The Art of Letting Things Go: Double Edged Sword of Ego

The ego lives in every one of us, it is the reason we get up in the morning and the driver of nearly everything we do in the day. Ego is important, too much ego is infectious, especially when working alongside others. The dichotomy of ego is created through a lack of control over it within ourselves. We may not even realize when we lose control over it, yet when collaborating with others, egos can clash.

In this situation, even leaders need to be able to follow, put pride aside and evaluate what’s best for the team. This is a critical trait of effective leaders, leading a team requires being attentive but it does not mean calling all the shots. Now, ego can be a good thing, it drives us to hold ourselves to a high standard and seek out achievements. It is the balance of the good and bad that comes with an ego that must be established, which will make you highly effective in anything you do.

Often, ego gets in the way when differing opinions arise which unfortunately is inevitable in any setting of discussion.

The dilemma is that in some cases, the higher-ranked person may want to make their power known and overrule disagreements. The situations vary, the common theme however is that incentives driven to feed ego are sometimes not even necessary tasks to carry out or are simply overkill. These situations are a means of proving your worth to yourself at the risk of hurting the team or even your reputation as a worker. 

We want to be effective team leaders/members but we don’t want emotion to inhibit our decision-making. To mitigate this, let's look at what we can do:

Have An Open Mind

Open-mindedness is a characteristic that will serve anyone not only in their career but through any decision-making situation. Being open-minded is the ability to detach from the situation and look at it logically to determine the best course of action. Now you may believe that you are open-minded, invite new ideas to the table, and hear people out, yet you still find yourself in conflict with others.

Anytime you find yourself here, you must assess if your feelings are from a standpoint of business or ego. You might be surprised to find that majority of the time, the ego tends to take the win.

Choose Long-Term Gratification

Putting your ego in check typically involves sacrificing the sweet taste of victory. Let’s say you led your team on a project for a major client. You put in countless hours with them, fine-tuned some details, and implemented your thoughts to inspire their ideas. The client comes back and is thrilled with the work, your boss congratulates you but you insist it was the team's doing, you just simply helped. This is an example of putting your ego in check to ensure the satisfaction of your team.

In turn, this will translate to consistent effort and improvement in your team and even attract talented people who want to work for you. In essence, the gratification will come, not immediately but it will be much more rewarding long-term.

Be Supportive

Ultimately when working with others, putting your ego in check requires assessing the needs of the team and adapting to them. To be an effective leader, follower, or co-worker you have to use your resourcefulness to contribute to the task. Sometimes all it takes is understanding someone else’s point of view. For instance, you may have subordinates who express concerns over operating procedures you’ve instilled for a task.

Instead of responding “this is the way we’re doing it” you take the time to hear them out. You realize that you may have overlooked areas that would create difficulties in the process. You thank your team members for the advice and they now feel valued and pleased to work with you. In these cases, you can realize flaws in your leadership style and a common flaw is being resistant to change. 

Conclusion

It’s natural to want to be the best, be right, and reap the rewards as soon as possible from the work you do. This can stem from a lack of confidence or self-esteem and now the need to assert yourself in something fills those gaps. It is in these times that we need to step back, re-evaluate the situation, and most importantly, check our ego.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

The Importance of Adaptability: What Allows Startups to Succeed

It is widely renowned that a successful business is typically established on 5 pillars: the business model, the concept, the people in the organization, profitability, and timing. With these well-established, any business can successfully take off and change the world right? This is a common misconception that many businesses run on and sometimes are brutally awoken by reality. The missing ingredient here is adaptability to consumer interests. 

Start-ups have to realize that trends change and sticking to the same model can narrow their window of opportunities. It is common for companies to focus on the purpose they’ve served to earn their success. However, as history has shown us, companies unable to remain purposeful in years of change become irrelevant. Some examples of this can be seen by Blockbuster, Myspace, Toys R Us, Nokia, and the list goes on.

Researchers found that 65% of companies fail within their first 10 years in business. Why do they fail? It is often because they lack a plan for the future of the industry they’re in or simply cannot keep up.

A company can be incredibly profitable yet in a matter of months, its profitability can quickly fade if unable to adapt to the ever-changing markets. For this reason, companies must spend time analyzing consumer trends and preparing to adapt to the new trends. Now the question is what are trends companies should look for to be prepared?

Let’s look at what to consider:

Who Is Your Audience?

In recent years, millennials (born from 1980 to 2000) have dictated consumer trends immensely. The average yearly spending of a millennial is nearly $60,000 and 91% of them prefer to shop online. What does this mean for retail workers? If only 9% of the largest consumer base prefers to shop in a store, could stores become obsolete in the future? Generations come and go, and so does their influence on the economy.

