Take Care Of Your Talent
I’ll give Alec credit for pointing me at these two articles from Jason Calcanis and Robert Scoble about keeping your smart, talented people happy. My co-workers and I say “no duh.” It’s also one reason why I’ve maintained my day job for as long as I have–they take really good care of me. When they take care of me, I produce results.
This lesson is at least as old as Aesop’s fable of the Goose and the Golden Egg. The poor farmer who killed the goose that laid those golden eggs wanted all the gold right now. He discovered the goose had no gold inside. Furthermore, he destroyed his means for getting any further gold. Stephen Covey discusses this story in 7 Habits and refers to the gold as “production” (that which you want) and the goose as “production capacity” (that which enables you to achieve the results you want). As long as you nurture the goose (the production capacity), you will continue to get golden eggs (the production).
This lesson applies in so many ways. In a company, the employer expects their employees (the production capacity) to produce product. If the employer doesn’t take care of their employees, the employees will be more likely to leave and the employer will be unable to get the results they want. In our own lives, if we do not take care of our bodies (the production capacity), we will eventually be unable to do many of the things we need to do or would like to do (the production).
Bottom line: take care of those people and things that enable you to succeed, or you may find your ability to succeed to be severly impared.
