Helpful, Not Impressive
The Situation
In an attempt to be impressive, things can get complicated. Credentials show up in email signatures, pitch decks get longer, authorship and ownership dominate discussion, and people vie for personal facetime with customers and suppliers. You can get caught in a game of optics without much getting done.
The Play
When you prioritize what’s genuinely helpful rather than what looks impressive, decisions are based on merit and what makes the business stronger. Growth for growth’s sake won’t make the cut. Neither will cost cutting for short-term profit. Shift the goals to sturdy growth, a committed team that feels seen and appreciated, and the ability to take measured risk.
Ask, “How can I be helpful to you now?”
Don’t try to win the conversation or make sure they adopt your ideas.
Create an environment that can tolerate frequent, small failures.
Remain humble about what you do and don’t know.
Optimize for keeping the range of possible futures open.
Use your resources on behalf of other people without expecting credit or gain.
Help those around you figure out where their potential lies rather than taking their idea, making it yours, and pushing it through the organization.
Go Long
New Podcast: Helpful, Not Impressive
How do you know if you’re doing it right? “The #1 KPI for helpful, not impressive is that people are asking you for help. You’re not intimidating to them and you’ve done something in the past that’s been helpful.”
This week on the pod, Mark Brooks and Tim Hanson talk with David Cover about what it means to be less impressive and more helpful.
(Be sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes in your feed!)
Go Short
New Commentary: Seeing Helpful, Not Impressive
“The easiest way to talk about being helpful, not impressive, is to reflect on how we act in our own lives – modifying our behavior to adopt a posture of sharing, compassion, communication, and rolling up your sleeves to do the work. But the other side of the coin is being able to recognize others who are quietly doing what needs to be done, beyond the flashier status-seeking of impressive.”
Throwback
What to Expect If Permanent Equity Buys Your Business
“The purpose of all of this communication is not to fault-find or micromanage, but to get to know the business from an owner’s and leadership team’s perspective inside and out, and most importantly to be helpful. We want to help where we have some insight or expertise, and otherwise leave our leadership teams to do their jobs and live a good life.”
Go Deep
Curiosity sparked? We've put together a list of resources on identifying and doing what's helpful, rather than getting caught up in optics.
Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)
+If you’re building based on what’s impressive, you’re building a system that must be successful all the time – knock loose a brick and the whole thing will come tumbling down. “A loser is someone who, after making a mistake, doesn’t introspect, doesn’t exploit it, feels embarrassed and defensive rather than enriched with a new piece of information, and tries to explain why he made the mistake rather than moving on.”
The Rise of the Millionaire LinkedIn Influencer (Vice)
+On the side of impressive, and less than helpful. “After years of being known as a place to share resumes and search for jobs, LinkedIn has quietly transformed into a center for a different sort of influencer—the ROI-obsessed go-getter. It is, in many ways, ground zero for hustle culture and what some have deemed 'toxic positivity,' an aspirational place for people more concerned with self-care and cash flow than wisecracks and unattainable beauty.”
(P.S. If becoming a LinkedInfluencer is high on your to-do list, please enjoy this viral tweet generator, complete with adjustable cringe level.)
Saying “Yes” in Bob Iger’s “The Ride of a Lifetime” (Kelie Morgan)
+Sometimes being helpful is saying yes. “We have a similar ‘bet on brains’ philosophy at Permanent Equity. Maybe it stems from the fact that we’re a group of operators that stumbled sideways into private equity or that our CFO went to school to be a playwright not an accountant. In all reality, it’s because we know the power of saying yes to new opportunities and putting yourself in a position to grow and do more than you knew you could.” Also, check out our other “Highlights” – we hope they’re helpful.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
