Theme.
This week's #founderhacks are on bias and assumptions.
Seen.
Dumb Up
This week we one of us was involved in inducting a new team member. It was their first job.
They noticed a temptation to dumb down some of what they had to cover, to make it simpler.
They caught themselves. Was this just bias? Why should this team member not be given the chance to fully understand a specific and complex area of the business?
So they didn't dumb in down. They shared in full detail.
It made the conversation harder, because they had to do more explaining. But the outcome better, because this team member had a more complete understanding, and was better able to add value for the business.
So next time you're tempted to dumb it down, could it be worth checking whether that's the right thing to do?
Read.
Tough at the Top
The Greatest: What Sport Teaches Us About Achieving Success, a book by Matthew Syed talks about illusory superiority.
When you do surveys, most people tend to assess themselves as better than they are. 93% of people consider they are a "better than average" driver, for example.
Having bias about your own competence can cut both ways for founders. There is, perhaps, a level of necessary delusion for founders about what is possible, and what they can achieve.
Equally, successfully growing a business can be seen as simply finding people who are better than you at everything the business has to do.
How do you balance your confidence to dive in to the many challenges your business throws at you, with the humility to know your blind spots and be able to notice when someone is better than you?
Learned.
Fool Proof
This week one of us met someone.
The person we met taught us something. He never works with or recommends anyone until he's met them, in person, several times and feels he knows them.
This is his way of dealing with his own bias. He recognises that first impressions can be deceptive. A sharp outfit, or immediate wit and charm might belie someone's ability to have the competence they claim.
Further, he likes to see people drop their guard. How do they treat the wait staff in the restaurant, or the person behind the coffee counter? He's learned this speaks more to the truth of a person than their choice of handshake, smile or handbag. Or the glossy brochure they brandish.
How do you make sure your assessments of prospective business relationships are fool proof, and like the chap we met last week, does that start by recognising we're all quite easily fooled?
And finally.
We've got a backlog again.
We've found that recording and writing #founderhacks is now a well oiled machine. But publishing it takes a little longer. We have about 5 waiting in the wings. Some really good stuff too. Sorry.
How do you react when things get backed up? Our first instinct was to be down on ourselves and think we should work harder. We are founders, after all.
That said, we're well up for an intro for a good quality podcast editor and publisher. Any suggestions?
Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast version of #founderhacks for a tantalising live experience of team atomex!
