A painful mistake that gives me grief and sleepless nights is working with people who don’t share the same values.
Your WHY is not just some fuzzy thing that motivational speakers say.
For example, I surround myself only with considerate people who want to help others.
I accidentally violated this rule this week and paid for it heavily.
You don’t have time to watch your back at every moment or argue with people who try to rationalize away poor performance— since they’re too lazy to level up.
Even if they’re super smart, don’t let these people into your circle.
People who have an abundance mindset won’t see their gain needing to come at your loss or be afraid of superstars joining the team.
Thus, share your values openly— not because you want to be famous but because you want to repel this cancer.
27 years ago, the CEO of American Airlines gave me this. This will stay with me forever, and I am sure with my mission to provide jobs to a million Pakistanis this will come in very handy for them.
The larger teams have given me a bigger “empire” of people, projects, and gross revenue.
But when it comes to profit, I did far better years ago.
You see, the more people you add, the more overhead you have to manage.
And it’s harder and harder to catch low quality team members trying to sneak in— the unemployed brother of one of your employees and the slacker who believes you are rich, so they can just coast off your hard work.
Yet if your company is not growing, you’re not creating upward mobility for your good people, who will leave.
No matter the industry, your #1 challenge as a business owner is recruiting leaders who care about the company almost as much as you do.
