The CEO of stock-trading startup eToro explains how he uses the Adizes method to hire leaders who fit 4 management styles

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The CEO of stock-trading startup eToro explains how he uses the Adizes method to hire leaders who fit 4 management styles
eToro Yoni Assia

eToro

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eToro CEO Yoni Assia.

  • eToro is a stock-trading startup with more than 12 million customers and 12 global offices.
  • CEO and cofounder Yoni Assia uses the Adizes style of management to manage the company's 850 worldwide staff and export its culture across offices.
  • This involves making balanced leadership hires across four management styles: entrepreneur, producer, integrator, and administrator.
  • "We work with so many cultures across different continents," Yoni Assia, eToro's CEO and cofounder, told Business Insider in an interview. "It's about a company's growth and as a company grows it needs different type of personalities and different strengths to succeed."
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Maintaining a startup's culture as it scales is a tricky challenge.

It's been a focus for Yoni Assia, the cofounder and CEO of eToro, a fintech with headquarters in the UK, Cyprus, and Israel, which offers commission-free stock trading alongside a social platform for investors. It claims to have over 12 million customers worldwide since its founding in 2007.

The company was founded by Assia and his brother and now has 850 staff across 12 offices. That's made it increasingly difficult to maintain a startup style culture across the business, leading Assia to hone a distinct set of techniques to aid him.

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Much of his management he attributes to the Adizes theory, from Ichak Adizes, a fellow Israeli who pioneered a style of management which breaks leadership qualities down into four categories: producer, administrator, entrepreneur, and integrator. The balance of these four categories is imperative to sustaining an effective leadership culture and has been a popular style of management since its inception in the 1970s.

"We work with so many cultures across different continents," Yoni Assia, eToro's CEO and cofounder, told Business Insider in an interview. "It's about a company's growth and as a company grows it needs different type of personalities and different strengths to succeed."

Assia said that understanding is key to effective working across the company's offices and he encourages staff to travel to meet colleagues in different cities. Last year the CEO brought his entire family with him on a trip to Shanghai so that he could spend quality time with both them and staff in the region.

eToro is valued at $800 million, per Pitchbook data, having raised $222 million since 2007. Assia spends a significant amount of his time hiring and making sure he gets the balance of personality and leadership types right across the business.

"Hiring is probably the most important part in a manager's role and I stay heavily involved in that process," he added. "I'm keen to understand who gets in and keep relationships with them, it's a core part of management to understand your own weaknesses so you can surround yourself with people where they can complement you."

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eToro wants to double its 12 million users in the next five years and now offers fractional shares, something Assia believes will be key to bringing in millennial investors. The fintech is also in the process of launching a debit card which will allow users to pay out of their account.

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