Millennials are the largest consumer age demographic in the United States (the country with the largest consumer market). Companies should frequently review the trends of the audience they’re targeting, chances are millennials will be involved in this audience. Marketing teams must meet to discuss strategies in appealing to the audience, also to decipher where they can best reach them. 

Sales Process Involvement

As an entrepreneur, you delegate tasks to individuals throughout the organization which is the right thing to do. However, the one area a business leader must not detach themselves from is the sales relationship with consumers. Actively engaging with your customers provides the highest level of insight into changing consumer trends and values. This is especially useful for smaller companies. As the leader of the organization, maintaining a direct and positive relationship can lead to repeat business. 

You Never Know Enough

It doesn’t matter how successful you or your company are, you never know everything and should never have an attitude that demonstrates that you think you do. “Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on” - Steve Jobs. Always being open to new ideas, trends, discussions, and changes is a tool that will carry businesses through even the toughest of storms. Leaders should make it a priority to never become complacent and always look for new ways to inspire.

Conclusion

Success can have its downsides if handled improperly, specifically if the success is viewed as the end goal. No matter what anyone has achieved, it is impossible to achieve the highest level of perfection. Organizations and leaders should aim to set the bar higher, look for new ways to provide value, and never fall into the trap of comfort.  

Written By Ben Brown

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ISU Corp is an award-winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost-effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners’ mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.

Imposter Syndrome: Overcoming the Feeling of Not Belonging

Our achievements can sometimes feel like they’re moving faster than we are, that we are not yet the person we’ve created through hard work. This is a common psychological response when we step into a new role known as imposter syndrome. This feeling can overpower us in some cases, making us worry that we are not good enough or capable of handling the role. It is important to recognize that giving in to this feeling is not allowing you to move forward.

However, “not giving in” is a lot easier said than done, especially when we are competing against ourselves. Yet, having this feeling is a good reflection of your character, it shows you have humility. In a leadership role, humility is a defining characteristic of great leaders. This is in contrast to leaders who lack humility and almost have a sense of entitlement to possess power. 

The first thing to do when you begin doubting yourself is to think back to everything you’ve been through to get to this point. If you’ve just been promoted, think of all the late nights, early mornings, and sacrifices it took to get there. Think of the times your staying power was tested but you knew what you were doing was worth it.

You want this added layer of confidence to do your job effectively, but overcoming your inner voice can be very challenging. When this is the case, it’s important to know how to gain your confidence back. Not only is this important for yourself, but it is pivotal to effectively complete tasks and reach objectives. If you are in a leadership role, imposter syndrome can loom over your ability to lead others. The risks for not taming imposter syndrome stack up.

With that said, let's look at what you can do to solve it:

Seek Out Advancement

People can be doing a great job in the position they’re currently in, an opportunity for advancement in the company can come up but they won’t go after it. Why won’t they go after it? It’s simple, they don’t think they can handle it. However, it’s important to know that this will lead to someone else in the role to which you may or may not agree with their leadership.

Know your worth and you set your standards. Why settle for less when you know you can do more? If the ideas you bring to the table can benefit the organization, then holding them back is a disservice.

Ask Questions

A lot of times stepping into a role you’re nervous about will make you feel like you should know everything. This is never the case, don’t feel that you should go into it knowing everything, be curious and observe. No matter what position you’re in you should always ask questions up and down the hierarchy. Now with this, you’ll need to ensure that the questions you ask are meaningful.

Again, humility is important but too much humility can make you seem incompetent. Questions regarding areas you need to be caught up to speed on should, by all means, be asked. On the other hand, if there is something you can answer yourself by simply doing research or observing, then do that.

Find Supportive People

Working with others means being part of a team. Members must support each other, which means there is a level of trust established within the team. Cohesion within the organization will allow production processes to operate much more smoothly. Communication can flow much more effectively and issues can be handled without confusion. In addition, a trusted support group will build your comfort being in this new position. Once you identify the people you can depend on, you can build a network. 

Conclusion

Feeling out of place in a new position is normal, it reflects well on your care and consideration for the task at hand. While this humility is a good trait for a leader, it does have the power to hinder your ability to oversee your duties effectively. Recognize times when you need to ask for help and use your emotional intelligence to assess each new challenge.

You will inevitably find ways to build this comfort in your new role. While they may not always make you want to jump at the challenge, they will have their pay off. Don't be afraid to take risks, discomfort is what will mold you into a competent leader.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!