Work Matters S7E3: Michele Fite - Leadership in a Start-Up

When it comes to leadership, context makes a big difference. Leaders that do well in large, established organizations are masters of securing resources, building consensus, and navigating the politics. But if you take those successful executives and put them into a leadership role in a start-up, many of them struggle - because leadership in a start-up requires a different set of skills. Michele Fite has made that difficult transition. She is a foodtech executive, Board Director, and advisor. Who currently serves as the Chief Commercial Officer of Elo Life Systems. Prior to that, Michele was the chief commercial officer at Motif FoodWorks, where As one of its first employees she led Motif’s efforts to introduce and commercialize the company’s game-changing ingredients and where I had the pleasure of working with her. But before Motif, Michele held executive roles at giant companies like Nestle and DuPont, where she was in charge of a $3.5B Nutrition & Health portfolio. In our conversation, we explore how leadership in a large, established company is different from leadership in a start-up, how her big-company experience has helped her, what she had to unlearn, and what’s really key to succeed with that transition. Whether you are an exec toying with taking the leap into the startup world or a founder looking to bring in some big company experience to help you scale, this episode offers lots of practical insights. 00:00 Why Startups Now 02:23 Startup Leadership Reality 06:37 Big Company Skills That Help 11:51 What To Unlearn Fast 18:13 Hiring Builders Not Roles 24:59 Variable Teams And Networks 29:59 Scaling Without Losing Soul 35:03 Should You Make The Leap 41:52 Closing Reflections