Don’t drink your own kool-aid
I don’t agree with everything, but I do admire Jessica Powell.
One of my favorites mottos is “Don’t drink your own Kool-aid.” A good amount of the founders I have met, have developed a “purpose” beyond reality, which might help you to be “rooted” to your project, but be careful, don’t oversell it, especially to yourself.
You “are not helping” if that help is the transaction in which customer pays for a product or a service, you are just doing business. It is like the phone company “selling”: We are so altruistic, we are transforming the world, by allowing individuals and organizations to communicate, create connections and do business. NO, YOU ARE NOT… YOU ARE OFFERING A SERVICE AND GETTING PAID FOR. NEITHER THE GOOD OR THE BAD ARE BECAUSE OF YOU.
Every time I see a founder buying 100% a “whole set of beliefs” of somebody else’s ideas, the result is not good… It doesn’t matter if is design thinking or lean startup, Steve Jobs or Simon Sinek… There will be a huge part missing! yourself and your context.
As a founder there is no more valuable superpower than self-awareness, there is no wrong or right way, you are not supposed to do A or B.
Be curious, find the anomalies, talk with people that really don’t like what you are doing, challenge yourself and your company to the point where you no longer find feedback or a comment negative.
You can read Jessica Powell post here:
