Issues Amplified

One of my key learnings is that by default an organization amplifies the issues of its leadership.

This is something I had seen before Chorus One several times. There were great people, vision, brilliance and excitement. But then things didn't quite work out. Mostly, it was because of issues of the CEOs that they didn't want to face.

The issue I saw several times was that the CEO wasn't comfortable trusting others. He couldn't let go and hand over responsibility, but wanted to keep visibility and control. Others weren't able to help effectively and have ownership. The CEO would be the bottleneck for a lot of things. Growth meant, more needs to go through this bottleneck. And that required the CEO increasing output. They'd work harder and harder, continue limiting the organization's growth and burn out.

When I started Chorus One, this was on my mind a lot. At least, I didn't want to make the same mistake. And I think so far, I've done reasonably well on that front. But trusting others also isn't difficult for me.

Just because I didn't repeat that mistake, doesn't mean my own issues haven't interfered and limited us. They clearly have. I can see many examples of that.

And I know that to achieve greatness, Chorus One has to transcend my own limitations. This means recognizing my own issues. And then overcoming or at least containing them so they do not become amplified.