and underpinned by your core beliefs and passions as a company. This prevents your messaging from appearing hollow, fake, or inauthentic to your audience.

20. Provide Anonymous Reporting Channels

Implement multiple, anonymous channels for employees to report concerns, such as an independently managed ethics hotline, in addition to traditional HR. This ensures pure, undiluted feedback and protects individuals from potential reprisal.

21. Recognize Varied Employee Drive

Understand that not all team members will share the same intense drive or level of personal investment in the business as a founder. Adjust expectations and leadership style to accommodate these differences, rather than pushing everyone too far.