To be honest, one of the reasons that I started my company is because I don’t do well with having a boss. I don’t like being told what to do. I don’t like hierarchy.
This is why I am constantly checking myself as I manage people and delegate tasks. I never want people to feel as though I’m talking down to them, I want my team to rise up with me rather than behind me or under me.
I realize that it could be argued, quite easily, that my clients are my boss, that they are above me in the hierarchy. However, I don’t look at it that way. In fact, I would argue that mutual respect is the reason that I have such strong relationships with my clients. They respect me for what I do, I respect them for what they do.
The dynamics of my relationships are structured so that no one is above me, and no one is below me.
The belief that you are inherently better than someone else breeds arrogance and condescension, no one likes it. It will make you a terrible leader.
The belief that you are beneath anyone is to fundamentally misunderstand this reality: we are all humans, we are all making this up as we go along, the future is not certain, if you do the work and believe in yourself, you can make it happen. Never believe that you are less than another.
Yes, I believe that we do better work than our competitors, but I don’t think they’re beneath me/us, I just think we work harder.