Shed & Shine â Riff Episode 139: The Egoless Organization
00:00:00 - 00:01:04
Gino Wickman
Hello and welcome back. This episode I call "The Egoless Organization," and I am so excited about this one. I have a dream, and the dream is that all organizations can be egoless. Now, I recorded an episode, one of the original episodes, episode number 14, called "The Company That Shines." That episode is an incredible companion with this episode. If you want to give that a listen after this one, they fit together so nicely. And as I look at all of my history and experience helping people run their businesses and running my own businesses, I have observed these five common denominators, these five things that go on that lead to everything being better in an organization.
00:01:05 - 00:02:20
Gino Wickman
Things move faster, they make more money, they are healthier, they're having more fun, it is more joyful. It is truly a thing of beauty to see. And when I look at my clients that are the most successful, they exhibit these things more than most. And when I look at Don and I in the first 10 years of building EOS Worldwide, I think we got really close to what I'm about to talk about here. So, setting the stage, setting the stage, setting the stage. And so whether you work for a company or you own a company, I want you to kind of sit back and assess how close is your organization to what I'm about to share. And I'll start with some questions. What if everyone did their job because they loved it? They didn't do it out of fear. They didn't do it because they were afraid of their boss, or afraid of losing their job, or afraid of not being liked, or felt like they had to do it, or afraid of being fired. They did it because they loved it.
00:02:21 - 00:03:14
Gino Wickman
Another question for you. What if everyone in an organization genuinely cared about their coworkers, genuinely cared about their customers, genuinely cared about the product or the service? They weren't just getting by or feeling like work is a necessary evil that you just got to grind through every day. And another question. What if everyone authentically were fully themselves in every situation and said and received everything unfiltered, not having to perform or fake it or protect themselves constantly every minute of every day? What if?
00:03:14 - 00:04:14
Gino Wickman
And so when I ponder this and observe this and look at my 35 years of business history, I see again these five specific traits that just keep coming up more and more and more in organizations that are close to being egoless. I don't know that there is one that exists yet, and so I'm just going to show you what 100% looks like, and you get to decide how close to 100% you are. But these are the five traits that I see. So I'll start by giving you the high level, because these five things are transparency, honesty, responsibility, openness, and presence. This has been percolating and brewing for me for the last year or two. And there is a 65% chance that this is going to be my next book, The Egoless Organization. Maybe it's it, but it feels like that's what's coming next.
00:04:15 - 00:05:27
Gino Wickman
Now, what's important as I share these five things, these are not core values. You must have core values. They are different. Every organization must have core values, and every organization's core values are different. And it's what makes the organization unique, and it's what defines the soul of an organization. That is not what we're talking about here. It is different than core values. And what I'm about to share is not an operating system. I already created one of those, EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. An operating system is designed to harness all the human energy in an organization. So these five things are not an operating system. These five things are just a way of being in an organization. They're like oxygen. And with oxygen, there's good air and there's bad air. And we're going to talk about the good air when the oxygen is flowing, when these five things are at 100% and you are, i.e., an egoless organization.
00:05:27 - 00:06:21
Gino Wickman
And so I call this way. I just simply call it way. When I think of it, I just put it in quotes and it's way. And so this is just simply the way I believe all organizations should work. Frankly, this is how things would just naturally be if we had no ego. Also, frankly, this is how our spirits just are. If they weren't trapped in these human bodies, these carnal beings on this planet, this is exactly what our spirits are. So I'm not making this up. It's already there. We just keep screwing it up as human beings. And so humor me and let go and dream with me for just a few minutes here. Here we go.
00:06:22 - 00:07:09
Gino Wickman
Number one, as I mentioned, is transparency. And so what's going to happen as I share each one of these things, I have no idea what is about to come out of my mouth. So I know exactly what I see out there and in here. But when I say transparency, again, you're sitting back and you're just dreaming with me for a moment, but in a transparent organization, all flaws are known. We're all a little screwed up. Your company's screwed up. Your people already know it. Stop trying to hide from it. All flaws are known. Everyone knows everything, everything.
