Career Lust

I’ve been slogging my way through Jack Welch’s book, Winning. With almost every book I read or listen to, I find nuggets of super valuable information. Jack Welch is a big company guy. As a startup guy running an agency helping other startup people, it’s been difficult to relate to the lessons in the book. However, I found this gem earlier this week:

With most people, ambition is a positive thing— it’s fire in the belly, it’s energy and optimism. It’s pushing yourself and the organization forward so that everyone wins. Kevin Sharer had plenty of this kind of drive, and so do most people who succeed.

Career lust looks different. It shows itself in tearing down the people around you, insulting or disparaging them in order to make your own candle burn brighter, as the old saying goes. It’s covering up your mistakes or (worse) trying to blame them on someone else. It’s hogging meetings, taking disproportionate credit for team success, and gossiping incessantly about people and events in the office. It’s seeing the company’s org chart as a chessboard, and making an open display of watching the pieces move.

If you’ve got this problem, your best hope is to repress it, fight it, and keep it out of sight. . . .

Welch, Jack; Welch, Suzy (2009-10-13). Winning: The Ultimate Business How-To Book (Kindle Locations 3900-3908). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

The Great Ones Ultimately Care About Winning

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realize how valuable the lessons learned from playing sports are in business. Just like the great athletes in sports, the great ones in startups ultimately care about winning. They put the goals of the company ahead of themselves and they help pull everyone toward the finish line in accomplishing them.

I remember reading a ridiculously long article, perhaps in Rolling Stone, about Jordan turning 50. It was sad, depicting him as a kind of old general with no war to fight, but it illustrated just how important winning to him was. He said that he’d give up everything he’d accomplished if he could play again for a chance to win. He was obsessed with winning. That’s what made him great.

As a New England Patriots fan, I’ve been so impressed with how focused Tom Brady is on winning. There are a bunch of moments when I’ve thought to myself, ‘I honestly think he’d rather die than lose.’ That’s a bit extreme, but the great ones always are.

Both of these guys have incredible individual talents, but they focused exclusively on winning. As a result, their teams prospered. I believe that in sports and in business, character is always revealed. Individual, selfish players are always marginalized in the end and the truly great ones always end up being team players.

This is What a Winner Looks Like in a Startup

I had a chance to sit with my old friend and former co-founder, Jim Patterson, today. Beginning in 1999 and ending in 2008, I co-founded and ran two businesses with Jim. I then watched closely as he helped build Yammer.

I met up with Jim after he delivered a demo today at Launch Conference. We sat and talked about philosophy, lessons I’ve learned, and more importantly, about the lessons he’s learned as the CEO of Cotap. Although Jim as head of product was instrumental in building Yammer, Cotap is Jim’s first gig as CEO. He’s learned a lot, but what really impresses me about Jim is his focus on winning.

From the day I met Jim, which was about 15 years ago now, he’s been able to do just about everything better than anyone and is smarter than just about every other person I’ve worked with. Nevertheless, he’s so focused on winning and playing the long-game, that he doesn’t dare step on the toes of the people that work for him.

Here’s what important to Jim in order:

1. Winning and goals
2. People
3. Culture

There is nothing in the above list related to Jim personally / individually. He puts the goals of the company before everything else.

Jim is hard to work with. I don’t think anyone would say otherwise. But you want him on your team. If you deliver, he gives you the credit and takes none for himself. He wants his team to do the work and to lead the company to victory. He works to make you better. He gives people credit for running things and is building to scale by putting the right people in the right places and taking a leap of faith in letting them run with things.

Jim’s not out on the field on Sunday getting concussed by taking one for the team, but he’s got the same attitude that Brady and Jordan have and people recognize that — that’s why people bet on him. Everyone wants someone like Jim on their team and leading their team.

Career Lust and Inversely Valuable People

At the same time, I’ve worked with many people who want and need validation personally. They don’t care about winning. I think career lust explains many of these people. And they are the thorn in every organization’s side.

In addition to the characteristics outlined by Welch, these people often have a high IQ and are talented. They often get laid off, but never seem to learn the right lessons about values and winning and how to work with others.

It sounds harsh, but sometimes these people can be inversely valuable. I don’t know of many startups that can afford that.

The Solution

I think Welch nailed it — If you have career lust, repress it. I would imagine that if you repress it and if you can will yourself to focus on winning and to focus on the team, you’ve got a shot. Otherwise, I have no doubt that you will be marginalized.

I do think people can change. Make the company goals your own goals. Write them down and tape them to your mirror so that when you brush your teeth in the AM, you see the company goals first thing. Forget about yourself. Focus on other people. Focus on being useful.

For startup executives dealing with this issue, I would suggest that if you have someone with career lust on your team, you should try to set them up to succeed or quickly remove them. Here’s how I would specifically address the issue:

1. Tell them you think they have career lust. I’m a big believer in candor and although this seems uber-personal, I think bringing this to the table will be helpful; Perhaps they recognize that they’ve got career lust or will recognize it and your disclosure will help them turn their careers around.
2. Set them up in a role where they can be successful as an individual contributor. I’m a big believer that talented people deserve a shot. If there’s a role where you can utilize someone like this without destroying a team or your company, use them. It’s likely that the role will entail something where they don’t have to interact much with coworkers.