How to Scale Your Business: Get Out of the Way

I was fortunate enough to meet with David Van Andel, Chairman and CEO of the Van Andel Institute, a medical and scientific institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan that was founded in 1996 by philanthropists Jay and Betty Van Andel with an estimated endowment of $1B. We discussed the state of medicine, healthcare and business, and I told him about the state of small business and entrepreneurship as I see it today.

David is the son of Jay Van Andel, great American entrepreneur who co-founded Amway, one of the world's largest direct selling businesses. After 55 years, the business continues to grow and expand throughout the world, employing more than 15,000 people.

The key in building an organization like Amway, David told me, was in recognizing that while the business could be based on personal values and individual industry, if the founders didn't expand their circle and trust others to do the work, they would have a much smaller impact. This is something that David integrates into his leadership of the Van Andel Institute.

In his book, An Enterprising Life, Jay Van Andel says that from the very beginning he and his partner, Richard DeVos, hired people to do things they couldn't do themselves, and they quickly recognized that this was an asset compared to their competition.

"(We learned) to stay out of the shop and let other people do what they do best," wrote Jay Van Andel. "Delegating responsibility is essential - even for some of the most important work."

What I observe in many entrepreneurs is that they are somewhat stuck in the small business mindset that "if I don't do it, it won't be done right." This perspective makes meaningful growth virtually impossible, because the company can only scale so far around a single human being.

An entrepreneur who wants to build something large needs to be able to scale his business across multiple people, and to put leadership, authority and opportunity in employees' hands.

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.