Week 5: role clarity for sanity

Clarity is better than certainty

one of the hardest things in the early days for founders is role clarity.

who owns what because no one like to be told what to do.

during my early days at Terminus, we didn’t do this well and we all suffered from imposter syndrome, stepping on each other shoes, saying, doing, and expecting magic from each other without really understanding each other.

i am trying to avoid that mistake this go around so here is what we did.

we broke it down into these 7 elements and each of us did this:

1. Immediate to-dos (keep the lights on)

2. Long-term what’s each of our lane of genius

3. What brings us energy

4. What kills our energy

5. What do we suck at

6. When are we at our best

7. How to best work with each other

so per the promise of this newsletter - becoming intentional and transparent in building a business, here is my role in the new company to be launched next week:

Immediate:

• Get more at-bats (intros/first call/work the network)

• Products to market - which products / define positioning and PoV

• Marketing plan - Create new market and demand with thought leadership

• V2MOM - quarterly goals - what does success look like

Long term:

• Vision/Mission

• Framework creator

• Partner/Acquire/Relationship

• Point of view

• Culture

• Communication

• The face of the company

• Books

What brings me energy:

• Speed, Testing, new ideas

What kills my energy:

• Incremental progress (e.g. progress thru meetings)

• Slow iteration (lack of sense of urgency)

• Lack of clarity, alignment, ownership, quality work

• When people come unprepared

Where do I suck at?

• Direct feedback, confrontation, perfection, too many priorities

When I am at my best?

• Whiteboard, in-person talk, focused time to create, mornings 

How to best work with me?

• Show up prepared, own up your end, be honest, and go the extra mile

that’s it! It took us a few hours to crank thru this but it’s worth it!

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something on a personal note that I am proud of:

my son, Krish who is 11 is a big tennis player — well he works hard, really hard.

last Sunday, he had a tournament and he was winning the back draw. but at the time his next match was scheduled, his little sister, Kiara was going to sing in the choir at our local Church.

I told him, that he can play the match and I will have my friends watch him and I will go to Kiara’s event and come back to pick him up. after all - he was winning!

He said, give me a minute.

then he said something, that I will never forget: “What’s more important?”

and decided to default the match and go watch his little sister sign because there is nothing more important than seeing the BIG smile on her face when he shows up as she wasn’t expecting him to come. He made her quiet wish come true and sang so loud!

plus Krish went and told the authorities - who were stunned because that’s not normal. You play to win - but Krish already won - not the game of tennis but the game of priorities.

i will be honest. i choked up. I don’t know if I would have had the courage to do what he did and certainly not at the young age of 11.

he simply got his stuff, told everyone, and hoped in our jeep to the Church.

talk about child-like faith that’s greater than a mountain.

Leaderpoint: When you know your priorities and have role clarity, your decisions become easy.

Practice role clarity - with yourself, cofounders, partners, and even at home.

and also this is not one and done.

you have to do this regularly with new people and new seasons of life and business.

love,

Sangram

p.s. thank you for reading. it does mean a ton to me when i see your comments below with your thoughts.

p.p.s my 21 frameworks for the business of marketing, leadership and life are here