We had the good fortune of connecting with Solo Ceesay and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Solo, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?I think the biggest, most impactful decision that has contributed to my success outside of deciding to work for myself is deciding to be a founder that prioritized employee morale over control. It’s important to foster a team first culture where individuals prioritize the wellness and growth of the company over their individual desires. In order to achieve this, founders need to incentivize their employees so that this outcome is achieved. This can be achieved monetarily but the more important factor in my opinion is making sure employees feel fulfilled. That said, my best decision was to establish very clear chains of command that may or may not funnel up to myself or the founding team at large. Rather, employees’ reporting lines are designed to empower the proper decision makers to make plays versus funneling as much control as possible into myself. With this structure in place, I have seen greater levels of commitment and engagement from all employees at my company.