Helping People Move Beyond V1: A Leader’s Greatest Reward

Robin: ‘Do meaningful, valuable work that helps others grow and makes a difference to them.’ ---- The author says the greatest benefit of being an Apple executive or Nest CEO is the chance to help others. Helping is always the most rewarding experience. You can help the team care for their families when they, their children, or parents are ill. The author describes building a community at Nest and a culture valuing quality, determination, and innovation. It gave talented people room to create, fail, learn, and grow together. Many talented people arrived at Nest to do one thing well. When they left, they knew they could do a hundred. Many simply need a push. For most, the obstacle is themselves. They are limited by what they think they can do and who they think they should be. They resist stepping outside those limits and challenging their boundaries. When someone pressures them, willingly or unwillingly, happily or unhappily, they start doing more and recognize their own creativity, determination, and talent. It resembles launching a first product version. Every minute and brain cell goes into V1, and you barely reach the finish line exhausted. Yet all that effort never makes V1 good enough. You see enormous potential and endless possibilities, so you keep going: V2, V3, V4...V18, continually finding ways to improve. People are similar, but many remain stuck at V1. Once comfortable with ourselves, we stop seeing our potential. Products are never finally finished, and neither are people. We should keep changing and improving. As a leader, CEO, or mentor, keep providing momentum—even when people resent it, even when you worry you may be pushing too hard. The other side is that the effort brings rewards. Doing things well is worthwhile. Striving for greatness is worthwhile. Helping your team and other people is worthwhile. Eventually, an email arrives from a colleague of two or three—or even ten—years ago. They thank you for the push and for helping them recognize their potential. They say they hated you then, every minute. They cannot believe how hard they worked or how often you made them start from scratch and refused to give up. Eventually, they realized that moment was a turning point and a beginning. It changed the trajectory of their whole career; what you built together changed their life. Then you know you truly did something meaningful. You did something worth doing. #BuildAnUnorthodoxGuideToMakingThingsWorthMaking