Investors Also Face Founders Selling Grand Promises Every Day

When Your Boss Sells You Grand Promises After working long enough, employees discover that bosses everywhere seem to become bosses mainly by mastering two essential skills: boasting to customers and investors externally, and dangling promises before employees internally. Selling grand promises is an art. Just as painting ranges from meticulous detail to freehand expression, promises come in different forms. Some bosses are materialists. They understand employees’ material needs and lure you with promotions, raises, profit sharing, and benefits. Others are idealists. They try to create a kind of spiritual quantum entanglement between their grand promises and their employees. Taking the position that ‘talking about money is vulgar,’ they endlessly discuss dreams, growth, industry prospects, and the development of human civilization. Whether appealing to material gain or emotion, different bosses always want to find a way to keep their corporate workhorses working and striving without end. In the book Chaoji Jilizhe (超級激勵者), Simon Sinek, a leadership adviser to Microsoft and the US Department of Defense, says, ‘There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.’ Clearly, dangling promises before employees is a favored way for bosses to manipulate their thinking and motivate them, in the hope of cutting costs and improving efficiency. There were originally no imaginary rewards in the workplace. But after enough promises had been dangled, alert employees developed ways to recognize them. How can you tell whether what lies ahead is an empty promise or an opportunity? Any promise that reason tells you cannot be fulfilled can be treated as empty. Suppose the Tang Monk tells the Monkey King that completing the pilgrimage to the West will earn him the title of the Buddha himself. The likelihood is obviously vanishingly small, so this is a grand promise. Employees who judge its feasibility too low may conclude that the boss is doing it again. Bosses usually make these promises to get employees to give their all, though sometimes they need to keep people from leaving. Perhaps the company is carrying out a critical project, or is severely understaffed at a particular moment. Promises can inject confidence and hope so employees do not leave too readily in the face of immediate difficulties. Once employees see through them, the boss’s promises seem like beautiful assurances they were simply too young to question. But since promise-making is an essential skill for bosses, expecting them not to do it is unrealistic. Once employees recognize the trick, the pressure shifts to them. How to respond when the boss keeps making—or once again makes—grand promises has become a defining workplace question. Some people do not place blind faith in the boss’s promises; others become immersed in them. Employees who treat their boss’s every word as a sacred decree never think the boss they serve is offering empty promises. Instead, they work diligently to realize the boss’s waking dreams. With those promises still ringing in their ears, even people indifferent to fame and fortune may find their resolve shaken by an apparently attainable illusion. Stopping bosses from making promises is impossible. Mature employees should learn to see through appearances to what lies underneath. Whatever towering promises the boss makes, employment ultimately involves an exchange of value. Exchanging your ability and time for the boss’s money and recognition of your value is perfectly fair. Regardless of the promises, focus first on your own work and life and establish what you genuinely want. If the boss’s promise-making becomes too irritating, you can even deflect it tactfully or offer grand promises in return. No boss or job is perfect, but we can always remain true to ourselves in the choices we make. When facing the boss’s promises, I hope everyone has both the ability to take advantage of what is offered and the freedom to ignore it. #Liepin WeChat Official Account ----- Robin’s turn again. As an early-stage investor, I too face founders selling grand promises, visions, missions, and ambitions every day. Investors need their own views, but must also do their homework to assess whether founders’ dreams and ambitions are feasible before making an investment judgment. Do not rely solely on the founder’s side of the story; verify as much as you can yourself. Do not rush into a decision because of fear of missing out (FOMO). Often we are the ones who convince ourselves. Yet there is no need to become so conservative that opportunities pass us by. Sometimes you have to believe before you can see.