We talk about surviving failure,

What about success?

Imagine, the MVP your team birthed, is successful.

Your company moves to scale,

shifts your product to another team,

another leader,

all with formal corporate support.

The path your team carved is paved.

You are left in the jungle to find the next path.

Time passes, that product becomes wildly successful, the scale leader leaves the company boasting of ‘their’ creation.

Over a happy hour with your original team, instead of excitement from being part of the inception, you hear disappointment.

This disappointment stems from two root causes: idea ownership, and credit.

Ideas are gardens to share, not diamonds to hoard.

Gardens, open for others to tend; grow in ways that are unexpected. The joy is in seeing the results of contribution, unintended deviations from the ‘original’ form and experiencing the idea, your garden, grow.

Credit is more problematic. To humble key contributors I say ‘it is not boastful to be proud of something you had a hand in creating’. To leaders, calling out your team members costs nothing but buys everything. Everyone ultimately gains personal brand value, and and a ‘creators confidence’ from these successes. Your mark, will always be on your creations.

Link to original Linkedin post: http://bit.ly/2Oedgjj

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