The Big Idea

At absolutely any stage of a company, or any level of CTO leadership, showing up as an enthusiastic and energetic voice will pave the way for impact and profound results. Results that may even surprise you with its possibility and surprising manifestations. Enthusiasm draws humans to one another. Combined with expertise, realism and authenticity, it forms the basis for an executive presence that cements you into the present and lights the flames of your leadership in the future.

Webster’s dictionary defines a catalyst as “an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action”. A catalyst someone who ignites action in others. They are proactively challenging the team to evolve an inefficient process, think about a challenge through a different lens, suggest ideas for new product or features, and (most importantly) encourage effect change in others.

To build any technology, you need a problem solver in the leadership team. This person needs to be a catalytic leader. Through their participation in the leadership team, you’ll see the following characteristics:

1. Contributing solutions to help unblock the team
2. Not a people pleaser but respectful and optimistic
3. Someone that you’d want to have in conversations
4. Driven by vision and excitement drawing people to them

In smaller teams, you may not have a specific person, but could apply all of these principles to your team as a whole.

Traditionalist versus Catalyst Mindset

The Catalyst mindset is about being dynamic, innovative, and proactive in driving change and embracing new ideas, as opposed to the Traditionalist mindset which is more about maintaining stability, adhering to established methods, and being cautious about change.

Traditionalist Mindset

• Adherence to Established Methods Prefers sticking to standard procedures and protocols.
• Stability and Predictability Values maintaining the status quo and minimizing risk.
• Cautious on Innovation Slow to adopt new technologies or methodologies unless they have proven effective elsewhere.
• Decision Making Based on Past Experiences Relies heavily on historical data and past experiences for decision-making.
• Resistance to Change Often resists altering established methods and practices.
• Focus on Minimizing Risk Prioritizes safe, risk-averse strategies.
• Typically perceived as quiet, passive, reactive, order taker, and/or negative.

Catalyst Mindset

• Embraces Change and Innovation Actively seeks and drives change, open to experimenting with new ideas.
• Risk-Tolerant and Adaptive Willing to take calculated risks for potential significant improvements.
• Forward-Thinking and Visionary Focuses on future possibilities, not just present situations.
• Empowers and Inspires Others Encourages creativity and independent thinking within the team.
• Flexible and Agile Adaptable to changing circumstances and eager to leverage new opportunities.
• Learns from Failure Views failures as opportunities for learning and growth.
• Typically perceived as engaging, generative, proactive, driver, and/or solution oriented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFaAAtL82uM

You know you’re struggling when

What does the opposite of catalytic leadership look like? We may be all too familiar with what it looks like because we may be caught in the grips of this leadership style and its consequences as we are reading this. The skeptic. The realist. The interrogator. The mouse.

You’re working with someone and technically they may not be a negative force, but how do you know when you’re missing out?

• The CTO is viewed as an implementor not a strategic leader
• The CTO is not included in executive leadership meetings.
• The CTO is being avoided or left out of strategic conversations and brought in only for tactical/operations discussions.
• The CTO stays quiet in leadership meetings, does not inject ideas, and doesn’t participate in the discussion unless specifically asked.