Venture Leadership under Uncertainty: An Emerging Country Perspective

*Bilal Khalid, Md Samim Al Azad, Slimane Ed-dafali and Muhammad Mohiuddin*

### **Abstract**

Strategic planning and entrepreneurial leadership are needed for effective navigation into the volatile business environment in an era of the knowledge intensive and fast-changing business eco-system. The growing volatile and competitive business climate demands a new sort of "leadership" different from the conventional form of leadership. As a result, having either management or entrepreneurial traits in venture leaders is insufficient for business success. Leaders must be capable of both entrepreneurship and management skills to excel. This study emphasizes the notion of venture leadership that refers to entrepreneurial leadership combining leadership characteristics with an entrepreneurial mindset. In addition, venture leadership involves developing new business processes, new products and prospects for growth in established businesses, collaborating with other social institutions to combat neglected social issues, engaging in political and social movements, and contributing to the modification of prevailing policies and schemes executed by the government and civil organizations. Venture leadership is an emerging concept in business management that challenges the status quo. As a result, the relevance of venture leadership is addressed in this paper by investigating the idea of venture leadership, leadership skills, and ethics in the emerging country context of Thailand.

**Keywords:** venture leadership, leadership skills, leadership ethics

#### **1. Introduction**

Business eco-system is fast changing due to increased competition, rapidly changing advanced technology, global diversity and a multipolar economic order contributing to rapidly changing market circumstances. To maintain a competitive edge, businesses must be more versatile to respond rapidly to the effects of these developments. As a result, the venture leadership role and responsibilities are becoming less structured and require leaders with multi-skills, flexible, receptive, sensitive, and open to managing rapid changes [1]. Also, venture leaders play a critical role in the creation of new enterprises that propel growth in the global community. In many aspects of life, venture leaders employ a combination of technological inventions to create a new and productive way of doing things. A major challenge of leaders when the enterprise experience massive growth, is the

ability to transition seamlessly from a sole entrepreneur to a leader of an expanding business. Many venture leaders are usually not equipped or prepared to take on this new responsibility.

Several start-ups' leaders lack traditional management or leadership experience, while others are most productive when working alone on difficult technical challenges. However, they are capable of learning and mastering effective leadership skills. Also becoming a successful leader of a business venture does not necessitate an advanced formal education but the instinct of identifying opportunities, taking risk and transforming uncertainty into opportunities [2]. Although, many emerging entrepreneurs rely on learning on the job, this may be dangerous. Expanding ventures typically have limited tolerance for error and must function efficiently from the start to prosper [3]. If the leader is a novice and just acquiring management and leadership skills for the while on the job, the business will suffer and it may also make the stakeholders and investors feel frustrated with the process. Although, venture leaders must have basic experience in the craft and skill of leading and managing, a few insights from literature and experts may also be beneficial. Currently, the demand for venture leaders in organizations is rising daily, and studies should explore the topic of venture leadership [4]. This study elucidates more about the importance of venture leadership and the characteristics of venture leaders. While there have been papers exploring the venture leadership question, this study expands the scope by offering perspectives from an ASEAN emerging country such as Thailand.

It attempts to answer the question of how venture leadership thrives within the Thai business environment. Within this context, the concept of leadership is briefly discussed as well as the skills required to be an effective and successful leader. It covers some basic concepts for leading and managing a venture. The fundamental principles and leadership approaches presented here are meant to give a foundation for comprehending the wide range of challenges that always occur in new enterprises [5]. These concepts should not only be applied to leadership also the outcomes must be tracked and evaluated. Every one of the abilities, roles, and strategies presented here should be altered and adjusted as specific cases emerge. The discussion begins with the concept of leadership then it reviewed numerous sought-after skills that venture leaders require to control and organize the business work environment. Leadership guidelines, as a subcategory of organizational principles, can play a vital role in influencing employee perceptions, morals, and attitudes, and the relationship between leadership and followership. They can be used to help establish a common leadership culture.

