Perfection is the disguise of insecurity

My boss has just sent me a link entitled ‘If there aren’t any tops in this essay we launched too late!’. It is accompanied by a youtube link ‘‘Perfection is the disguise of insecurity’, an incredible short video from Gary Vee and, perhaps most importantly, a note saying ‘I would love the team to embrace this’.

I find myself in a fairly uncommon place of genuinely liking my boss. Granted it’s not the first time it’s happened. I don’t know if I’m uniquely blessed with the majority of my bosses being good or if the stereotype of a tyrant at the helm is another movie cliche I’ve chosen to adopt as gospel. I have had some horrendous bosses of course. I think we all have. I once worked for a man who asked me to ‘create’ a case for dismissing someone. He acted (and in fact looked) like Trump, 1.0 It’s fair to say it was not a happy time for any of his employees. I’ve also witnessed my employers say one thing to the teams, then call all the managers into a room and ask for enforcement of... something else. Some would say, such is the workplace, while most of us would really say thank fuck things are changing. 

But my current boss. Granted I like him because he’s not a prototype-Trump. Yes I like him because he’s honest with the small (but aligned workforce). However, his masterstroke as a manager is actually in his very simple message ‘I don’t expect it to be right first time’. It’s something he’s always worked too, and something he wants us all to adopt. Not as a ‘note to self’, but ingrained in our working practices. The fact it’s been exemplified by media mogul Jahiti has in fact, made his day. 

It’s so simple it’s laughable. But when you break it down into a working ideology, how you approach your work, your day, your colleagues, here’s why it 100% works...

Removes the blame game 

Tech can be a tough sector and most of us face some long days and late nights. Also, I don;t know if you’d noticed covid has changed the workplace and remote working can make us feel exactly that - remote - from the shared conversation, collective experience and responsibility. Instead, well it’s easy to feel it’s on you, or you and a digitized colleague at the end of an intermittent ethernet connection. If you’re not looking for perfection from the off, the opportunity to get close is, well it’s just there. Take it, it doesn’t have to be the right first time. 

Eliminate fear

It’s one of the most unfortunate workplace paradoxes that speaking up and suggesting (whether it’s a new idea or a reinvention) is often rewarded with an expectation of delivery and an increase in workload. The more creative take on more, the less engaged get to go home on time. What a wonderful way to burn out the people that will (probably) help drive your company on that bit further. The rabbit in the headlights had a point. If you can try, and fail, and know you are appreciated and it’s a good step forward - it’s a much more fruitful working environment. It doesn’t have to be the right first time. 

Create internal support

Perfection, as we all know, is unattainable. Not unlikely. Not difficult. Actually 100% unattainable. And yet… As we seek to make the impossible possible we engage more and more people, resource effort, time, money - simply to miss. To know that the effort is supported, and a series of valid learnings that represent progression are appreciated - well, isn't that what we all started working in tech? Learn to launch, even if it’s not perfect (because, it isn’t). It doesn’t have to be right first time. 

Encourages the entrepreneur 

Tech is a rare beast. It offers both the ideation and the infrastructure to execute an idea. Better yet, the idea can be bonkers, at first. ‘I’m going to make a phone, where the least important function is the phone’. ‘I’m going to make an app where tens of thousands of people will share personal details in the hope someone whose picture I like, likes my picture too’. And yet, it’s brilliance is - it works. You make it work. You are an entrepreneur. Do not allow your vision to be crippled by apathy or fear or anxiety around not hitting the magic 100% marker. It doesn’t have to be the right first time. 

Adaptation over expectation

I recently read a quote from Dylan Jones, ex-Editor of GQ, where he suggested that as a starter (or in context, a start-up), you need to solve problems more than you need to come up with the ideas. A single good idea can of course go a very long way, but as well all know the volume of problems you will hit before your good idea lands… well the ratios are not kind to the optimistic. You will need to find metaphorical patches (as well as actual digital patches), you will have to make ‘a series of acceptable compromises’. Your route to success will be littered with compromise as you aim for the overall good. This is the right way to work, it doesn’t have to be right, you know, the first time.

As our work infrastructure adapts to the new reality of remote working and we adopt cloud storage, remote connectivity and adaptive security as standard - it feels like it’s time to adopt new ideologies as fast as developing technologies. If we embraced the thoughts of Jahiti as every day instead of exceptional and put, let’s say, just 10% (to start) less pressure on ourselves and our teams, the creativity and productivity - well our survey says, you’ll see a seismic shift upwards.

Don’t allow perfectionism - yours, your colleagues or your employers get in the way of great ideas and logical progression. Creating is ultimately what we’re all about and creativity comes from giving it your best not giving it you're all. Because you won’t. You can’t. It’s the small steps that lead to the big results. It’s the lack of fear that breeds the ebay ideas. And it’s your company’s support that will really allow you to do your best work. You’re not paid for perfection, no one is, you’re paid to push it forward. Besides you know what they say - second time’s the charm.  

*I make no apologies for the typos.