00:07:10 - 00:08:11
Gino Wickman
And so I think about my clients that share profit and my clients that don't share profit. Now, I am in no way telling you you need to share profit. That's for you to culturally decide. But they already think you make more money than you make. So I see no downside to sharing profit other than when you're in a non-transparent, dysfunctional organization. My two cents. And I say that right to the faces of all of my clients that don't share profit. But nonetheless, it's your choice. I'm not knocking it. In a transparent organization, there's integrity and fidelity. Everything is clear and lucid and open, and information flows up and down freely. The employees know everything. The shareholders know everything. The customers know everything. The vendors know everything. Issues are posted like these are our issues. There's nothing to hide from. Everyone sees the numbers.
00:08:11 - 00:08:47
Gino Wickman
And in this place of total transparency and complete lucidity, corruption, deceit, and darkness get smoked out and simply die. And with that said, I fully expect that to freak you out, some of you. But just humor me, dream with me. Total and absolute transparency. Everything is lucid and clear. Everyone knows everything. Try it on for a minute.
00:08:48 - 00:10:16
Gino Wickman
On to number two, honesty. So honesty, what that looks like in an egoless organization is everyone is completely authentic. As I mentioned, that word fidelity, I might repeat a few things a couple of times because there is some overlap, but this is where everyone is letting their freak flag fly. There is no fear. There is no insecurity. You trust your gut. You just let it fly. There's no guard up. You just say it. You just simply say it. And worst case, you do get fired for speaking the truth. You are getting fired eventually anyway. And why hold the secret? It's killing you. Say it. If you don't belong there, you don't belong there. And you're going to go find a great place that you fit in and you can be completely yourself. But no one holds back. Everyone says it. I wish you could see. I wish there were a camera on my greatest, most honest clients. It is a thing of beauty watching them interact. So picture a five-person leadership team and everyone is totally honest. It's all out in the open. It all gets put on the table. It is incredible watching them solve stuff when there are just no filters anywhere.
00:10:17 - 00:11:37
Gino Wickman
On to number three, responsibility. Oh, I love that word. Imagine what if everyone took responsibility, which means you are fully accountable. You know you're fully accountable and you take total accountability for your responsibilities. You own it. You realize anything happening to you, your relationships, everything, you created it all. You blame no one. You are not a victim. In this world of responsibility, when people screw up, they say, "I messed up." It's my favorite thing to teach everyone that will listen to me. When you make a mistake, just say, "I messed up." It's the most freeing thing on earth. It will cut through all your ego. And in a world of responsibility, you comfortably and freely say you're sorry when you do something that you feel bad about, that you have remorse about. You freely and comfortably say, "I'm sorry," which is another thing that will tear your ego down, the ability to comfortably say and do that. It's amazing how many people cannot utter those words.
00:11:38 - 00:11:55
Gino Wickman
As I think about my best clients, they all do what they say they're going to do. Imagine being in an organization where when anyone says they're going to do something, you can take it to the bank. You don't have to follow up. You just know it's going to get done.
00:11:57 - 00:12:56
Gino Wickman
On to number four, openness. Now, this is the other side of honesty. So now let's pretend we have this organization and everyone's honest. Everyone is saying what they authentically feel. The other side of it is openness. So the recipient of that honest message receives it, regardless of the message, how it's said. This means there's no ego in the organization. You are open to receive what's being said. So there's no ego filter. You are humble. You realize that you are flawed. We all are. There's nothing to hide. There's no guard to have. There's no suit of armor to wear. You just open yourself up and you receive the message. Everyone views themselves as equals.
00:12:56 - 00:13:47
Gino Wickman
You literally have a sanctuary where everyone feels comfortable because you know there are no words that can hurt you. You have done the work. You've shed your stuff. There's no trauma in there. You can't be triggered. You hear everything everyone has to say, and then you simply respond. So therefore, if somebody does say something that's incorrect or inaccurate or borderline mean, in other words, they're going to say it the way they say it, it has no effect on you. But you then have an opportunity to be honest and just simply respond with how you see it. And then a beautiful conversation ensues with two people that are totally open and totally honest.