### **2. Venture leadership and influence**

Leading in a fast-changing, usually hostile corporate environment is what venture leadership entails. This leadership method is extremely important when you are, launching a global high-growth business, or leading a significant shift or an innovation venture. Therefore, leadership is becoming increasingly crucial. Businesses must focus on leadership to actualize their goals and maintain their sustainability. Leadership is commonly described as the practice of influencing businesses' personnel to attain organizational objectives [6]. It refers to the capacity to influence people so that certain objectives and goals can be achieved. Leadership is also the capacity to inspire others to support and believe in the firm's aims. Leadership involves the act of influencing and directing team members on the right path. To attain business goals, the leader influences group members by displaying leadership skills. Persuading others to do something needs a variety of persuasive

#### *Venture Leadership under Uncertainty: An Emerging Country Perspective DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102870*

abilities. Leadership requires having the power to influences others. Several studies have established that the professional skills and competence that made venture leaders effective in the beginning stage of the business can inhibit them as the business expands needing more leading and managing [7, 8]. Scholars have also identified that several leaders are successful in starting and creating a business alone. Although, when the business expands and demands more workers, they more not have the essential skills to inspire and motivate their team members [9].

Ventures leaders with business acumen and entrepreneurial abilities are like captains in a soccer game who plays along with the team member to achieve a goal. Leaders do not make decisions, provide orders, and monitor their employees, they must also choose to be leaders who direct the team and point to the way. Leaders who take risks and grasp chances are critical for the future success of the firm [10]. They identified six attributes that characterized effective venture leadership. The first characteristic is the support of entrepreneurial skills. Successful venture leaders recognize the source of entrepreneurial skills to be the human element and give their full support to the acquisition of this skill. They recognize the human factor as the basis of entrepreneurial activity and work to foster its growth. The second characteristics are how they interpret and perceive business opportunities. Venture leaders can detect opportunities from afar and inculcate their value as part of the goals of the business. They defend the breakthroughs that pose a challenge to the present business model. Disruptive technology is considered an organizational and personal danger by individuals [11]. However, an effective venture leadership can successfully communicate to others about the prospective advantages of disruptive innovations. To find a new valuable opportunity and ensure that the company is positioned successfully, venture leadership is continually questioning the assumptions underpinning the prevalent logic. Venture leaders also continuously evaluate the questions regarding identifying opportunities and employing the resources required to maintain the existence of the organization, business, developing a strong relationship with partners, and defining the business achievements and goals. In addition, effective leaders think that to produce more value, a business should strategically employ entrepreneurship skills.

Additionally Young Entrepreneur Council [12] also identified 12 significant traits that are required for an effective venture leader. The first feature is that a leader should be flexible and willing to adjust plans as work progresses. The second important feature is humility. An effective venture leader must have a modest demeanor. They should examine their role if the business fails and not point accusing fingers at others. Also, if the company succeeds, this should not be viewed only as their accomplishment. Rather it should be considered a collective effort. Another important trait of venture leaders is their ability to focus on important issues. They concentrate their energy and time on the success of the business. They are also keen on making decisions that will add maximum benefit to the business. Another trait is their die-hard attitude. Leaders are not in haste rather they are determined and resolute in their willingness to succeed. Apart from this, they are vision carriers, they are like the eagle that can see what is afar [13]. They also make sure that their team members understand this vision and are ready to run with it. Successful leaders can strike a good balance between anxiety and trust. They never abandon both their pragmatic and imaginative beliefs. Venture leaders own their achievements. They exert control over external forces. This is one of the requirements they must embrace. Venture leaders see daily occurrences favorably. And they encourage their staff to remain upbeat. Venture leaders can successfully communicate and promote their business. They can persuade customers to buy items from their businesses. Lastly, venture leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses [14].

Moreover, Jaiswal and Dhar [15] in their study identified personality traits of a successful venture leader and suggested nine aspects of venture leadership. These are decisiveness, teamwork, risk-taking, persistency, ability to identify consumers' needs, visionary, innovation, problem-solving ability, and adaptability to changes. Generally, leadership as a concept applies to a wide range of social situations, including politics, sports, organizations, and business enterprises. It is undoubtedly agreeable that the characteristics and actions that influence the individual to be a successful political leader differ greatly from the ones that influence another individual to be an excellent sports team captain. This is also true for business executives. The qualities and actions required of leaders of huge corporations differ from what is required of leaders of business ventures [16].

