Credit: Google Definitions
Are you an “I” leader, or a “We” leader?
Responsibility Bias
As Adam Grant so eloquently explains in his work Give and Take it is human nature to have “responsibility bias” – all of us believe that we are more responsible for a good result than we actually are.[1]
And entrepreneurs often take this axiom to an extreme. They are pumped up by their last success, a great idea, and early recognition. They may have had prior financial success. They may receive adoring press. But it is inauthentic in today’s world to stretch personal responsibility too far.
Were you singularly responsible for 100 MM of sales at your last company – as your resume seems to indicate? Do you believe that you single-handedly pushed a spectacular product to market – conceived it, built it, marketed it, sold it, financed it, built the team that drove it? Do you really believe that you did it alone?
Perceptions
When you present your company, product, team, mission – is it “I” or “We”? It makes a difference. Here is why.
First, what you say projects the values and beliefs of your new enterprise. The perception is that the journey is about you – not the team, not the bigger mission, not the families of employees and customers who you touch. It is first and foremost about you. It affects brand. It affects company culture.
The second dynamic is that it deprives your stakeholders of recognition, or at least makes their recognition subordinate to yours. Your stakeholders might be your executive team, your employees, your family, your partners, and your customers – the very people who you want most highly motivated. And much of that motivation is intrinsic.
Finally, when you represent decisions with “I” it makes your company seem small. Does decision making involve others? Do you have to at least achieve some consensus? Overuse of “I” means small thinking, small company.
Be Humble
Being a humble entrepreneur means that you are, well, “humble”. You are humble that you are allowed to be a steward, to guide a big idea, to raise money, to employ people and to affect their careers. And you believe in those values. It is both what you believe and what you say.
In the real world, that isn’t how things happen. There aren’t too many celebrity entrepreneurs who can truly go it alone. Getting things to happen in real life requires systems and networks. Building systems and networks requires the hard work and buy-in of many people. And everyone deserves the credit.
It costs little to recognize others – to use the language of team – “we” and “us” instead of “I”. And the benefits are both amazing and tangible. And after all – others will recognize you for your qualities, and will reciprocate the recognition – reciprocity, too, is a hard-wired human trait.
[1] See – Give and Take, by Adam Grant pages 88-89. Give and Take should be required reading for all entrepreneurs. Grant has extraordinary practical advice that is in tune with the business mores of tomorrow.
