The single most important job of a leader

The Storytelling Ape

In Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Homo Deus’ (a phenomenal follow up to the seminal ‘Sapiens’ btw. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how we humans work) and he explored an interesting question: Why did Homo sapiens take over the world? Why did we win and why did every other species face complete domination or annihilation?

• Was it because we could use tools? No, because there were other species that can make better tools than us and use them with more dexterity than us. Our Stone-Age hunter gatherer cousins were far better.
• Was it because we had larger brains? Again no. There were others before and during our world-domination journey who had larger brains (by sheer volume of brain matter).?

Yuval posits that it was because of our extensive use of language and what our large pre-frontal cortex enabled us to do: We created stories and myths and imagined fictions that existed in only our imagination. And with the spread of writing and then with the spread of other media, this fiction could reside not just in one person’s imagination, but in the minds of many. All other animals can collaborate in small numbers only (ants can work together in large numbers, but that is all pre-programmed action, not deliberate thought. Chimps can work together but in groups smaller than a few dozens. Only humans can creatively collaborate in groups larger than 150).?

Think of all the large scale social constructs that enable our human world to function smoothly. The concept of money (everyone has to believe that the worthless piece of paper has value, and everyone has to agree on what it is valued at), the concept of nationhood (nature draws no boundaries; humans on the other hand have created the concept of a nation that separates ‘us’ vs ‘them’), the concept of a corporation (a company completely exists in our imagination, the assets and the products and the customers are real, but the entity that is the company is entirely fictional) - these are all ideas that exist only in our collective imagination but somehow they are more influential and real than most ‘real’ things that exist in the physical world.?

Humanity took over the world because we could organise ourselves in nation-scale or planet-scale groups that worked towards a common goal, because we can believe in common myths / fiction.?

The stronghold of the myth

Myths / Concepts / Fictions like these hold the fabric of society together and our collective delusion enables complete strangers to cooperate and trust each other instantly. The establishment of global currencies and foreign trade, the spread of religions along with mercantile traditions, all were essentially trust-accelerators. The rituals, symbolisms and processes established a common ground for very different humans to act in harmony. The most powerful example in today’s contemporary society is a corporation. How we can all come together in large groups of complete strangers and achieve unbelievable leveraged outcomes because all our efforts, beliefs and incentives are aligned.?

The most important job of a founder / leader

Which now brings me to the most important job a leader or founder has to do: She has to be the generator / guardian / evangelist of the company’s mythology. In today’s parlance it is called the company’s vision. The company’s story, its vision / mission / purpose, what has happened so far, where are we headed, what are our values and most importantly, why are we here.?

This collective mythology + daily actions to reinforce this mythology = Culture.?

Think deeply about what is your story that your entire team / org / company can align themselves behind. Create it, capture it, codify it, evangelise it and live it every day. That is the single most important job of a leader.?