The use of influence is at the heart of effective leadership. Influence is the key instrument used by leaders in advancing the venture toward achieving its objectives. To drive a venture ahead, the leader also uses methods such as remuneration, employee assessment and feedback, and organizational structure. For venture leadership positions, seven influence techniques have been identified as essential. The first technique is logical reasoning. This is the use of data and evidence to construct a logically sound argument. The second is friendliness which is the use of encouragement, praise, and fostering of goodwill. The third is a coalition which involves the mobilization of other team members [17]. The fourth technique is bargaining, this involves making deals using favors or rewards. The fifth is assertiveness which is taking a forthright and aggressive stand. The sixth is obtaining the backing of higher authority in the business hierarchy to lend weight to their proposal. The last technique is sanctioning which involves both the use of incentives and punishment.

Venture leaders must master a range of influence techniques. As the company expands, they will be unable to rely exclusively on the confidence that comes with being the founder. According to research, allowing employees to influence how the business operates increases their motivation. Todorovic and Schlosser [18] identified that the biggest challenge for leaders is not if they make wise judgments and take bold action, but it is whether they educate and motivate people to become leaders and develop an enterprise that can maintain success even in their absence. Venture leaders should wield influence without creating hubris or a sense of superiority. This might be challenging for new leaders who are unaccustomed to influence and responsibility. To summarize, tyrants seldom inspire substantial effort among followers [19]. People are more influenced by frontiers that genuinely care about their progress. A business leader is not expected to be preoccupied with personal progress in non-business domains like an individual personal financial ability or romantic life. Generally, individuals are more responsive to leaders that can give them a steady supply of difficult assignments that match their existing capabilities, temperament, and skills [20].

### **3. Leadership skills**

Achievement in a new or expanding venture is not by happenstance. It is made possible by dedicated and skilled leaders who play strategic roles in the venture. As a leader of a developing venture, you impact performance by establishing objectives, detecting and reducing impediments to established objectives' accomplishment, and successfully organizing, planning, and regulating resources to achieve elevated levels of success. The focus of this section is the leadership skills needed in the daily situations that arise in a start-up venture. For many leaders, leading successfully as the business expands may be a challenging issue. The majority of first-time leaders do not have traditional management training. Their sole reference point might be

*Venture Leadership under Uncertainty: An Emerging Country Perspective DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102870*

those who have led and supervised them at one time or the other along with their careers. They might have not been also exposed to professional leadership training. Although, professional leadership training is not required to be a good leader, however, the principles and skills offered by formal training can result in more successful performance. Leaders that do not adjust to a leadership position as they ought to, usually have to relinquish management of their business to more experienced individuals. This is something that can be done, and several venture leaders have done it. However, acquiring personal leadership capabilities and skills will be critical for leaders that desire to be at the front seat of the decision-making for their company for the long term [18].

The value of leadership in ventures is generally acknowledged by seasoned entrepreneurs and most investors [21]. In determining the success of a venture, only real performance counts. Wishes, good intentions, and promises are meaningless to the investors if good implementation and performance are absent. Moreover, the majority of the critical skills and talents required for execution are teachable, and any leader that is open to learning these skills has the highest chance of success [22]. Most leaders learn to lead others through learning and analyzing, as well as on-thejob experience. Irrespective of the type of venture, leaders must have and continue to cultivate several fundamental skills. A skill is an ability or expertise to do a certain activity. Leadership skills should be acquired and honed. Generally, leaders must strive to cultivate skills in these key areas as leaders: Team building, conceptual, self-awareness, communication, analytical, resilience, and decision making.