00:13:48 - 00:14:30
Gino Wickman
So to pull this one all together, now all of a sudden, these five things, they start to stack on top of each other. Because in this open environment, we now have total transparency. We know that everyone's being honest. We know that everyone takes full responsibility. We know that people genuinely care about us and we genuinely care about them. So we never assume ill intent. Whatever message they're receiving, they're feeling compelled to send the message to us. So we simply open it up and receive it. And we're able to process it with no ego, no fear, nothing but pure love. And then you can respond.
00:14:31 - 00:14:53
Gino Wickman
And this is an extreme example, but if somebody tells you, "Hey, you're kind of being an asshole right now," you get to respond and either say, "You know what? I kind of am. Thank you for that." Or, "I'm really not. I'm just trying to be direct with you." So again, every culture is different. That's where we get into core values. Everybody communicates differently. But just imagine that level of openness.
00:14:54 - 00:16:07
Gino Wickman
On to number five, presence. Now, this one, I fully expect to catch people by surprise. Like, how does presence factor into an egoless organization? We are so distracted right now. The world is so distracted. It is so painful to watch how distracted people are and how rude people are. Like, you're not there. Like, I want to strangle some people and I'm guilty myself. But I'm a pretty present guy now, but I get sucked into all of it as well. And I'm not always there. So please, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but just imagine this. An organization that is present. The people are present. They are aware. They are conscious. You get to pick the word, but it's like we're here. We're engaged. I am focused on you. You are focused on me. We are eyeball to eyeball. Nobody's looking down at their phone. Nobody's staring at their laptop.
00:16:07 - 00:16:51
Gino Wickman
And so a present organization is one where everyone knows you need to focus and pay attention and be here right now. Maybe there's a quiet room for when you just need to go do a little meditation or practice a little stillness. People take clarity breaks, which is time where they're just floating above, working on the business, on themselves so they can be a better employee inside of the business. People are fully tuned in. The humans are connected. Everybody's connected to each other. People aren't sleepwalking through the day. You've all seen it when you look in those eyes. They're unengaged. In this world of presence, an organization that's present, people are fully engaged.
00:16:51 - 00:17:14
Gino Wickman
And we all slow down. Because when we go slow, we go fast. But nonetheless, there are five things. This one is as important as the rest. I'm not going to put a weighting on each one because I think they're all equally important. And as I mentioned, they all start to compound and build on each other.
00:17:14 - 00:17:36
Gino Wickman
And so I believe an organization that is more present and people that are more present, they then become more open and they become more responsible and they become more honest and they become more transparent. And so it all is just this beautiful domino effect that they all work together and lead to an egoless organization.
00:17:37 - 00:18:05
Gino Wickman
With all of that said, I just described what 100% looks like when an egoless organization is operating with these five things. And so I just ask you, where are you now? Again, if you work for the company or you own the company, just think about your existing organization. And how close to 100% are you in terms of being transparent, honest, responsible, open, and present?
00:18:06 - 00:18:28
Gino Wickman
Now, here is the most important disclaimer of this episode. If you, after you just measured yourself on each one, realize you're not at 100%. If you go back into work and snap your fingers with a current situation and push to make it 100%, you would probably be out of business in 30 days.
00:18:28 - 00:18:50
Gino Wickman
Because, and I'm just saying this in general, looking at every business on the planet, if every business on the planet pushed for this tomorrow, most of them in 30 days would be out of business because they're so far from this. So what I'm asking is just start to move it in that direction. Just start to move the needle.
00:18:51 - 00:19:21
Gino Wickman
Most organizations are so dysfunctional. You can't do this quickly. But man, if we all just work toward this. And on that note, if this is appealing to you, send this episode to some people in your organization or all the people in your organization or one person in your organization. Just start to move the needle. Just start to pay attention. And let's see if we can create a bunch of egoless organizations out there in the world.
00:19:22 - 00:19:35
Gino Wickman
Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us. And please tune in for the next episode. Until then, we wish you all the best in freeing your True Self. Stay focused and much love.
