Sachin Tendulkar’s record as captain is not something to envy about. In fact, his personal batting average went down significantly when he took over the captaincy from Azhar. What may have been the reason behind one of the smartest cricketing brains on the planet turning out to be a disastrous captain? Many experts believe that Sachin’s phenomenal talent as a batsman, was why he failed miserably as a captain.
But why?
Here is my analysis.
When you are talented, you are naturally good at your art. Your art comes naturally to you. This is all good when you are playing solo, but Cricket is a team sport. Someone else may struggle to play a shot, that would be easy for Sachin to play. When you make the most talented player in the team, the captain, there is a risk of over-expectation. Over time, when the team members cannot meet the expectations, the leader takes the responsibility upon himself. The pressure builds up on the leader. Even the best crumble under pressure. Naturally, there is disappointment and dejection, affecting the performance of the leader and the team.
When you are talented, things come naturally to you. You tend to believe that something is easy, when the reality is, it is easy for you. This does not mean it is easy for the others. The mind of a talented person tricks him into believing that certain things are easy.
Business is a team sport too. How similar is the life of a talented first generation entrepreneur to Sachin’s captaincy analogy!
Because you are talented, you tend to do things on your own. You first look to hire people for the tasks you cannot do and take on the tasks that you can do yourself. Afterall, who can be a better person to deliver, right? Wrong!
When you hire a team to do your tasks, you tend to have high expectations. You tend to be dissatisfied with the output of the team. When they cannot deliver upto your expectation, you take over. Naturally, the tendency of delegating tasks to your team goes down. It becomes too time consuming to explain the tasks, validate, review and deliver. It is way less time consuming to deliver on your own. The team does not get better, but you keep getting busier. Thus, your biggest asset, ‘your talent’ becomes a curse.
Not hiring a team for the skill the first generation entrepreneur possesses is very lucrative, but it is detrimental in the long run. Normally, I refrain from giving free advice, but this is one piece of advice I really hope you take. You can overturn your curse by consciously hiring people with the skills you possess, first. Free yourself up from delivery as much as possible. Focus on growing your company. This will take your company places.
As a first generation entrepreneur, which skillsets are you looking to hire next?