You're Not in a Vacuum
The Myth of the Solitary Builder Every "individual" action is actually a system intervention.
Your team reads the news. They watch the shows about startups. They talk to friends at other companies. They are constantly being recruited. This reality can create a huge sense of FOMO, entitlement and resentment if you don't actively manage it.
As CEO, this is an important dynamic to understand. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. It just means you learn about it when your best engineer hands in their notice.
Play Offense, Not Defense
Your team is being flooded with recruiter messages promising a greener pasture. Reacting defensively by critiquing other companies misses the point. It makes you look insecure and doesn't address what your employee is actually feeling.
Instead, play to your strengths and tell your story. Remind employees why they were chosen in the recruiting process. Remind them what they achieved and now have so that they do not take for granted the opportunity in front of them.
Do Not Reward Threats
Playing to your strengths will also help weed out employees who are solely concerned with their immediate personal interest and not invested in the success of the company.
When an employee finds a better deal elsewhere and threatens to leave if you don't match it, the answer is simple: shake their hand and show them the door. Matching creates a dangerous precedent. It signals that threatening to leave is a valid negotiation tactic. The short-term pain of losing someone is less than the long-term damage of keeping them on those terms.
Compensation Consistency
Being consistent in how you treat and compensate the team is an important way to counter the allure of the external world. When recruiting, it can be tempting to anchor the offer based on what they're currently making. This creates inconsistency.
A better approach: set company compensation at a defined market position and be transparent about what that position is and why. When everyone knows the framework, you eliminate misunderstanding about how individuals stand relative to their peers.
Connect Roles to Purpose
Perhaps most importantly, make sure every person working at your company has a sense of purpose. Connect their job with their career ambitions.
The 1:1 script for connecting role to purpose:
- "What do you want to be true about your career in five years?"
- "What skills or experiences do you need to get there?"
- "How can your current role help you build those?"
Run this script at least once a quarter. Aspirations evolve. The connection you drew six months ago may no longer be relevant.
The Bottom Line: Independence is an illusion. Interdependence is reality. Build an environment people want to be in, and the rest takes care of itself.
Brendan Marshall
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