#### **3.1 Team building skill**

It is rare to see a leader who can operate like a hermit and yet be successful. Most ventures are too complex for an individual to run without assistance. Successful leaders are those who have mastered the skill of team building. They have the ability to intimate others with their idea, therefore, enabling them to grow into a cohesive team that is entirely centered on one goal. Team building focuses on recognizing the skill and talent gaps needed for the business venture to thrive, and then selecting individuals who possess these qualities. Successful leaders possess the ability to recruit workers, investors, and advisors who fill gaps in the venture's skill pool and help it meet its objectives. Building an effective team needs all of the skills listed above, as well as a healthy dose of humility. Successful leaders emphasize the necessity of employing and encouraging people who are more skilled than them. Indeed, the most successful leaders are not intimidated by the idea of recruiting workers that are better skilled than them. This remark may appear self-evident, yet it is not unusual for leaders to feel intimidated by individuals that more skilled than them. Before now, leaders have been used to competing with others all through their formal professional training. That competition does not simply vanish, a leader will need to realign their thought to subdue the competitive instinct. Replace sentiments of rivalry among their contemporaries with sentiments of team building which requires sacrificing personal pride and employing competent individuals to assist the venture to achieve its set goals and succeed against competitors. The basis of an effective team is straightforward: clear objectives and responsibilities. Exceptionally brilliant individuals are typically selfmotivated. They desire to perform excellently and love working on well-defined, quantifiable goals. Leaders in ventures have discovered that they can anticipate a high level of dedication from bright individuals devoid of administrative interference. That is, brilliant individuals typically perform optimally when leaders set goals for them without interference. Self-organization is common among teams formed around specific tasks and goals [23].

### **3.2 Conceptual skills**

The capacity to envision the fuller picture, the intricacies of the entire business system, and different parts are linked together are all examples of conceptual skills. Leaders utilize conceptual skills to build long-term visions for businesses. Conceptual skills also help the leader to forecast how future activities will impact the business years to come. Leadership, particularly visionary leadership, is one of the most essential cornerstones of success in ventures today. Every venture must create a vision and purpose to drive the various decisions that must be taken now and in the future. Visionary businesses have principles that are founded on an unchanging fundamental concept that spans immediate consumer needs and market realities. People are guided and inspired by the unifying concept of innovative firms. A uniting concept, when combined with a strong "cult-like" ethos, fosters great camaraderie and corporation. Tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity is another important skill that the venture leader must cultivate. In reality, a leader should cultivate the capacity to absorb uncertainty, allowing the other team members to concentrate on the core aim. The ambiguity that all ventures face can be alleviated over time by market investigation and discovery. To facilitate positive growth, the venture leader must select which trials the business will undertake and the interpretation of the findings. The most successful technology ventures have frequently been founded by visionaries. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is arguably the most well-known among the visionaries. Steve's underlying vision was to develop an "incredibly wonderful product." For over 20 years, this basic vision aroused great dedication and commitment from staff and has presented the world with a steady stream of new and ground-breaking products.

#### **3.3 Self-awareness skill**

Self-improvement in any capacity necessitates taking charge of establishing your self-identity through personal analysis. To do this, the individual needs to consider circumstances that they were successful and identify elements that contributed to their success. Was it hard work, sound planning, problem-solving ability, patience? Critical examination of past experiences necessitates self-talk, contemplation, and analysis. Sadly, recollections of memories frequently leave out important facts, information, and occurrences. Keeping a daily notebook is a wonderful way of tracking important aspects of one's achievement. Maintaining a diary for 5–10 days on daily interactions with others requires discipline [24]. The diary may be easily organized by including a date and summarizing remarks on what you did daily, whom you interacted with, the kind of thoughts you had, and the method you employed in solving problems faced. Concise and simple diary entries will aid in the evaluation and analysis process. At the very least, a daily entry of 10 days gives a picture of your thinking and behavior pattern. Another way to obtain self-awareness data is by completing self-assessment questionnaires. This can be a piece of private information that is only accessible to you. Invariably, feedback is required to develop any skill. Online tests of attitude, personality, talents, and skills can also be a source of eye-opening information, colleagues and friends can also provide feedback. However, some co-workers and acquaintances may be hesitant to offer genuine, revealing thorough and accurate comments. As a result, you can develop a short memo explaining why their feedback is essential to your growth. Following this method can convince them to be willing to help. Comparing other people's comments with the personal analysis you have conducted on selfawareness is instructive and useful. You will discover directly how people see you, allowing you to compare this knowledge to the way you see yourself. There might

be disagreements that must be properly assessed. After completing and analyzing the review, it is time to evaluate the skills that need to be developed. The evaluation system will undoubtedly reveal areas that require improvement. Overall, the self-evaluation should concentrate on three key areas to improve leadership skills: attitudes, values, and personality.
