Yes, You Can Do This! How Women Start Up, Scale Up, and Build The Life They Want

Chapter 13You Are More Than Your Product or Company: Protecting Egos When Things Change

What you'll take away from this chapter:

In this chapter, we'll explore the ways in which ego can impact your work for the worse. We'll dig into some of the ways you can spot ego rearing its head, and find ways to diffuse fear as you move quickly to adapt to changing customer needs.

Letting Go to Move Forward

The feedback from one of their larger clients was telling them to expand their offering. In fact, the data was showing that the new product they launched may not have been the best solution.

“Hannah—we need to rethink this latest offering. We might even need to scrap it and look at other options.” Maria had the sales figures and usage data in front of her.

Hannah was feeling a little resistant and uneasy.

“I think what we made is working, and that this customer is asking for something we don't need to deliver.” Hannah crossed her arms as she spoke.

“You can't think that way. This is the product we're selling today—but we listen if the market shifts. If our customer needs shift, we'll do something different. The salespeople are saying they can't sell this.”

“Well, maybe we need different salespeople.” Hannah knew the quiver in her voice betrayed her emotion, but she had just spent countless weeks getting this product to market, and couldn't believe she was about to undo it all.

Maria noticed anger and fear in Hannah's eyes as she spoke. Maria softened her tone and took a different direction. ...