You’re Not Obsolete
Emily texted me the other day and said “Your next Unqualified Opinion should be about how just because you say something doesn’t make it true.” Her beef was with an email we had received from someone who was clearly integral to the success of her business saying that she wasn’t integral to the success of her business because all she did was drive strategy (which only happened a few times a year), review the financials and set goals (which only happened monthly), and collect overdue AR (which only happened weekly).
So not integral!
The statement is absurd on its face, but the reasoning was that none of these activities happened daily and therefore were not critical to day-to-day operations. And while it’s true that none of these things happened daily, that reasoning ignored the fact that these more intermittent activities are what enabled critical daily activities to occur.
When we pointed that out, we were met with frustration. This was not only because we were disagreeing (on the merits!), but also because I think us pointing that out forced this person to come to terms with the fact that she had not achieved an important goal of hers, which was to have made herself obsolete.
Look, we should all be endeavoring to make ourselves obsolete. Our jobs, our families, and the world will one day have to move on without us and we should do what we can while we are present to make sure that that inevitable transition is as seamless as possible.
Yet even if you recognize that and work hard to achieve it, a true fact is that unless you are entirely absent, you are never as obsolete as you might tell others or lead yourself to believe. Case in point, we invested in a business where a clear succession plan was in place and there was universal agreement that the number two was ready to take over. Then the CEO was diagnosed with cancer. A few days later he went into the hospital and never came out.
While the business at that moment was the least of our concerns, when we and everyone else got back to focusing on the business, we believed it to be in good hands. Many moons later, and only after the numbers had worsened, we figured out that while the business was in caring hands, it wasn’t necessarily in adept hands. By losing that CEO, we had lost an important driver of quality control. In other words, even though the CEO wasn’t necessarily doing much, he was, by virtue of sitting in his seat and having the potential to do something, causing others to work smarter and make better decisions.
I told this story to the “not integral” woman we were talking to and also said “Hey, look, this may be my own problem that I have scar tissue.”
But!
Scars are scars for a reason, and you should never want to or do something again that gave you one. She looked like she agreed, but didn’t, but also did, but also didn’t want to admit it. The resolution is that we’d both think about it and revert.
The heartwarming side of this story is that as long as you’re around, you’re at least not obsolete and probably more likely incredibly important. The more frustrating flip side is that you and others, even if you’re being intellectually honest, probably don’t fully appreciate that.
-Tim
