Attended a client meeting this morning with my startup colleagues which we followed up with a discussion over coffee that we continued over lunch.
I was happy to explain my Startical progress to my colleagues and share with them my motivations for embarking on this endeavour. I shared with them the story Claudia had shared yesterday about teaching herself to turn off, and how I was reflecting on that myself. It is difficult to find the balance of being a strong leader and evangelist of your startup (or project) and the humility of accepting feedback and even failure. Said differently, there's a general reverence for the type of Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos figure, yet I'm sure if you ask those who work(ed) closely with those figures, many would feel strongly otherwise.
What I appreciate in our team is that everyone is open to taking the time to have these kinds of discussions. And while we might convince ourselves that our time could have been better spent advancing the business, today we agreed that we each value the fact that we allow ourselves to do so. Even more, I feel quite confident that my colleagues wouldn't hesitate to signal to me if I strayed too far off balance. That's a huge relief because it simply isn't feasible to embark on a Startical whenever I may have doubts!
Over lunch we discussed inclusion in the workplace and the type of culture we intend to nurture as the startup scales in the new year. As we were wrapping up, we discussed client relations and Camille shared a story about her training and experience in a call centre, and the technique she developed to handle the inevitable pressure. It seemed serendipitous therefore for me to find the following message in my fortune cookie, which sums up what we feel is equally critical to a long-term winning strategy for our startup:
