Mistake #3 Tune Into the Radio Channel - WIIFM
“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.” “Unsuccessful people are always asking: What's in it for me?”
- Anonymous
I was an Economics major and the father of Economics Adam Smith was the authority I used to look up to. I used to believe everything he had written in The Wealth of Nations. Everyone in society cares only for the self-interest.
If that was really the case, how come the Ice Bucket Challenge swept all over the globe? Did all the challengers just listen to the channel WIIFM asking only, “what’s in it for me?” Or they were just having fun and doing the charity act simultaneously?
Every time I was doing something out of self-interest, tuning in WIIFM, I would never succeed. Failure happened again and again until I started to question Adam Smith might be wrong.
I wanted a raise. I wanted a promotion. I wanted to climb the corporate ladder just like everyone else. Everyone had the same goal and ambition as mine. I deemed the world as a scarce universe. I withheld information like playing poker. I led teammates by standing at the back. I coached new colleagues with self-interest.c Authenticity went away and teammates felt the ugliness in the gut.
I felt tedious when I was being a jerk. At the time I made it to the managerial level, I did exactly the opposite. Instead of asking WIIFM for my own, I asked it from my teammates’ perspective.
“What’s in it for me?” became “What’s in it for them?”
I wanted a raise. I wanted a promotion. These two wouldn’t happen without personal growth of the teammates. So I strived to develop their personal growth.
I set out to share everything I learned. I led by always being in the front. I motivated teammates by inspiration, instead of manipulation.
On the day I left the company, there were a number of colleagues in line who were ready to pick up on my role. I was glad that they became so powerful to replace me. They were bigger and brighter than me.
Read the next chapter: Mistake #4 Learning from the Average
Or table of contents: The Game