Perfect manager for all stages of growth is difficult to find in just one person, but there are examples. During the initial stages, the manager needs to be visionary. This is often the entrepreneurial stage, where an idea is just being articulated, and the manager needs to first coalesce the business plan for the product/service idea, and then get a team of people to buy into the idea on top of that. Entrepreneurial leaders are often visionaries, and this is their key strength (Lewis, 2014). They are often risk-takers as well. But the key to the success of an entrepreneur is to have a great idea, get the buy-in from others, and then begin to professionalize the operation.

The next stage of a business is the growth cycle. At this point, the operation is probably focused on building markets and on scaling up the business. Flamholtz and Randle (2007) note...
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