Why the Company Founder Has To Handle the Dishwasher? The Story About Responsibility.
Being a co-founder of Predica Group and working for its success for over 13 years taught me many valuable lessons about running a business and the approach to life. I share the story I experienced years ago when Predica was still a small company. Still, it keeps reminding me how even small things are important and how extreme ownership (check out Jocko Willink’s book if you don’t know the term) works in practice.
“The founder and the dishwasher” story
The story begins when you finish your work late in the evening, leaving last as usual. You go to the kitchen and find what appears to be the last task of the day — someone left dirty stuff in the sink… You take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and put it all in the dishwasher. Done.
The next day, you show up at the office at 7 AM (because you’re a night owl; otherwise, you’d be there at 5), only to meet your friend, the dishwasher, again. After all, the cups will not find their way to the cabinets without you. So your roll up your sleeves, and here we go. Where is the receptionist, cleaner, or someone who should do it? Wait, do we even have one?
The story repeats itself every day until the company is big enough that you can afford to have people take care of everything for you.
Until then, why is it you who has to do it?
Reason #1: You do what others are not willing to do
The term “founder” these days is this glorified human being who is perceived to have done “the impossible” of setting up and running a company.
Yes, it takes courage, stamina, and the feeling of purpose to do it. But in everyday reality, it sometimes boils down to some fundamental things you need to take care of. And there are tons of these things… Therefore, you will find a lot that are not interesting, not exciting or just tedious. But they must be done nonetheless, and it’s your job to have them done.
Having clean cups for people for the next day’s morning coffee might just be one of them.
Reason #2: You’re ultimately responsible for everything
I heard once that since I have my own company now, I don’t need to do anything because people will do that for me. In some way, it’s true — with the company’s growth, you will have more and more people responsible for more and more things.
But… In the end, when something doesn’t work, or someone leaves or gets sick, and you have no one to fill this gap with, it’s on you.
The founder is the ultimate escalation point, the final place to go when there’s nowhere else to go for help. Why? Because it’s all yours, the company and with it, the overall responsibility of what is happening in it.
Sometimes, it can just be the issue that we have run of clean cups. Guess what then?
The humbleness of being the founder
To this day, I occasionally help with the dishwasher if I am at the office in the morning and I see someone doing it. I already know that all things, even as small or seemingly insignificant as this one, are needed for the company’s atmosphere and as a result its success.
It is my founder’s way: be humble and get things done.
