It can be tempting to dive into a new organization and start making changes. At times that may be good, but generally you’d be wise to wait to fully understand what’s happening before trying to shake things up.
In a recent episode of the Founders podcast, the host was talking about the popular YouTube star MrBeast and what makes him so successful. In part, MrBeast shared this:
“You need to be nimble and produce content our way, not the way you were taught before. If you want the highest probability of success, I beg you to learn why we do what we do at a deep level before you try to fix anything.”
MrBeast has become wildly popular after many years (and thousands of videos) of trial and error to get where he is. He hires great folks, but he always encourages them to learn his way of doing things before they try to make changes.
It reminds me of the concept of Chesterton’s Fence, which can be summarized as simply “Do not remove a fence until you know why it was put up in the first place”.
You may have some great ideas that will make a positive impact, but the better you can understand the organization first, the more likely your new idea will succeed.
