Something small came up at the office recently. I thought I’d shrugged it off. Apparently, I hadn’t.
It stayed with me. Took root. Started growing. More weed than tree, and I know what happens when I leave those things alone.
We’d received a report on how the company was doing. There was plenty to feel good about, and there were areas where we could improve. One observation about our culture amounted to this:
The leash is shorter than the founders think.
I hate dog references applied to people. I find them insulting. The founders holding a leash, with everyone else on the other end, is a fucking horrible image. And apparently, we’re giving people even less room than we believe.
I understand the metaphor. Disliking it doesn’t let me dismiss what it’s telling me.
An apology
If you’ve felt confined or constrained at PD, or felt that you didn’t have the autonomy to do your best work, I’m sorry.
As a founder and CEO, I set the vision and have a responsibility for the culture. If the way we operate leaves people feeling restricted, that’s on me to understand and address. My intentions don’t erase your experience.
I want to do better. I’ll need your help understanding where this happens. What decisions do you feel unable to make? Where are the founders getting in the way? What would give you more freedom to own the work you’re responsible for?
I can promise you my intention to improve this. I can’t promise that I’ll get every decision right, or that every attempt will produce the result we want. I intend to take this seriously, listen, and do better.
Not everyone will feel the same way. People experience the company differently, and the degree of autonomy they feel will vary. That doesn’t make this something I can shrug off.
Why it hit me
I enjoy an enormous amount of autonomy. I don’t think I could survive in a workplace without it.
That doesn’t mean I go around doing whatever the fuck I want. Our standards, values, and principles still apply. Autonomy doesn’t give anyone permission to abandon them, including me.
But within those expectations, I have freedom in how I approach the work, the problems I take on, and the risks I’m willing to take. I can question things. Debate them. Find a better way.
Ultimately, I believe the person doing the work should own the work.
So the idea that someone at PD feels they don’t have that freedom guts me a little. It goes against something I care deeply about. I want people to have autonomy, and I believe those who have worked closely with me have experienced that.
I’m okay with failure. I’m okay with the time and financial costs that can come with it, provided the person takes ownership.
If you fuck something up, own it and make it better. If you lose money, figure out what happened and what needs to change. If a client project goes sideways, take responsibility and work through it.
That’s extreme ownership. Having autonomy means accepting responsibility for what you do with it, including when it goes wrong.
The idea of a short leash is so far from what I want that I need to understand how we’ve ended up with that description.
Your responsibility
Now, here’s where I need to be direct: You have a responsibility here too.
I look at PD as an open-world video game. There’s room to explore, solve problems, build things, make money, and crush it. That’s how I see the company. If your experience is different, I need to understand where and why.
The report has brought this to our attention. That is people speaking up. Now we need to get specific enough to do something about it.
If something is holding you back, tell us what it is. If someone is holding you back, we need to have that conversation. If that someone is me, tell me.
And if you’ve already told me and I haven’t listened, I need to listen harder. If the way I respond makes you less willing to speak, that’s something I need to own too.
But suffering in silence won’t improve your situation. Seeing something that isn’t right and refusing to raise it leaves the problem exactly where it is. You’re unhappy. The company doesn’t improve. Nobody gets the chance to address what’s wrong.
Complaining on the sidelines while refusing to enter the conversation is a cop-out. You get to keep your position without having it challenged, while the thing you resent carries on.
I want you to challenge the status quo. If you feel constrained, bring the constraint into the conversation. Tell us where it is and what you think needs to change.
How can we make things better if we won’t have the conversation?
Convince me
Sometimes people want to change something, but they don’t want to engage in the discussion required to change it.
If I believe in something, I’ll debate it. I’ll explain why I think it matters. I’ll question your position, and I expect you to question mine.
Convince me.
Bring me a better argument. Show me what I’m missing. Give me evidence that challenges what I believe. Those who have seen me change my mind know that I’m willing to do it.
No belief I hold should be protected from new, solid evidence. If I refuse to reconsider a position in the face of that evidence, what does that say about me?
Of course, owning your work has to include room to make decisions. You shouldn’t have to win a philosophical debate with a founder every time you want to do your job. But when we’re challenging an established approach or asking the company to change direction, we should expect to discuss the reasons.
Disagreement is part of that. Being challenged doesn’t automatically mean you’ve been denied autonomy. It means we have something to work through. I have a responsibility to stay open to your argument, and you have a responsibility to make it.
I would much rather work with someone who has the courage to have an uncomfortable conversation than someone who complains on the sidelines and avoids the discussion that could actually change something.
Take the leash off
I have work to do. I need to understand where my behaviour, or the way we run this company, is restricting people. I need to listen when that’s pointed out and be willing to change.
You have a part in this too. Speak up. Challenge what isn’t working. Take responsibility for the work and for the conversations that come with owning it.
If I’m holding the leash, I need to let go. If you’re waiting for someone else to challenge it, I’m asking you to step forward.
I want to build a company where people have the freedom to do extraordinary work and the courage to tell me when I’m getting in the way.
So forget asking for a slightly longer leash.
Let’s take the fucking thing off.
