Is it true that everyone is genuinely trying to do their best, justifying leadership through assumed good intent?

TJ Parker · Jun 5, 2023

Assuming the best never backfired on PillPack in a meaningful way and produced a lot of upside

Scope: concedes they could have been burned

18:40 20VC: The Largest Venture Backed D2C Consumer Exit; PillPack: $0-$300M Revenues in 5 Years & The Biggest Lessons Scaling the B2B Business to $300M in 2.5 Years with TJ Parker, Co-Founder @ PillPack

David Meyer · Nov 1, 2023

The core of being a humanist leader is assuming everybody is a genius at something and is trying to do the best they can, then leading with that empathy to enroll them in why things should be different

Empathy and understanding is what lets you change others' behaviour rather than resenting them

Scope: genius maybe not at their job but at something

24:11 20Product: Why You Should Not Go Into Product Management, Why the CEO is Always the CPO, How to Build the Best Product Teams & Why You Should Hire People Who Aren't In Product Already with Databricks SVP Product, David Meyer

Harry Stebbings · Jun 5, 2023

Assuming the best in people from day one is naive; earned trust is the better default

Scope: states it as his own disposition rather than universal advice

18:33 20VC: The Largest Venture Backed D2C Consumer Exit; PillPack: $0-$300M Revenues in 5 Years & The Biggest Lessons Scaling the B2B Business to $300M in 2.5 Years with TJ Parker, Co-Founder @ PillPack

Harry Stebbings · Nov 1, 2023 · hedged

It's doubtful that everybody is really doing the best they can

He himself works extremely hard, implying others' effort is not comparable

Scope: explicitly says 'I don't know'

24:50 20Product: Why You Should Not Go Into Product Management, Why the CEO is Always the CPO, How to Build the Best Product Teams & Why You Should Hire People Who Aren't In Product Already with Databricks SVP Product, David Meyer

David Meyer · Nov 1, 2023

Hustle and doing your best are different things — people don't want to suck, but everyone's world is infinite, so dialing it in at work can genuinely be someone's best that day

Relationship stress, poor sleep, a migraine — external life circumstances set the ceiling on what someone can give

24:56 Hustle and best effort differ external circumstances set the ceiling of effort

Emad Mostaque · May 17, 2023

Humans are inherently good, a view many others disagree with

61:22 Humans are inherently good not merely doing their best