The Language Of Performance

Problem

If you are an inexperienced CEO in the startup game there is a language you can master to improve company design and step into your potential as a leader - significantly more efficiently than 99.9% of founders around the world.

As the CEO you will be inundated with generic business jargon from advisors, investors, team members and the ecosystem at large all around you. Certain words and company departments might seem common language but you can very easily leave your team misaligned or be second guessing your own judgement if you don’t control the context and structure of language.

Terms like "marketing," "sales," and "customer success" sound clear but hold vastly different meanings for people.

Remember humans don’t act on logic they act on their meaning, or their own interpretation of logic. So the degree to which there is misalignment between two or more humans, this will directly impact focus regardless of how motivated or intentional a person tries to be.

Playing within this ambiguity as CEO puts your team and stakeholders at risk of miscommunication, and ultimately you will be picking up the cheque for opportunity cost - which is often impossible to recognise in the moment.

The long-term consequence of vague language and poor accountability to shared structure is a fragmented company model. For the CEO this means your vision will be constantly compromised by unclear objectives and inconsistent team ownership.

Perspective

I can teach you the power of precise language in company model design by looking at growth through the lens of performance. The concept of performance is not just about hitting targets or achieving metrics—it's about ensuring team members understand their roles, impact and contribution to the overall growth engine of your company. Performance is about knowing what good looks like and this is where Hillspeed Group's Company Model Strategy comes in.

A Company Model breaks down growth into three core pillars of movement which allows you to easily see the 9 performance levers across that model that we can talk to if we want to manipulate the design of the company in any way.

A Company Model takes generic terminology and re-frames the meaning of critical components within your growth engine so you are talking the language of performance. By mastering these terms you will have clear, efficient conversations with yourself and your team which will translate into efficient decision-making and speed of growth.

Practice

Here are some examples of words we use everyday in business that are simple in thought and vague in context:

• Just ask the person next to you at work tomorrow what their definition of any one of those words are, and see if their response gives you a sense of focus or inspiration as a leader.

• The best CEOs use a different language to own specific parts of their company model:

• By focusing on specific language and competency inside your company model you control the narrative of how your team feel about performance.

• Meaning if a CEO owns the development of ‘X’ the company is by default winning at ‘Y’.

So let me guess what you’re struggling with as a CEO…

At Hillspeed we have advised over 750 startup founders in the last 6 years how to execute at a higher performance standard so they can step into their potential sooner and own their game.

We know how impactful your decisions can be as a leader if you are intentional about the language of performance across your Company Model. The risk of not being clear about your language is misalignment and underperformance as a CEO.

Embracing a Company Model Strategy comes with minimal risk and a high potential for transformative results. The sooner you align your team and goals through performance language, the faster you can control growth and outpace your competition in any market.

If you are a CEO of a startup and you are doing less than $10M in revenue and want help framing your Company Model Strategy apply to work with us here.