Ten Commandments of Founders
Recently we did a very good exercise. Five of us, who have known each other for quite some time, had come together to co-found a company. In the excitement of starting our own venture, each of us was so engrossed in hundred nitty gritty things that we forgot some basic etiquette. The work on setting up the new company was going on very well, rather fantastic, but soon we realized that we were getting into situations we were not at all comfortable with. A day came when we really started thinking if this team of five was indeed the right one to work together in the long run or even capable enough to pull up the feat of forming and running a company. Having known each other for a long time, we had the conviction that we would surely make a good team. But when, within just a few days, we started having serious issues working with each other, we felt it was time to introspect. And that was when we realized that each and every behavior of ours, that was causing irritation to others, was actually manifestations of one or more of the five Bad Founder DNA. Thanks to the wisdom that prevailed, we sat together and created the Ten Commandments of Founders.
Most startups fail because the symptoms of the Bad Founder DNA aggravate and show up in various obnoxious forms. A close look at the ten points we came up with might evoke a sense of déjà vu, in the sense that most of it is common sense. But then, it’s the lack of common sense that’s the most common thing, in most cases.
Before moving on to the Ten Commandments of Founders, let us see what the Bad Founder DNA is.
1. Fundamental Attribution Error: In psychology, fundamental attribution error is our tendency to explain someone’s behavior based on certain prejudiced or preconceived internal factors, such as personality or disposition, and to underestimate the influence of external factors, like situational influences, on the person’s behavior. We often have certain prejudices about people. For example, based on some past incidents, I might have formed a notion that anyone graduating from a particular institute is a “bad hire”, or anyone coming from a particular province can’t be trusted. Such notions are nothing but outcome of arrogance and basic lack of wisdom. But once such a notion has been formed, I would be always tempted to attribute a failure to the behavior or performance of any such person in my team. I wouldn’t even bother to find out what external conditions could have resulted in a performance which I’m loathing.
This is a major reason behind startup-failures. Founders often tend to blame everything to others, keeping themselves unscathed and unblemished, as though they are invincible and anyone else is incorrigible. In such a scenario, the founders totally overlook blatant failures on their part, thus causing irreparable damage to the startups.
2. Predatory Aggressiveness: This is the tendency to see anyone as inferior, without any empathy. This is one of the main reasons why people leave an organization – when their bosses look down upon them as inferior creatures.
3. Deceit: It’s the tendency to cheat anyone. Lack of ethics and scant regards for law and order often lead to deceit. Founders often resort to unethical and illegals means, just because they are desperate to increase the bottom line.
4. Emotional Instability: Most founders exhibit various forms of emotional instabilities. Their behavior becomes erratic and soon obnoxious. One day they would praise someone and the very next day they would go about cursing them. Such erratic, or rather lunatic, behavior pisses off anyone who works with them.
5. Narcissism: Simplistically, it’s the tendency of thwarting “I” on everything and everyone. It’s the tendency to place oneself on an elevated pedestal, so high that no one else could apparently reach him. Such a utopian feeling ruins the startup in no time as the founder would always think himself to be above everyone and everything. Arrogance is the most common form of narcissism.
The Ten Commandments of Founders should then aim at ensuring that the founders never behave in a way that could be construed as a symptom of the Bad Founder DNA. Accordingly, this was what we could come up with, (not in any particular order):
1. Listen: Listen attentively. Allow the other person to complete. Take all points seriously, without any preconceived notion or illogical prejudice. This is the first step towards fending off the fundamental attribution error. Being all ears clears off lot of misunderstanding and prejudice. Only when we would intently listen to someone explaining why she has failed to deliver a task on time, or why she thinks a particular decision is perhaps not in the best interests of the company, or why she behaved in a particular manner, would we understand the real reason behind her delay at work, her valid and pertinent points about the decision and the compulsion under which she had behaved in a particular way. The overall exercise of listening automatically evokes a feeling of empathy for the other person, thus creating an emotional bond between the two. Even if a founder has the final authority to make her own decision pertaining to the department or division she’s responsible for, she should still listen to others and take their suggestions in the right spirit, thus helping her make a conscious and well thought of decision.
2. Respect: Don’t look down upon anyone. Don’t humiliate anyone. Never use unprofessional, disrespectful and negative words for anyone. Not showing respect is the worst form of predatory aggressiveness, something which would demotivate one to put her best and eventually lead to her leaving the organization.
Chanakya, the economist per excellence, master strategist and king maker of ancient India, said, “Reasons for dissatisfaction…: By doing harm to principal men and dishonoring those worthy of honor…”
3. Meet: Setup sprint meetings every morning and evening between the founders. Apart from being on the same page on a regular basis, these meetings would also provide a platform to all the founders to learn to “listen” to each other and “respect” each other’s views. These meetings would also act as forum for giving and taking feedback, thus helping the founders to create a controlled system of operation.
