WHEN YOU NEED TO PICK YOUR BATTLES

Dear Founder,

If you’re like most founders, you likely have very clear opinions on what your company’s vision, product, strategy, and culture, should look like. And every day will bring new potential sources of conflict on any number of fronts. If you have the answers already, shouldn’t you just bend disagreements to your way of thinking?

Difficult as it may be in practice, fighting every battle is not a smart strategy. The old adage that you can win every battle and still lose the war is true. Throughout my career, I’ve learned that you can’t fight and argue about everything you disagree with, as this will leave you exhausted and, worse, it will eat away at the trust others place in you. Remember, you are building or losing credibility every day. You must really know which decisions are worth imposing your will on—and which ones aren’t. This is something I employ every day at my boards, where there are many issues that arise, but only a small number of decisions I force. I choose to let many things go so that I can have a say in the big issues that I believe will determine the future of the company.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever fight for what you want. It does mean you need to determine what things are worth fighting for. Recently, a WIN portfolio company CEO was trying to remove one of his board members, and was fighting with his third board member about what to do. The issue? They were right in the midst of trying to sell the company! What trumps what?

If I were the CEO in this situation, I would put up with some dysfunction on the board and focus instead on the prize of selling the company. Fighting to remove someone I didn’t like would likely screw up the outcome I actually wanted. (Not to mention, trying to remove a board member can backfire, and might lead to my ouster instead! Much worse.) Choosing the wrong battle will burn cycles and pull you away from achieving your true goals.

How do you know what’s worth it and what’s not? I look to the great Stephen Covey’s work delineating the difference between a “sphere of influence” and “circle of concern.” We are all upset by the crises we hear about every day: outdated infrastructure, new epidemics, housing shortages. These are horrible. Yet for most people who aren’t elected officials or can’t vote in these cities, these issues fall within a circle of concern: We can give money and volunteer our time, but these are likely not situations where we can have significant influence.

If you want to effect change, it’s better to focus on the areas where you have a sphere of influence. So, if you’re concerned about inequaity in this country, instead of going after things at a national level, make the changes in your company—where you have the influence and power to make a difference.

Another necessary thing to note is the importance of training your team to make great decisions and understand their consequences. This kind of education will lead to fewer contentious battles. For example, when I was at eBay, we went to Telluride, Colorado, to participate in strategy and budget planning each year. After Meg Whitman and I shared our strategic options with all our top execs, we then asked them to act as if they were board members, and vote on which initiatives to pursue. It was empowering for them and helped them grow perspective. While only the exec staff and board actually voted and approved the strategy and plan, we found the broader input from execs to be not only rewarding for them, but also very informative for us. And having their buy-in went a long way when it came to executing these strategies.

How do you tell if something is in your circle of concern or sphere of influence? Ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Is it in my scope? Is this my responsibility? Is this something I have to do? Is it an opportunity to let someone else lead and learn?

2.  How important is this decision? Is it a company decision where there are great stakes? Or, is this an experiment? If it doesn’t work out, will it be uncomfortable, or will it be a catastrophe?

You always have to weigh in if something is a make-or-break decision for the company. If it isn’t, understand that you have a million things to decide, and one of the best decisions you can make is deciding when to jump in and when to let go.

All the best,

Maynard