Discover practical strategies for managing different leadership styles in your business with Glenn Harper and Julie Smith.

Are you struggling to collaborate with a business partner, co-founder, or leadership team member whose style drastically differs from yours? In this episode, Glenn Harper and Julie Smith reveal how they’ve navigated—and leveraged—their drastically different decision-making approaches for long-term entrepreneurial success.

From explosive, quick-action responses to measured, methodical problem-solving, they break down the realities of working with opposites. Listeners will find actionable insights and plenty of practical analogies (including grenades, tanks, and sandboxes!) to guide their own leadership growth.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The pros and cons of assertive vs. methodical decision-making styles 00:33
• Why understanding your partner’s conflict resolution style is key to business success 01:31
• How to pause, communicate, and choose the right approach for each situation 05:26
• Tips for listening actively and separating the problem from the people involved 07:03
• When to escalate—and when to soothe—conflicts for the best business outcomes

This episode is brought to you by PureTax, LLC. Tax preparation services without the pressure. When all you need is to get your tax return done, take the stress out of tax season by working with a firm that has simplified the process and the pricing. Find out more about how we started.

5 Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is it important to understand different leadership styles in entrepreneurship? - Understanding various leadership styles allows business partners and leaders to work together effectively, adapt to different situations, and make better decisions as a team 01:16.
2. What are common challenges when partners have different decision-making styles? - Partners may struggle with disagreements, misunderstand communication, or take conflicting actions, which can cause tension or disrupt progress 00:33.
3. How can entrepreneurs resolve conflicts arising from style differences? - By pausing before reacting, openly communicating intentions, and listening to each other’s perspectives, entrepreneurs can choose the most effective solution for each scenario 05:26.
4. Is one leadership style better than another in business? - No single style is always right; both assertive and nurturing approaches have value, and circumstances dictate which is most effective 01:33.
5. What practical steps can leaders take to improve collaboration with different styles? - Actively listen, separate the problem from the individual, discuss potential resolutions together, and be willing to try both approaches as appropriate 07:03.

Running a business doesn’t have to run your life.

Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

Stop letting your business run you. At Harper & Co CPA Plus, we know that you want to be empowered to build the lifestyle you envision. In order to do that you need a clear path to follow for success

Our clients enjoy a proactive partnership with us. Schedule a consultation with us today.

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Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. 

An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. 

Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.

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Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper

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Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Running a business takes vision, grit… and the right financial partner. At Harper & Company CPAs Plus, we don’t just crunch numbers—we empower entrepreneurs. From proactive tax strategy and accounting to business advisory services, our team helps you keep more of what you earn and scale with confidence. Whether you’re launching, growing, or preparing for exit, Harper & Company is in your corner with expert guidance built for business owners like you. Visit www.harpercpaplus.com to book a complimentary discovery call today - or call us at 614-456-7222.

Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm

Glenn Harper. Julie Smith. You look like you're ready to roll.

Well, you don't know what question I'm gonna ask. I know you're over there like,

ooh, where's this gonna go? And what's going on? Speed round. I don't know what's

gonna happen. I'll do my best. Forget the rest. So I think it's.

So one of the things I think we should address that's probably happens to a

lot of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs and their leadership team, their board

team, their centers of influences, is how do

you manage different styles?

So I don't know if anyone's picked up on it or not, but Glenn and

I are drastically different when it comes to making decisions or getting

from point A to point Z.

Generally, I will burn it down from B to Y. So

just look out. And he's over there meandering, trying to water B to

flower. And so C is going to eventually come up and be great.

And I'm at Z like, I burned the road down. Are you coming?

She's always at the finish line. I'm just trying to get to the next step

here. But very methodical. No, there are two different styles,

and again, I think it depends. There's these personality

traits tests you can take, and I'm like, strongly on one

side, you're strongly on the other, literally on opposite ends. But

it's all about. It's where you came from, what your style is that

you learned, whether you come from big business or small business, whether

you're a more of a nurturer solving

a problem, or you're like this get it done type of thing. Those are two

different. There's multiple styles to get there. Neither one is wrong and

neither one is right. It's just the circumstances dictate. Sometimes you got

to go in there with a tank, and sometimes you got to go in with.

You know, I mean, I would always go in with a tank unless there was

someone beside me holding back my tank. So let me be clear about that one.

Always hiding the gas cans. But I think, you know,

to put an analogy out there, like, I will throw a grenade and then figure

out how to pick up the pieces. Like, I'm never afraid of what will happen

because if someone has wronged me, not done right, or I feel like

something is coming, I will gladly take and throw

the grenade and figure it out afterwards. Like, I just always have this

feeling of it's all going to be okay. I'll be able to pick it up.

I'll figure it out, right? Even. Even sometimes when I'm saying like, okay, let's throw

the grenade. And he's like, okay, well, what about xyz? And I'm like, we'll figure

it out. He's like, no, what is the plan? I don't necessarily know what X,

Y and Z will be that's going to about to blow up, but I will

figure it out. Meanwhile, he's over there

polishing the grenade in hopes that we never have to throw

it. Sometimes a grenade is helpful, like

horseshoes and hand grenades is very helpful. And other times

we might not to get so messy. And. And it just depends on the circumstances.