Chanakya advises, “In an urgent matter, he (leader) should call together the councilors as well as the council of ministers and ask them what the majority among them declare or what is conducive to the success of the work, that he should do”. When Chanakya says the leader should “ask” the “majority”, the management guru is referring to a model of consultative decision making, touched upon earlier.
4. Don’t Quit: Don’t give up, come what may. The term “don’t quit” here is more of a figure of speech. It stands for emotional stability. It instils a sense of conviction among the people around that there’s no Plan B for the founders to escape with, that they will never leave their people and run away. No one wants to work for founders who show signs of emotional instability.
5. Be Accessible 24/7: Hear at once. Don’t kick the can. This sends out a very positive message to everyone that the founders are always available, round the clock, to meet them, listen to them and take care of them. It gives the people a confidence that they would never be left alone. It gives them a feeling of importance, of being respected, being held in high esteem by the founders. Prompt response to a mail or calling back immediately leaves long lasting impact on anyone, even within very close friends and partners. “Kicking the can down the road” is of course a very bad attitude towards management, though a lot of companies espouse it and encourage their managers to follow the same. It always has disastrous long term effects, much like smoking.
Chanakya says, a leader “should allow unrestricted entrance to those wishing to see him in connection with their affairs”. He adds, the leader “should hear (at once) every urgent matter, (and) not put if off. An (affair) postponed becomes difficult to settle or even impossible to settle”. Chanakya would loathe anyone who would kick the can down the road.
6. Agree to disagree: Respect others’ views and suggestions, but allow them the space to disagree with you and still work together and take decisions in consultation. The owner of a particular division or department should have the authority to make a call, genuinely considering all feedback and suggestions from others, but not necessarily agreeing to everything. Disagreeing doesn’t tantamount to disrespecting. Neither does it justify interference. The moment you don’t want to agree to disagree, you will have tendencies to show signs of predatory aggressiveness.
7. “WE”, not “I”: Never say, “I”. This one thing can fend off Fundamental Attribution Error, Predatory Aggressiveness and, of course, Narcissism, to a great extent. True leaders seldom say “I”. No one likes managers who always say “I” rather than “WE”. “I” smacks of arrogance, lack of empathy and distrust. It creates a clear demarcation between “I” and the “Rest of YOU”. In such a scenario, the “Rest” can never trust the “I”, who would very conveniently take away all the credit for anything good and pass on the discredit to the former for anything bad. The “Rest” not only lose faith on “I”, they also lose all motivation to work, forget excel. The “Rest” don’t feel inspired to be with “I”, and when there’s no inspiration, there’s nothing “I” can achieve with the “Rest”. It’s a vicious circle.
8. Be United: Pose a united front before everyone. This is one of that common wisdom we all have learned since childhood. United we stand, divided we fall. A fractured founding team poses serious threat to the existence of the company. It evokes a sense of suspicion among the employees and clients alike. To an outsider it appears as though the founders don’t trust each other, are arrogant, are deceitful and hence can’t get along well with each other.
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself,” said Henry Ford, the pioneer in automobile engineering.
Chanakya harps on having a “common purpose”. The founders and partners should have a common purpose in life, a common cause they all can work towards, a common ideological foundation on which the organization would be built. The last verse of the Rig Veda, the oldest treatise of spirituality and wisdom known to mankind, says, “Assemble, speak together, let your minds be all of one accord… The place is common, common the assembly, common the mind, so be the thought united. A common purpose do I lay before you…”
9. Practice Equality: Treat every role and responsibility equally. Treat employees and clients both alike. Equality in everything creates an atmosphere very conducive of excellence. The biggest folly of narcissism and predatory aggressiveness is this feeling of superiority, the thought that someone’s job is more important than someone else’s, or someone is useless and someone else useful. Equality can work wonders in creating a highly engaged work force. John F Kennedy, during a visit to The NASA Space Center in 1962, stopped by a janitor and said, “I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?” Prompt came the answer from the janitor, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” This speaks volumes about the culture at NASA, how even a janitor is made to feel important, an integral part of the whole scheme of things.
10. Be Ethical: Don’t deceive anyone. Have regards for the laws of the country. Don’t compromise on the integrity, come what may. Talking about ethics, Chanakya says, “…, the king, who protects the subjects according to laws, leads to heaven…” He adds, “Philosophy is ever thought of as the lamp of all sciences, as the means of all actions (and) as the support of all laws…”
Summing it up, the Ten Commandments of Founders are:
1. Listen: Listen attentively. Allow the other person to complete.
2. Respect: Don’t look down upon anyone. Don’t humiliate anyone.
3. Meet: Setup sprint meetings every morning and evening.
4. Don’t Quit: Don’t give up, come what may.
5. Be Accessible 24/7: Hear at once. Don’t kick the can.
6. Be United: Pose a united front before everyone.
7. Agree to disagree: Respect others’ views, but allow them space.
8. “WE”, not “I”: Never say, “I”.
