Imitation vs. Original

Wes built the shop with Hank over a dozen years, from two men in a rented garage to a business with sixteen craft cabinetmakers and a year-long waitlist. Hank ran the money and the management, and Wes ran the bench. When Hank decided to step back, he stayed on as an advisor, and Wes still calls him most Fridays.

On his way out, he told Wes how to run the business side— work the big deals, stay off the production floor, and move to his office upstairs. Be the CEO, not the foreman.

Wes reluctantly took the title, but left the upstairs office empty. He had never wanted to be the boss, let alone a CEO. He didn’t think he was built for it. He never had to manage schedules, build processes, recognize decision gates, or handle the hard conversations.

He braced for the shop to come apart. Week one was rough, but week two was steadier, and by the fourth week he was leading staff meetings, was on the floor more, and engaging directly with clients. He taught the apprentices the way he always had, by sitting down beside them and letting them watch his hands, saying little. The shop ran better the closer he stood to it.

I asked him what had been behind his lack of confidence in running the business.

He said that it was something he’d thought a lot about over the past month. It was Hank's voice in his head, guiding him to rise above the daily work as a way to run the business. Wes had learned early to let someone else manage the people and processes, and never questioned it. When his turn came, he had to get out of the shadow cast by his partner’s management style. That kind of role never fit Wes because it was never his. He had to find his own way.

Wes owns the company, the building, and the office upstairs that is only used for a few hours a week. He didn’t want the chair in the corner office; he wanted the stool, next to the artisans at the bench beside him, where he could foster relationships with the team. Most of all, he wanted the plain pleasure of watching them all get good.

Imitation leads by someone else's hand. Original leads by your own.

The Question

Whose idea of the job are you performing, and what would change if you led as no one but yourself?

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." — Judy Garland