And again, it's just different perspectives to come at the certain problem. And

all of the entrepreneurs out there have these same things. Sometimes you get so

ticked off you were wronged and you just want to go out and just fight,

fight, fight and blow it up. And other times you're like, man, I

see this thing happening. I hope it doesn't go that way. I'm going to try

to nurse it along a little bit and see if I can right the ship

and bring it back. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. Different

styles. There's no absolute for all of them for anything. It's just

those are the two styles you're going to have. But I believe

in the good of people, and I will give probably

too much rope and too much benefit of the doubt, and

it generally will come sometimes bite me in the butt. But a lot of times

it's turned out really, really well because I believe in the

good of people. But sometimes if I see it coming straight at me, okay, we

got to fight. But it's just hard to tell. We don't know as entrepreneurs,

everybody's attacking you at once. How do you know you can't throw grenades at

everybody? I mean, I don't see why you only have so many. They only give

you so much. I just feel like we're in the sandbox, right? And like, as

an entrepreneur, I'm playing in my sandbox, for instance.

And if someone's going to enter into my sandbox and they're not going to enter

it in nicely, I have to defend my sandbox.

And if someone's going to enter into my sandbox

willingly, like, I feel like it's no holds bar grenades are coming.

I mean, I don't disagree with you. It depends on where the assault's coming from.

But again, this is good for all Siderepreneurs is

the facts and circumstances, how you feel about things, the strength of

the enemy coming at you. You don't even know what that is until you are

engaged. And sometimes they sneak up on you, right? They just pop out of the

way. But I think what we've learned to do. So if there's anything that

the listeners can learn from is I

may now pause before I send the grenade, and I

may go explain him. About to throw this grenade, and

you pull it, and you're holding it away from me, and I'm like, give me.

Let me get that. And you're like, no, no, no. And I'm like, hold. Give

me. Let me just try to solve this thing. And then you're like, I'm ready.

I'm ready. And then you'd launch it. And I think what we've learned is like,

that yin and yang. So, like, I may be ready to launch the grenade, but

I may give him a moment to see if he can

have a conversation that will allow the

situation to get out of my sandbox, per se,

and continue to let us play. And I think there's moments in

time where he realizes that there's no conversation that can be had that can

bring this person out of my sandbox, I guess, or out of our

sandbox. And so, you know, he's like, okay, go for it,

Julie. Just do whatever you got to do. Just don't tell me, you know, I

summon the Kraken and it happens. But I think we've learned

each other. I think the point is this is you have to learn each other's

style when it comes to conflict and resolution and

be able to say, okay, here's the conflict, and here's my

resolution. And then to be able not just to hear him, but listen and

hear him say, here's. Here's how I see this conflict, and here's how I see

this resolution. Okay, which way are we going to try first? Because

oftentimes it's one of us navigating that road.

And which one are we going to try? He may see some roadblocks

that, while I'm burning it down, never would have saw that coming my way. And

I may say, there's no way your conversation is going to work. You know, what

have you. And so being able to have that conversation

and come to a conclusion, you know, of course, I don't really want everyone

to burn it down and throw grenades at every single thing. It just feels like

as an entrepreneur, you never know who's coming at your Sandbox and

from which way. And so you're just defending something, but being able

to understand that conflict resolution

and having that person to be able to maybe take you from.

It's DEFCON 1, right? DEFCON 1 is the best. I think the lower the DEFCON

is the worst. Yeah, I always thought it was higher, but maybe DEFCON 10 meant

I was at peace. I don't know. Anyway, figuring out that DEFCON and

being able to talk you off the ledge, per se, or sleep

on it or think about it, I think is really important. Whether that's

a business partner, whether that's your spouse, whether that's some random

friend that's a really great listener, a therapist that you have. Whatever it is, I

think it's being able to. It's all about this listening she's talking about. She's got

to listen, talk less, listen more, talk less, listen more.

And to the point is, remember, there's this problem

that is a person, place, or thing, a product, service. There's a

problem that's coming at your organization or you or your

staff or whatever. Either something's coming in or something's trying to go

out, and you're just trying to solve the problem. The hardest thing

is to identify what is the problem and knowing that you

are not the problem. Right. I'm never the problem. And your peacemaking skills and

knowing what the problem is, but really, what is an amicable. What is

the easiest solution to have? And sometimes it's a grenade,

and sometimes it's a little soft soap to try to solve the issue. It

just got to. You'll learn that as you navigate as being an entrepreneur. Yeah, I

think good lessons, because call me if you want to burn it down. Call him

if you want to have a good, calm, peaceful conversation. I got monster grenades.

I just don't really want to use them unless I have. Just kidding. Just kidding.

Do have a flamethrower. Well, there's another great edition of the Empowering

Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper. Julie Smith.