Leadership in action

By far one of the most important things for any startup is the work culture it sets out to develop, strongly determined by the style of leadership of the business. While individual personalities and fields of work influence what style is adopted, they all fall under five major categories: autocratic, democratic, delegative, transactional and transformational.

Compared to the autocratic and delegative style of leadership most private offices end up adopting for if nothing else, the need for quick order. Coworking, with its flexibility and ability to bring people of different roles together in the same office or desk allows for a more transparent democratic style of leadership. daftarkhwan itself believes in agility and accountability, empowering its employees to work comfortably and independently while still acting as a team. This is possible thanks to the communication, passion, commitment, creativity and confidence the founders inspire.

Here at daftarkhwan, we host numerous businesses, from ambitious startups just getting off the ground to established companies, providing them with the space, infrastructure and network needed to excel. So what exactly does the leadership of our headlining community members look like?

Ahsan Tahir, the Founder and CEO of Walee, Pakistan’s largest and fastest growing influencer network takes inspiration from Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, taking care of his team who in turn take care of him. “The leader has to be the hardest worker in the room,” exclaims Ahsan, who believes leadership is synonymous with responsibility. When you take care of the team, the team takes care of you, creating a mutually beneficial and loyal relationship between the two.

Talal Wallana, Chief Operating Officer for i-50, an early stage Silicon Valley based start-up that has developed a proprietary computer vision powered digital twin to help manufacturers track, measure and improve their manual production processes, claims a more delegative leadership style. He believes workers should have sole ownership of assigned tasks, giving them the liberty and creative flexibility to deliver their best instead of being subjected to constant suffocating micromanagement. “Bosses should eat together with their teams, play together and win together”, affirms Talal, “This is how you create an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie.” Home at daftarkhwan’s spacious lounges, Talal manages to encourage this bonding with rounds of Tekken, shared lunches and laughter.

Salman Shahid, CEO of Kamayi, an organization providing an affordable end-to-end recruitment solution for SMEs in Pakistan defines his leadership style as “democratic, adaptive, approachable”. While there needs to be some hierarchy, this hierarchy exists for efficiency rather than control, with the leader acting as a mentor. A sincere believer of transparency Salman “sits at the same desk as the intern”, especially facilitated by daftarkhwan’s coworking structure, where teams can work in the same hall irrespective of their designations.

To find out more about our community and agile spaces that hosts these trailblazing leaders, click here.