SYNOPSIS
What book are we doing?
I Can Do It Myself, by Emily Perl Kingsley
Why are we doing it?
Because there’s been a rise in self-sufficiency talk in culture recently.
How can we use it?
To reminded businesses that their success depends not only on employees and suppliers, but customers.
To help business owners shift out of independence and into team mindset.
To let go of ego – focus on your talents and celebrate talents in others where they outshine you.
Yoda: “Use the force, Luke.”
Luke Skywalker: “I can do it myself!”– No scene in any Star Wars film ever
When my niece was around three or four years old, she refused help. “I can do it MY-SELF!” In a 1980 title from the Sesame Street Book Club series, Ernie, Bert, and friends encourage children who’ve been fully reliant on others to learn to test themselves, gain a sense of agency, and develop skills and confidence to navigate day-to-day tasks.
An I-can-do-it-myself mentality promotes development in children. It prevents development in adults.
Perhaps because of our affinity for The Hero’s Journey – the story structure described by Joseph Campbell – we gravitate to and frame our world around mythical heroes. We see an individual we admire, our business, or ourselves as “the hero” and perceive them as the central self-made character in the story – someone who did it themself. But The Hero’s Journey is not a one-character story; there’s a cast of mentors and helpers who make the protagonist’s success possible.
In big business, visionaries like Steve Jobs often assume the role of hero. But without Steve Wozniak, Jony Ive, and thousands of other colleagues with complementary skills, as well as the millions of humans who chose to buy their products, the Apple story becomes different. In entrepreneurship, tenacity and a figure-it-out mentality are crucial characteristics at times and can make owners seem self-sufficient. But they can also create blind spots and impede progress. Books like The E-Myth and Traction highlight the need for teams with complementary skills to help small businesses and their owners reach their potential. In nations, a politician or citizens’ “me-first” attitude sounds like national pride or self-care. But self-obsession quickly reveals how reliant we are on others for trade, support, collaboration, and the pooling of complementary skills and resources.
Nearly 15 years ago, an acquaintance shared with me what remains one of my top-five-favourite insights in life. In his first marriage, he and his wife celebrated that they were each independent; their relationship didn’t last. What he learned and carried forward to his next (and current) marriage is, “We are individuals; we are not independent.” Each brings their individual strengths and depends on the other’s to be collectively better.
Last week, Alex Ovechkin broke what had long been considered the unbreakable record of most career goals in the NHL. His post-goal speech embodied the, “We are individuals; we are not independent” mentality. After addressing the crowd with, “What a day, huh?” Ovechkin began not with how great he felt or what an honour his personal accomplishment was but, “Like I always say, all the time, it’s a team sport.” The unique skills of each of his teammates, combined with his talent for scoring goals, meant that, “We did it guys. We did it.”
The greatest lesson in I Can Do It Myself isn’t independence – it’s agency. We can choose what we do, what we count on our teammates to do, and who is on our team. Hockey is a team sport; so are business, community, international trade, relationships, and much of life. In considering the infinite options for strategy, plans, and their associated tactics with The Planning Cycle, when we ask,
- “Where do we want to go?” and
- “How could, should, and will we get there?”
the most effective answer is rarely, “I can do it myself.”
