Why Strong Team Dynamics Matter
Okay this post serves as a reinforcement of why having strong co-founder and team dynamics are great moats in the building of a strong business. it also will help share a bit of the story for many of my friend and colleagues as to what happened to me on my most recent travel excursion.
I fell down some stairs. There that’s it. Not sure exactly what happened but at the bottom of the stairs my kneecap was no longer attached at the bottom of my leg. In MD parlance it is called a patella tendon rupture. Additional color for you..I was in Leeds, England finishing up the last meeting of a two week business trip. All that was left was to have a pint then catch the train back to London to have a leisurely evening of packing and prep ahead of the flight the next day back to Raleigh. That was not to be however.
EMTs came a grabbed me. Took me to the local hospital and I got to experience the UK National Health System which performed magnificently. I left with meds, a brace and crutches and was never stressed about a bill. It was more about what was the best health outcome for me. Quick aside here…On the U.S. before I could get back to the states the MD’s office was trying to get insurance details and billing sign off for the appointments that were needed upon my return. All along the way through the pre-surgical process I got no less than seven phone calls to discuss payment and insurance. Very different experiences to say the least but all in all BOTH systems took care of me. Okay back to Leeds….
When we finished up at the ER it was after midnight and the trains back to London were finished for the night so we ended up with a hire car driving us the 4.5 hours back to London in order to pick up our gear and then do a mad dash out to Heathrow to catch our flight to Boston and then on to Raleigh. It was about 18 hours of sheer madness but I was fairly calm and simply worried about my leg versus the logistics because I had my co-founder/friend/mate there with me. From the point of the accident he more or less took over my life and made sure to coordinate transport, packing and making sure I got home in as safe a manner as possible. He lugged two backpacks around for a portion of those 18 hours. He yelled at ticket people and anyone else who got in the way of making sure I got home in one well almost one piece. Charles was a rockstar and it showed throughout the process. As we were standing outside of the hospital trying to get our driver to find us on the opposite end of the hospital; Listening to Charles try and guide this guy while I stood there on crutches thinking about how badly my knee might be damaged, I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather have undergone that experience with except for my better half Jeff.
The key point to be made here was that I had to trust him not just with the well being of our company but with my own personal well being. I had to surrender control of outcomes to someone other than myself which as a Type A persona that is a difficult thing to do under normal conditions nevertheless the stress conditions we were under at that time. There was no way I was going to give just anyone that level of control over my decision making process but Charles ranks as one of the few humans who get the override codes when required. Thanks BUD for being there!
Jumping ahead in this story, I had surgery on the knee pretty quickly after I returned. When we realized that getting me upstairs to the bedroom wasn’t going to workout, I was able to quickly text two team members who lived nearby to ask them come over and help move some furniture about while I waited in the car with my post-op leg….There wasn’t a debate or any delay. They showed up 15 min later. Got the furniture moved and got me in the house. This wasn’t a requirement of the job it was a function of the respect that we have for each other as teammates. That mutual respect goes a long long way towards getting things done in a smoothly operating business. Thanks Matty and Liam for the quick helping hand.
Building a company requires that you build a team at some point. Building a team that has strong respect for each other is a absolute moat versus other teams that operate strictly as hands off colleagues. This doesn’t mean that you have to spend lots of time creating fake camaradiere through mandatory events or artificial efforts. Rather it means you have to select team members who believe in the mission, you or all of the above and you have to treat them with respect and feel in turn respected along the way. If you don’t have a natural co-founder dynamic always seek to create a strong co-founding team dynamic within your business. Dont try to fake your way through it, rather build up the experiences that lead to mutual respect over time among all of your team so that those bonds are solid and real.
Having people by your side who’ve got your back will allow you to focus on being able to do more and risk more. Sometimes when those risks result in injury, knowing that you’ve got mates who are going to get you through it all makes things just a bit easier to deal with. Dealing with a long recovery cycle with this evil brace on my leg will be a new challenge but I wont be alone.
Besides my family, I have my co-founder, I have eight additional team members and over 1,000 consortium members across the globe who are focused on helping GDC be the very best at providing eKYC and Customer Due Diligence solutions to the global marketplace.
If you want to hear more of the story of how I busted my leg happy to get together with you after July. At this point I’m not driving for at least two more weeks if then so my normal meeting cycles will be off. If you want real quality time with me you can offer to help do a PT session with me. Seriously..it will be fun.