9. Practice Equality: Treat every role and responsibility equally.
10. Be Ethical: Don’t deceive anyone. Have regards for laws of the country.
Most startups fail because the symptoms of the Bad Founder DNA aggravate and show up in various obnoxious forms. A close look at the ten points we came up with might evoke a sense of déjà vu, in the sense that most of it is common sense. But then, it’s the lack of common sense that’s the most common thing, in most cases.
Before moving on to the Ten Commandments of Founders, let us see what the Bad Founder DNA is.
1. Fundamental Attribution Error: In psychology, fundamental attribution error is our tendency to explain someone’s behavior based on certain prejudiced or preconceived internal factors, such as personality or disposition, and to underestimate the influence of external factors, like situational influences, on the person’s behavior. We often have certain prejudices about people. For example, based on some past incidents, I might have formed a notion that anyone graduating from a particular institute is a “bad hire”, or anyone coming from a particular province can’t be trusted. Such notions are nothing but outcome of arrogance and basic lack of wisdom. But once such a notion has been formed, I would be always tempted to attribute a failure to the behavior or performance of any such person in my team. I wouldn’t even bother to find out what external conditions could have resulted in a performance which I’m loathing.
This is a major reason behind startup-failures. Founders often tend to blame everything to others, keeping themselves unscathed and unblemished, as though they are invincible and anyone else is incorrigible. In such a scenario, the founders totally overlook blatant failures on their part, thus causing irreparable damage to the startups.
2. Predatory Aggressiveness: This is the tendency to see anyone as inferior, without any empathy. This is one of the main reasons why people leave an organization – when their bosses look down upon them as inferior creatures.
3. Deceit: It’s the tendency to cheat anyone. Lack of ethics and scant regards for law and order often lead to deceit. Founders often resort to unethical and illegals means, just because they are desperate to increase the bottom line.
4. Emotional Instability: Most founders exhibit various forms of emotional instabilities. Their behavior becomes erratic and soon obnoxious. One day they would praise someone and the very next day they would go about cursing them. Such erratic, or rather lunatic, behavior pisses off anyone who works with them.
5. Narcissism: Simplistically, it’s the tendency of thwarting “I” on everything and everyone. It’s the tendency to place oneself on an elevated pedestal, so high that no one else could apparently reach him. Such a utopian feeling ruins the startup in no time as the founder would always think himself to be above everyone and everything. Arrogance is the most common form of narcissism.
The Ten Commandments of Founders should then aim at ensuring that the founders never behave in a way that could be construed as a symptom of the Bad Founder DNA. Accordingly, this was what we could come up with, (not in any particular order):
1. Listen: Listen attentively. Allow the other person to complete. Take all points seriously, without any preconceived notion or illogical prejudice. This is the first step towards fending off the fundamental attribution error. Being all ears clears off lot of misunderstanding and prejudice. Only when we would intently listen to someone explaining why she has failed to deliver a task on time, or why she thinks a particular decision is perhaps not in the best interests of the company, or why she behaved in a particular manner, would we understand the real reason behind her delay at work, her valid and pertinent points about the decision and the compulsion under which she had behaved in a particular way. The overall exercise of listening automatically evokes a feeling of empathy for the other person, thus creating an emotional bond between the two. Even if a founder has the final authority to make her own decision pertaining to the department or division she’s responsible for, she should still listen to others and take their suggestions in the right spirit, thus helping her make a conscious and well thought of decision.
2. Respect: Don’t look down upon anyone. Don’t humiliate anyone. Never use unprofessional, disrespectful and negative words for anyone. Not showing respect is the worst form of predatory aggressiveness, something which would demotivate one to put her best and eventually lead to her leaving the organization.
Chanakya, the economist per excellence, master strategist and king maker of ancient India, said, “Reasons for dissatisfaction…: By doing harm to principal men and dishonoring those worthy of honor…”
3. Meet: Setup sprint meetings every morning and evening between the founders. Apart from being on the same page on a regular basis, these meetings would also provide a platform to all the founders to learn to “listen” to each other and “respect” each other’s views. These meetings would also act as forum for giving and taking feedback, thus helping the founders to create a controlled system of operation.
Chanakya advises, “In an urgent matter, he (leader) should call together the councilors as well as the council of ministers and ask them what the majority among them declare or what is conducive to the success of the work, that he should do”. When Chanakya says the leader should “ask” the “majority”, the management guru is referring to a model of consultative decision making, touched upon earlier.
