Copying Another Founder Only Works If It Fits You
After years of imitating Jobs, Bezos, and Gates, the Spotify founder says he learned he is a coach, not a player.
David Senra · Daniel Ek, Spotify | David SenraDaniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, was explaining why other founders' leadership lessons never quite worked for him when he shared the conclusion he said he reached only in the last five years.
"I may be a better coach than I am a player," he said. By coach, he means taking pride in how others grow. Watching the people he built Spotify with over 15 years succeed and grow gave him the most pride, with money as chips on the table for more impact.
Ek said he had always felt he could not take lessons from others whole, because conditions and company structures differ, even between Europe and America. So he had to go back to first principles to find what worked for him, and had to motivate himself for most of his life.
Ek argues there is not one founder type to copy. He said he is a different kind of founder from celebrated entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, and trying to act like them left him disillusioned. There is, in his words, only a vague resemblance, and he added, "It's just not me."
As a young entrepreneur enamored with great founders, he tried to mimic Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and the very charismatic Howard Schultz of Starbucks, reading their biographies and copying how they ran companies and lived. He said he learned from all of them but walked away disappointed every time because what made them great did not work for him.
That failure taught him that advice about how founders should run a company is useless unless it fits the founder's personality. Spotify, he said, is a reflection of him. He said copying Musk's methods "will not have the same impact" unless the methods fit your personality and are true to you.
Ek added that drive and intensity can be taught and are not entirely innate, and part of coaching is letting people know that intensity is okay. When it was put to him that the hardest thing for a founder is finding yourself, Ek said that was spot on.
Questions people ask
What does Ek mean by a coach instead of a player?
By coach, Ek means taking pride in how others grow. He says watching the people he built Spotify with over 15 years succeed and grow gave him the most pride, with money as chips on the table for more impact.
Does that mean leadership style is fixed and cannot be learned?
No. Ek believes drive and intensity can be taught and are not entirely innate, and that part of coaching is showing people that intensity is okay. But he also insists the specific methods have to fit the person, so a tactic that works for Musk will fall flat if it is not natural to you.
Why does he think most founder advice is useless?
Ek says the advice is useless unless it is tied to who you are as a person, because a company reflects its founder. A routine, meeting style, or management trick that works for one personality can fail for another, which is why he says founders have to return to first principles and find what works for them.