This article is not just about Steve Jobs, Apple Fans or even those in Technology. This is for anyone that owns, manages or sits on the board of a company within any sector.  Through our executive search firm we are often sitting down with the executive team or some of the board of directors  and we prefer to have candid, direct, to the point conversations about their executive leadership.

One question we often ask is: Who is your Steve Jobs?

We are often met with chatter, looks of deep thought and the oh so common, “I don’t have an answer for you”. This is a question the JMJ Phillip Founders have come to ask as they have formulated an opinion that most companies need a visionary, someone with skin in the game above and beyond compensation, stock options or willingness to impress the shareholders.

We are talking about a Steve Jobs in the sense of, who has an emotional attachment to your business? If you cut one of the founders of JMJ Phillip they would bleed JMJ Phillip Blue as Steve Jobs would Apple White. We are talking about the kind of people that cannot shut their brain off at night, they go to bed and wake up with ideas, endless ideas that can and will transform your business. The ideas that solve problems, that are innovative or that can drive sales to unimaginable levels.

We see a lot of companies that have made really bad hires by bringing on an executive that had an operational management mindset which leaves revenues flat or even going in reverse. At this level money is a topic of discussion but not always the key motivator for the person you really want or need. Someone at this level is likely already independently wealthy, they don’t wake up in the morning driven by a salary if you’re seeking the right person.

Our founders have noticed something while attending startup conferences and groups while looking for companies to invest in. The room is filled with people of all ages, from the 20-year-old young gun seeking seed capital to the mid 40’s ex-corporate executive looking for Series A Capital, to those in their 50’s and 60’s looking to invest because they have a passion to be a part of something.

So when looking for your Steve Jobs the one key thing we like to hone in on is passion.  A true passion to want to make something their own, a passion for continuous improvement, to make or build something better, to grow something because they can, and want to, not because they have to. The is the most difficult thing for any company to find that does not have a founder as their visionary who has an emotional attachment to the business.

Howard Schultz had to come back as Starbucks CEO in 2008 because he is the one that had the most passion about the business, it wasn’t about his own pocket book. Schultz has the level of emotional involvement that no one else had, to the point of getting pissed off that the new breakfast sandwiches overpowered the smell of their core product, coffee. These are things most people brought in to manage don’t see, they are not tied to a company in the way a founder is.

But that is the hardest part of the search; you may never find anyone that will take something personally as a founder does such as Steve Jobs or Howard Schultz. But you can find someone that has a passion to make something their own and run with it. As we have seen at the startup conferences these people do exist and thankfully that pool of creative and high passion minds continues to grow. Finding the person with the entrepreneurial spirit, know-how and passion to get the job done is the hard part.

At JMJ Phillip, the founders’ philosophy, as they have grown their business units, is to keep each company small and boutique. When we hire someone to run a business unit we choose someone that has entrepreneurial spirit, is a free thinker, high energy type that also has the experience or education to be successful at our company.

JMJ Phillip isn’t a franchise, it was developed from the ground up with innovative thinking and a passion to do better business. We also are not a firm doing a couple hundred million in revenue where the executives come and go.

The founders are part of everyday business and consult on all executive searches -as who better to do so? They are the ones doing business on their name and understand better than anyone that a true visionary with a founders mentality can take your business to the next level.