Steve Tobak - Real Leaders Dont Follow: Being Extraordinary in the Age of the Entrepreneur

Advance Praise for Real Leaders Dont Follow

Anyone interested in running a companyhigh-tech or otherwisewill treasure Steve Tobaks book. It provides new insights that clearly spell out what it takes to be successful in a competitive world. This book will be immensely useful to both first-time and seasoned entrepreneurs!

PHILIPPE KAHN, CEO OF FULLPOWER TECHNOLOGIES, FOUNDING CEO OF BORLAND, CREATOR OF THE CAMERA PHONE

The media-hyped tsunami of entrepreneurship is creating a drought of true innovation and leadership. Is this business book heresy? Nope. Just real insight and clear thinking from Steve Tobaka highly successful business executive, entrepreneur and damn good writer who knows of what he speaks. Steve gets it right and tells it straight. Real Leaders Dont Follow is an extraordinary read that no aspiring entrepreneur or business leader should do without.

JIM MCCANN, FOUNDER AND CEO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC.

This book is spot-on for todays business climate. Steves incisive analysis of todays wantrepreneur craze is a refreshingly honest, well-informed read. If youre looking for a solid guide to inform business decisionsnot only for tomorrows entrepreneurs, but for anyone who wants to apply useful lessonspick it up.

RICK MYERS, FOUNDER AND CEO, TALENT ZOO

Steve covers a wide range of topics on entrepreneurism, business building and leadership in Real Leaders Dont Followand youll appreciate the way he consistently takes a strong position that will have you reflecting on and challenging your own core beliefs. Every emerging or veteran leader can take away powerful lessons from this book to apply on their own journey.

DOUG MACK, CEO OF FANATICS, FORMER CEO OF ONE KINGS LANE

Entrepreneur Press, Publisher

Cover Design: Andrew Welyczko

Production and Composition: Eliot House Productions

2015 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

All rights reserved.

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ebook ISBN: 978-1-61308-320-8

For tomorrows business leaders.

CONTENTS

C AROLE JELEN, MY AGENT AT WATERSIDE, was instrumental in helping me flesh out the books concept. Without her guidance, encouragement, and efforts, this book would not have been possible. Im also grateful to Jillian McTigue of Entrepreneur Press for her faith in a first-time author and for being such a great publisher to work with.

Many thanks to my editor, Jennifer Dorsey, whose feedback and contributions to the development, readability, and flow of the manuscript were invaluable. And thanks to Karen Billipp and her team at Eliot House Productions for the editing, fact checking, and magic that turns a bunch of words into a quality book.

Im indebted to Jeff Misenti, chief digital officer at Fox News and Fox Business, and Ray Hennessey, editorial director at Entrepreneur Media, for providing me with a platform with which to engage a broad audience. Not to mention the prophetic Michael Kanellos, who gave me the initial idea and opportunity to blog about management and careers way back in 2007.

Nobody tells you how insane it is to write a book on a deadline without taking time off from your day job. I didnt think I could do it and I couldnt have without Kims support, guidance, and patience. Her capacity to listen while her neurotic husband explores every notion in his head, and keep him sane without going nuts herself, is the stuff of legend. And throughout the process, one creature never left my side: my always loyal and entertaining best friend, Daphnie.

T HIS IS A STORY ABOUT A KID WHO GREW UP in a tiny rent-controlled apartment in the Big Apple. His folks were working-class people who didnt have much, but they worked hard every day at their lousy jobs for one reason: to ensure their children had a chance at a better life.

With a powerful work ethic and a strong sense of self-reliance, this kid, the youngest of two boys, left the streets of Brooklyn behind, graduated from college, found his way to the high-tech industry, and beat the odds to become a successful senior executive.

Life was good, but after a decade of corporate leadership, our hero surprised everyone by walking away from that lucrative gig to become an entrepreneur. Then the merchant gods smiled down on him, blessed his righteous quest, and bestowed all good things upon his management consulting business. And he lived happily ever after. The end.

Pretty inspiring stuff, huh? Except thats not exactly how it happened. At least, thats not how it happened to me. You see, Im that kid.

The first partabout my parents, my early life, and my high-tech careeris entirely true. But I didnt actually give up the life of a high-powered executive to become anything. I did it because, after 23 years of climbing the corporate ladder like some crazed workaholic monkey, I simply couldnt do it anymore. My candle, which had burned so very brightly for so long (yes, at both ends), had burned out.

As I told an executive recruiter who contacted me about a CEO position soon thereafter, I dont need this crap, I said. Im done.

Are you just sort of done, he asked, or are you stick a fork in me Im done done?

Get a fork, I replied. Im done done.

That was 11 years ago12 if you count the time it took to write this book. Im not sure that last year spent writing wasnt the toughest of all, but thats a story for another time. Suffice to say there were no gods, no blessings, and no bestowings involved. This new life is no less stressful or more gratifying than the previous one.

But I had no illusions it would be otherwise. Its not as if I set out to change the world. Id already spent a couple of decades helping to bring digital technology like advanced computer chips, low-cost personal computers, and mobile devices to the masses. That was all the world changing I intended to do.

No, I quit the corporate life and struck out on my own because it was time to change my world. All I really wanted to do at that point was stop moving and sit still for a while. I was tired of all the meetings, all the conflict, and all the politics. I was tired of living on airplanes and waking up in hotel beds with no idea what city or country I was in. I needed a break.

Besides, that was early 2003. Everyone was still reeling from the dotcom bomb. There was no Web 2.0no blogosphere, no social media, no user-generated contentand no smartphone revolution. There was certainly no entrepreneurship craze. All that would come later.

Dont get me wrong. When the internet bubble burst it put a damper on things, but there were still plenty of startups, founders, and VCs aroundthe same ones Id been working with for decades. Real entrepreneurs with real businesses. Real CEOs who ran real companies. Real investors with real venture funds.

We still have those same professional entrepreneurs, for lack of a better term, but now weve added something new: a much larger group of entrepreneurial amateurs and enthusiasts. It seems that everyone wants to be an entrepreneur these days.