CMBS, Shadow Lending: Where the CRE Money Is - Daily News Article - GlobeSt.com

CMBS, Shadow Lending: Where the CRE Money Is - Daily News Article - GlobeSt.com

Push your EGO aside so your BUSINESS can succeed!

Once upon a time, forceful personalities like Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie drove business empires — and their egos drove them.

But the business climate has changed drastically in recent years. 

With rare exceptions, single companies can no longer monopolize a market. Competition has also increased, especially as advancing technology has made start-ups common. Nowadays, just a few talented individuals can overturn an entire industry — just as  Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did it for personal computing.

 While there's plenty of room for small, niche providers, today the largest, most successful businesses are best served by diversity — meaning multiple divisions, departments and teams.

Cooperation and co-dependence have replaced competition and ego as desirable characteristics. Whole organizations have fallen apart because of ego-driven issues. A good example is the old Hostess Brands, where management and labor were always at each other’s throats. It wasn't just ego that killed Hostess, but it certainly played a role on both sides.

#1 GOODBYE INNOVATION

When innovation goes out the window because we can't accept challenges to our egos, our companies take a hit. In an episode of the TV series “ Mad Men,”advertising exec Don Draper refuses to accept that a new go-getter's idea for a campaign works better than his own...so he deliberately "loses" the kid's plans in a cab when meeting with the client. He knows intellectually that his rival's campaign is superior, but his ego sabotages the deal.  Ego can also drive you to shift blame, avoid embarrassment or shame or otherwise warp reality to keep you from fully understanding and accepting it. Before you take any of these actions, stop and think about what you're doing — and how it can hurt you and your team if you keep it up.

#2 Forget proving yourself

Often, ego arises from a need to prove yourself to someone — you, your parents, your spouse or your colleagues. Maybe you want to be the first on your block with a new  BMW, and that's what drives you. Fine, as long as your ego doesn't get in the way of what really matters: Solving problems, being productive and helping your customers. In other words, doing your job. Your customers (or downstream users) just want whatever you've promised them. Working isn't about providing how great you are; it's about getting the job done as effectively and productively as possible. That's how you prove yourself.   

#3 Action step 

The days when you could succeed on your own are history. Business is a communal effort, as are most great things in society.

Rather than let your ego get in the way of organizational success, find a way to push it aside when dealing with others. Listen to what they say, and give it due consideration.

If you still think your idea is best, so be it — but don't let your ego blind you to another's brilliance. Team efforts need team players, not loose cannons. Toughness and personal drive may be necessary for success, but so are cooperation and compromise.  

Shared by : Shannon Murphy