Tag: Power

Founder Mode

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

What “experts” or “professionals” may not get
about Paul Graham’s essay
is that it’s _primarily_ an act
of permission-giving.

The details of the essay
matters much less.

Many founders have felt pressured
by “experts” or “professionals” telling them
how to run their own companies.

It matters less
whether the advice came from VCs
with no experience running a company
or from Founders
with much experience running a company.

The fact of the matter is
what worked in context A
doesn’t always work
in context B.

That’s the limitation
of _advice-giving_
itself.

Paul’s essay
is making it ok for founders to say
“no thanks,”
to “expert” or “professional” advice.

To go at it
“my way,”
for better
or for worse.

That’s much needed permission
for the Founders who have felt pressured
to follow “expert” or “professional” advice.

To be clear,
this is also a reminder
that when something isn’t working
we can either take responsibility
for doing what we believe
is right
or abdicate responsibility
by doing what others believe
is right,
because we’re either
afraid of being wrong
or feel helpless
without a choice.

…

For the “experts” or “professionals,”
Paul’s essay is an invitation
to also learn how to help
without giving advice.

Without resorting to
telling people what to do,
but instead
working with them
to create something neither
could have created
alone.

Power Dynamics

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

It’s tempting
to think of some relationships
as having a unilateral
power dynamic.

As if our parents
have unilateral power
over us.

As if our bosses
have unilateral power
over us.

As if our investors
have unilateral power
over us.

What we inevitably learn
is that we also have power
over our parents,
over our bosses,
over our investors.

Why?
Because they have a vested interest
in our success.

Given this,
we can choose to see these relationships
through the lens of
“They only care about us
because they have a vested interest
in our success!”

or

through the lens of
“I appreciate
that there are people who care about us
enough to have a vested interest
in our success.”

At least two choices
we can learn.

Only one of which
helps us use
power with.

Power with vs Power Against

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 1

Here’s something I learned from carpentry.

Wood is wood.

No matter my desire,
it’ll never be metal.

If I must only use wood
to make furniture,
I have no choice, but to
respect
listen to, and
consider its context.

This is not because I’m a good moral person.
It’s just physics.

This doesn’t mean we should do as the wood tells us, though.
In fact, woods don’t speak!
It just reacts to our behavior.

To realize our empathy is to
be creative in our response to the reaction of an “other,”
like wood,
so as to flow with them,
as one,
like water.

It’s when we’re in such state of togetherness
that we can use our power
with each other,
instead of
against each other.

Difficult,
but possible
through practice.