Robert Glazer

Robert “Bob” Glazer is a serial entrepreneur who has worked at think tanks such as Arthur D. Little and incubators such as Cambridge Innovation Center before founding a host of his own companies and charities. His longest-running priority, Acceleration Partners, began in 2007 and works with clients worldwide to develop and scale their affiliate partner programs. He thinks people glamorize entrepreneurship to their detriment.

“Successful entrepreneurship is something you see in the rearview mirror,” confided Glazer, who divides would-be founders into three distinct groups. “The wantrepreneurs think being entrepreneurial is cool but lack the comfort with risk-taking that is foundational to going the distance,” he explained. “Intrapreneurs are risk-takers and innovators but flourish more readily within the protective space of a corporate structure. And true entrepreneurs have this passion to do something specific that is burning inside of them and making them feel that every day they aren’t doing that thing is killing them!”

Glazer has devoted the better part of his professional life to understanding how to turn that passion into sustainable enterprises that make money and satisfy our human longing for purpose and personal growth. That he has succeeded may be inferred from the abundance of “best places to work” recognition he’s received in publications such as Forbes, Inc., Fortune, Ad Age and Entrepreneur and by Glassdoor and other organizations.

In this episode, you will learn the approaches Glazer uses to elevate expectations on his team. Above all, says Glazer, the more transparent your culture is, the more resilient it’s likely to be. “A great culture is like Gandhi’s famous quote about happiness: When what your company does, says, and thinks are in alignment,” said Glazer. “That’s the kind of company I want to keep.”

You will learn:

•  3:00   Are you in a vicious circle or vicarious circle?
•  5:00   How to fight through the pain of learning something new.
•  7:00   Why hard work beats talent.
• 14:00  The #1 trait entrepreneurs need to have.
• 15:00  How to avoid being a “WANTrepreneur.”
• 24:00  How Friday Forward was born.
• 29:00  Why you should not call your coworkers “family.”

Resources:

• Follow Robert Glazer on Twitter.
• Read the Friday Forward mentioned in the episode.