This Lesson Changed How I Work

Hi Zenith Catcher,

Back in 2022, I had the kickoff days of the master’s program I started at that time.

Over a period of two days, we had the opportunity to listen to smart minds from prestigious companies, including Accenture, Boston Consulting etc.

One lesson from a fireside chat with a partner at Boston Consulting really stuck with me over the past 3ish years.

The lesson was: In the work environment, make your work contribution visible and clear to everyone involved.

In other words, when you’re working on a project, make sure the people working with you know what you did.

And to be clear, this doesn’t mean you should report more what you’ve done than doing the actual work. It simply means showing precisely what you have done to ensure the group as a whole is better off so that nobody can come and claim that you haven’t done anything.

To give you 3 personal examples of how I apply this:

• Master’s Program: During my master’s studies, I was involved in numerous group projects. One thing I have tried in most cases is to clearly report my progress through proactive communication and voluntary taking on responsibilities, such as serving as the group work organizer (scheduling meetings and preparing agenda items).
• Sales Job: 5 weeks ago, I picked up work at a Swiss B2B software startup. My key goal per month is to schedule 15 demos (fancy word for a meeting with a potential customer). Since we have a weekly end-of-the-week sales check-out meeting, I report all the progress I’ve made (e.g., how many demos are booked, additional stuff I’ve done like updating the sales playbook, etc.).
• Internship: When working in the US (Salt Lake City) I would have a weekly project progress meeting with my boss (Chief Operating Officer). This added more pressure on me to work hard during the week (like having a deadline), and my boss loved it since he saw precisely how I spent my time (full transparency).

Now, why am I doing this? Good question. I see 4 benefits.

First, knowing that I’m going to report what I’ve done gives me pressure to work hard in the moment. I don’t want to admit that I haven’t done what I promised I would do.

Second, I take on more responsibility. I want to be #1 in the group and voluntarily take on more projects than I would otherwise do. Knowing that I can transparently show what I’ve done creates positive reinforcement in me.

Third, if I get the work done, I act as a role model and set the bar higher. Setting the bar higher will likely motivate other members to work hard as well. In short, you get what you give.

Fourth, if the bar is high and everybody knows what the other person has contributed, I decrease the probability of having a freerider in the team.

Conclusion

When working in group settings, this lesson served me well.

Full transparency is the cornerstone of it.

I hope this helps.

Much love,

Nicola

PS: Share this article with your friends here.

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Catch The Zenith Podcast

I do a podcast where I pretend to have a Swiss accent (wink). 200+ episodes online about high performance and business. You can subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

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This week’s episode:

Episode 210: I sat down for round two with my mentor Silvan Krähenbühl — founder, investor, and someone I’ve worked closely with at Swisspreneur. We talked about money in relationships, marriage, kids, birth rates, and the tension between men and women. We also got into SaaS startups in the AI age, bootstrapping vs. fundraising, and Silvan gave some straight-up podcasting advice. A wide-ranging convo. Listen here.​

Next week’s episode:

Episode 211: How do we have an adventure? This is the core theme of the newest episode. I’ll also discuss a lesson I’ve learned from a partner at Boston Consulting. Goes live here tomorrow. ​

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Things I’ve Learned This Week:

1. Don’t let others dictate the pace of your speech.

Take your time to say something worth saying.

Pause. Think. Then speak.

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2. Even well-meaning people project their version of a “good life” onto you.

But your life is your life—if you want to work all the time, do it; if you want to rest, do that too.

If someone doesn’t like your life, it just means they have a different idea of what a good life looks like—and that’s okay.

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