Everybody wants to join a mission driven company. Companies that accrue the best talent and are out to challenge the establishment with a world changing product or service. But a funny thing happens. Those castles in the sky eventually collide with cold bedrock in order to grow into sustainable enterprises.

Many call this scaling.

A thousand different decisions get made in order to lay a foundation that preserves, expands, or changes the original startup’s mission over time. Maybe it’s a new strategic initiative that comes down you just don’t agree with. Or perhaps there’s a full on pivot where the business morphs into something you didn’t sign up for in the first place!

Being a leader tasked with rallying the team and aligning them against these changing priorities is a really tough predicament. Especially if you disagree. Do you heroically voice your disagreement in public? Do you share it privately with your manager? How about your team members?

It’s a tricky business, scaling businesses.

I’m not saying there’s a right answer here. I’m just saying that this is going to inevitably happen if you jump into the world of growth stage companies. Even companies with the strongest principles and highest callings are going to make decisions you’ll shake your head at.

The question is, what are you going to do?

There’s questions of strategy and then dilemmas of principle. All very different. You’ll need to weigh the opportunity against the pain of what a potentially massive change could mean for your team, the company, and even your career. It’s difficult business being in the middle.

Culture plays a part too. Is it an environment where you are open with your team & leadership about how the work gets done, things you like and don’t like? Is there enough trust to have those dialogues? Or is it a more frenetic tops down environment where agreement and commitment has to take precedent over all else?

They see Top 100 Fastest Growing Company in the U.S. We see 100’s of complicated difficult decisions. I don’t envy you. Only those who don’t know…do.