The A-hole in the team

Guhesh Ramanathan
Aug 26, 2017 · 3 min read

Yep. There’s always one you can find.

In startups, its that one person who does things differently. Chases different goals. Moves too fast while the rest of the team urges caution. Moves too slow when the team is scrambling. Uses tabs instead of spaces while coding. You get what I’m saying.

And before you start pointing fingers at your other co-founders, look at yourself. Chances are that the A-hole in the team is you. Yes, you.

I’m not going to get into a debate with you here. I’m not going to argue with you when you scream in frustration “But, heck, those other guys are the A-Holes. Not me, dammit!”

I’m only going to remind you that things get done faster, and better, and more effectively, and cheaper, and cleaner and … whatever, if everyone in the team pulls together in one direction.

Two words: Together. and Direction.

And I’m going to try and explain how I experienced this as a scuba diver.

I certified as a PADI AOW way back in 1999, and I’ve been diving since then. The Andamans. Maldives. Malaysia. Indonesia. Tunisia. Thailand. Lakshadweep. Goa. Tioman. Seen some great stuff. But I’m digressing.

One of the things that any diver will tell you is this: You never dive alone. You always dive with a buddy. You kit up with your buddy. Do your checks together. Attend the dive briefing together. Do your safety stops together. Descend together. Ascend together. And during the dive, while you might drift off from each other, you always check to see where your buddy is, and wait for them to catch up with you. To make sure that you are together, and pointed in the same direction.

There are times when I’ve missed out on seeing mantas and sharks (which the entire dive group and my buddy saw) because I was headed off in a different direction. And times when I almost drowned because my regulator gave up on me, and I was too far away from my buddy to buddy-breathe and surface.

(I did see this squid my buddy found on a night dive, though)

Those were the times when I was the A-Hole on the dive. I was too focused on doing what I wanted, rather than what the entire dive team was doing.

I’ve written about these (and other start-up lessons I learnt as a diver) in The Scuba Sutras, but back to the point.

Are you (and your co-founders) following the buddy principle? Did you agree on the direction your start-up would take? And are you, regularly, syncing up together to check if you are headed in the right direction? Sure, the direction can change (it happens all the time while diving … sometimes currents force you to head off in a totally different direction), but it is critical that all of you agree and move in that direction.

Because if you aren’t together and headed in the same direction, you just might implode your start-up.

And you might be the A-hole that made it implode.

)

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade