What Bosses & Founders Need To Stop Doing
Hello👋🏼
Bosses and founders, you need to stop. But before we go there, here are 3 random fun things to spice up your week:
1. How silly people look when they try to sell mirrors online
2. A fan created a LEGO set of the James Webb Telescope. It got the votes from the fans, but LEGO rejected it (on July 12th, 2022, the same day NASA released the images of the cosmos captured by the telescope 🤷🏼♂️). Given the craze around the telescope, LEGO should reconsider.
3. I now understand why Japanese pop music sounds distinctly different from western pop songs. It's because of 4 chords, a.k.a. the "Royal Road Chord Progression (王道進行, Ōdō shinkō)."
Damn, that's one hell of a name for chords.
❶ LEADERSHIP IDEA
What is the hardest thing for founders and leaders to stop doing?
Stop doing what you love doing. I am sorry, but it's true.
- Stop coding
- Stop fuzzing over color palettes
- Stop building products
- Stop fixing pivot tables
- Stop choosing profile photos
- Stop wrapping customer orders one by one, by hand, by your hands
- ...
Only when you truly commit to stop doing things you love doing, then you can truly begin to delegate and do things only you and your role can do. What is your role? You are the ultimate culture arbitrator, the ultimate sales person, the ultimate headhunter, the ultimate coach. Your job is raising funds, hiring executives, smooching with board members, grow your executive teams, being the thought leader in the eyes of your customers and competitors ...
And yes. other people on your team can do as good of a job as you, if not better than you, WHEN you give them expectations, support, time, and autonomy. In fact, that's part of leadership - the ability to coach and grow.
So there you go, stop doing what you love. Your business needs you to be the ultimate boss. The sooner you stop being a part time ultimate boss, the better you and your company will perform.
Lastly, I know this is easier said than done. I get that. It's not as simple as just stopping. At the same time, I am being provocative intentionally. I hope this thought of stop doing unimportant tasks keeps nagging you in your head, as you build and evolve your business and yourself. It might seem impossible, but remember, all founders go through this, from Ford to Bezos.
YOU CAN SUPPORT ME:
Reply to this and chat with me! Tell me what you think of this. Or whatever is on your mind. I will always reply, I guarantee it.
And if I fail to keep my promise? Email me and let me know at siu.david@hey.com 🙃
Share this with someone whom you think wants to sound smarter, and or anyone who deserves something light and fun. (Plus, they trust your recommendations more than my LinkedIn ads.)
Thank you for reading this. I think about leadership & psychology in the showers. I know it's odd, but these topics are important and fun. I hope you find them useful too.
Work diligently. You are bound to be successful.
David