Achieving success by surrendering the ‘me’ for the ‘we’
Look around you, who’s on your team? Really on your team? Willing you to succeed, helping you move towards those audacious goals you’ve set yourself? For me, team is everything, and whilst I’m comfortable in most areas of my business, my time is best spent driving the business forwards, laser-beam focussed on the prize, undeterred by the setbacks and distractions.
Too many so-called business “gurus” will tell you to start small, but that’s bullshit, the most successful people risked everything to go after what seemed like ridiculous goals. One of the most critical parts of fast-growth and achieving super success lies in the quality of the people around you, your team. Are they capable of getting you where you want to go, do they even want to go there, and whilst they may be “right now”, then may not be “right” long term.
From I and me, to us and we: Firstly, when I talk about team, I don’t just mean our employees. For me, our team includes all of the external advisors we work with such as; legal firms, accountants and marketing agencies etc. Initially, when Leanne Carling and I both quit our jobs in pursuit of our own entrepreneurial dreams, we tried to do everything ourselves, but the reality is it's far too slow, we couldn’t do everything, or we were often distracted dealing with nonsense to notice the big picture. We know our role in the business, and partner with, or employ the best people to execute the rest for us.
You can do anything, but you can’t do everything: Leanne and I figured out early on that the team we surrounded ourselves with would play a massive role in whether we achieved our goals. Like many people, we didn’t have much when we took our first steps together in business, so we took the cheap options too often. We employed cheap legal representation, worked with basic accountants, and it came back to bite us later, often costing us more in the long run. Nowadays, we make sure our team are experts, sharing our mindset and attitude, but also highly experienced experts in their own field.
Set the strategy and get out of the way: Steve Jobs once said; “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do…” and he’s spot on. The Carling Group is a partnership business, we work with expert regional and sector specific partners around the World, but we make sure to spend time with each of them to ensure they understand our model, philosophy and expectations. Then we get out of the way, and if they’re the right fit, they’ll get it done, if not, we’ll cut quick and make the necessary changes.
In the good times and the bad: Tough times are always coming. Who remains by your side when the shit hits the fan? Who is willing to pull on the tin-hat when you’re taking fire? As a leader, I’m going to take shots, and I’m cool with that, but I want to know who has my back, who’s standing shoulder-to-shoulder, helping to push through so we can return to the good times.
Don’t sweat the small stuff: My job is to remain laser-beam focussed on the biggest possible picture, to protect the whole, so I don’t sweat the small stuff, because I have trust in my team that they will. To achieve our goals, I can’t be distracted by every problem, but I do want people we can sort these thing before I ever need to know about them.
Share success: My team are committed to the same goals as me, we are working towards something great, and the team often make sacrifices, the same way Leanne and I do. Whether it’s a missed birthday party, or a last-minute work trip, or a late night to fix a problem, my top team make necessary sacrifices, so they should benefit from the rewards when they come. We work hard...very hard, but we know how to enjoy the journey along the way.
Great things are achieved by great teams and the level of success I’m chasing cannot possibly be achieved by one person, but instead requires a solid team, committed to doing whatever is necessary. Being in our team isn’t easy, it isn’t for everyone, but for those who make it, we all share the spoils of our efforts, and enjoy ourselves along the way, and for those who can’t keep up, they get left behind, we’ve not got time for carrying dead weight.