Notes on personal development
One of the toughest challenges as a leader is to manage yourself. Being a startup founder can feel like a lonely job. How can you create a culture and framework that supports personal growth?
I took that photo on a golf trip this week with a bunch of former work colleagues. It reminded me how lucky I was in my PwC career. Every day, I was surrounded by great people. Both colleagues and clients. That enriched my working and learning experience so much. And its the most fun you can have while getting paid.
A key element of the PwC culture is personal development. Every member of staff at every stage, aims to develop their own skills and use those skills in roles that suit their personal goals. Of course, that whole process is much easier when you are amongst quality, professional people all trying to do the same thing.
On the other hand, I know that one of the toughest challenges as a leader is to manage yourself. Being a startup founder can feel like a lonely job. And the people around you are very different. Your world is full of “advisors,” “mentors,” “observers,” and “supporters”. Why do these people so often feel like judgemental hangers on?
So I started thinking about how the PwC model might work for tech founders and leaders. Two things. Great people are a combination of talent and culture. So we rooted everything in the PwC culture. Supported by a clear and consistent framework for thinking about personal and professional skills.
Notes on culture:
Collaborative, working in teams in every situation. Individually, competitive and ambitious. But it is always clear that the competition doesn’t have a PwC logo.
Manage for the future, not the present. Part of the reason personal development matters. We always thought the firm should be better next year than this.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. You succeed by being the best of yourself, not just better than the next person. When you think about it, this is essential to avoiding a zero-sum mindset.
Do the right thing. Obviously, integrity and ethics are core values. There is a more subtle aspect of this principle. Some days you get a choice about what task or project to take on, some days you don’t. Choose the job that supports your personal goals when you can. Do the work that needs doing when that is the right thing to do.
Have fun.
Notes on the framework:
Underpinning this culture was a consistent framework. Everyone assessed themselves and built their personal development against the same set of criteria. The question was whether you performed at the level expected of your grade (or the next one if aiming for promotion).
The specifics and wording varied a little over the years, but not much in all honesty. The foundation is always a set of core quality criteria. Below is one version with a couple of explanatory notes:
Demonstrate courage and integrity. “Demonstrate” is the key word here. You are a leader. So not only do the right thing, let people see you are doing it.
Acquire and apply commercial and technical expertise. Don’t lose sight of doing the basic nuts and bolts of your job. You still have things to learn, even if you are the boss.
Manage projects and economics. Keep your eye on the numbers and deliver results.
Be open minded, agile with change and practical.
Communicate with impact and empathy.
Develop self and others through coaching. If you are not thinking about this, you are not leading.
Be curious, learn, share and innovate.
Lead and contribute to team success. A reminder that leadership is about the team, not the leader.
Build and sustain relationships.
Be passionate about client service.
Some of my reading:
Are older people less innovative? Laetitia Vitaud. As a grumpy old man who still tries to live by number 7 above, I found this fascinating.
Never say “no” but rarely say “yes” Jason Cohen. "Don't be afraid to say No" is common advice. I think I prefer the open-minded approach suggested here.
The Christmas Tree effect David Epstein. I love this blog. Much more insightful than 99% of all “business expert” labelled content. This post explains why improvement sometimes means taking things away rather than adding them.
Why having a bias for building JC Samuelian-Werve. Lots of insight. My favourite quote: “By choosing to build, we are choosing to innovate.”
Strategy for startups Roger Martin. The author also wrote a well know book on corporate strategy, Playing to Win. This article is packed with different advice relevant to startups. Most important, startups waste too much time on meaningless data analysis.
End note:
My plan is to post fairly regularly in this general format. Something to think about, but no conclusions or advice. Many posts will be quite rough. At some point I have realised my notes are my writing, so that is what you will see.