4. Don’t Quit: Don’t give up, come what may. The term “don’t quit” here is more of a figure of speech. It stands for emotional stability. It instils a sense of conviction among the people around that there’s no Plan B for the founders to escape with, that they will never leave their people and run away. No one wants to work for founders who show signs of emotional instability.
5. Be Accessible 24/7: Hear at once. Don’t kick the can. This sends out a very positive message to everyone that the founders are always available, round the clock, to meet them, listen to them and take care of them. It gives the people a confidence that they would never be left alone. It gives them a feeling of importance, of being respected, being held in high esteem by the founders. Prompt response to a mail or calling back immediately leaves long lasting impact on anyone, even within very close friends and partners. “Kicking the can down the road” is of course a very bad attitude towards management, though a lot of companies espouse it and encourage their managers to follow the same. It always has disastrous long term effects, much like smoking.
Chanakya says, a leader “should allow unrestricted entrance to those wishing to see him in connection with their affairs”. He adds, the leader “should hear (at once) every urgent matter, (and) not put if off. An (affair) postponed becomes difficult to settle or even impossible to settle”. Chanakya would loathe anyone who would kick the can down the road.
6. Agree to disagree: Respect others’ views and suggestions, but allow them the space to disagree with you and still work together and take decisions in consultation. The owner of a particular division or department should have the authority to make a call, genuinely considering all feedback and suggestions from others, but not necessarily agreeing to everything. Disagreeing doesn’t tantamount to disrespecting. Neither does it justify interference. The moment you don’t want to agree to disagree, you will have tendencies to show signs of predatory aggressiveness.
7. “WE”, not “I”: Never say, “I”. This one thing can fend off Fundamental Attribution Error, Predatory Aggressiveness and, of course, Narcissism, to a great extent. True leaders seldom say “I”. No one likes managers who always say “I” rather than “WE”. “I” smacks of arrogance, lack of empathy and distrust. It creates a clear demarcation between “I” and the “Rest of YOU”. In such a scenario, the “Rest” can never trust the “I”, who would very conveniently take away all the credit for anything good and pass on the discredit to the former for anything bad. The “Rest” not only lose faith on “I”, they also lose all motivation to work, forget excel. The “Rest” don’t feel inspired to be with “I”, and when there’s no inspiration, there’s nothing “I” can achieve with the “Rest”. It’s a vicious circle.
8. Be United: Pose a united front before everyone. This is one of that common wisdom we all have learned since childhood. United we stand, divided we fall. A fractured founding team poses serious threat to the existence of the company. It evokes a sense of suspicion among the employees and clients alike. To an outsider it appears as though the founders don’t trust each other, are arrogant, are deceitful and hence can’t get along well with each other.
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself,” said Henry Ford, the pioneer in automobile engineering.
Chanakya harps on having a “common purpose”. The founders and partners should have a common purpose in life, a common cause they all can work towards, a common ideological foundation on which the organization would be built. The last verse of the Rig Veda, the oldest treatise of spirituality and wisdom known to mankind, says, “Assemble, speak together, let your minds be all of one accord… The place is common, common the assembly, common the mind, so be the thought united. A common purpose do I lay before you…”
9. Practice Equality: Treat every role and responsibility equally. Treat employees and clients both alike. Equality in everything creates an atmosphere very conducive of excellence. The biggest folly of narcissism and predatory aggressiveness is this feeling of superiority, the thought that someone’s job is more important than someone else’s, or someone is useless and someone else useful. Equality can work wonders in creating a highly engaged work force. John F Kennedy, during a visit to The NASA Space Center in 1962, stopped by a janitor and said, “I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?” Prompt came the answer from the janitor, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” This speaks volumes about the culture at NASA, how even a janitor is made to feel important, an integral part of the whole scheme of things.
10. Be Ethical: Don’t deceive anyone. Have regards for the laws of the country. Don’t compromise on the integrity, come what may. Talking about ethics, Chanakya says, “…, the king, who protects the subjects according to laws, leads to heaven…” He adds, “Philosophy is ever thought of as the lamp of all sciences, as the means of all actions (and) as the support of all laws…”
Summing it up, the Ten Commandments of Founders are:
1. Listen: Listen attentively. Allow the other person to complete.
2. Respect: Don’t look down upon anyone. Don’t humiliate anyone.
3. Meet: Setup sprint meetings every morning and evening.
4. Don’t Quit: Don’t give up, come what may.
5. Be Accessible 24/7: Hear at once. Don’t kick the can.
6. Be United: Pose a united front before everyone.
7. Agree to disagree: Respect others’ views, but allow them space.
8. “WE”, not “I”: Never say, “I”.
9. Practice Equality: Treat every role and responsibility equally.
10. Be Ethical: Don’t deceive anyone. Have regards for laws of the country.
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