Jul
24
Make someone greater than you
Last month I had some new ideas thrown at me from Tony Scelzo at Rainmakers. At the Rainmakers Main Event, Tony’s presentation had a strong center point on the subject of “making someone greater than you.”
To give some background, accountability is a common discussion among entrepreneurs. We have so many ideas on seemingly life-changing goals, business concepts and social agendas that it is often hard for us to focus on one. It’s both a blessing and a curse. The strength allows a constant source of creativity, but the character flaw rears its ugly head as a deficit of attention to executing fully on any one endeavor.
Back to accountability – I have several people who constantly ask me about progress in my business. Several of my mentors, coaches and partners give me a semi-constant level of hell when I get off track – and it helps to keep me focused on my goals when the new, bright and shiny idea I got from reading Inc. comes to both inspire and haunt me.
Tony’s paradigm shift comment was something like this: commit to making your accountability partner “greater than you.”
Think about that for a minute. Actually commit to the fact that your accountability partner will have greater financial, relational, or just general success, because YOU will make it happen. Instantly the nay-saying devil on my left shoulder chimes in with the following comment:
“So you’re going to do all their work for them.”
No. I’m going to kick him/her into gear with support and the right questions to position them for success. I’m going to leverage my connections, time and energy to make sure that their success parallels or exceeds my own. For the sometimes self-centric entrepreneur, this is a very powerful way of thinking, and a very humbling one if you happen to be the recipient.
So, whose success are you going to ensure?
