My morning began early with a 6:30 a.m. drive to Denver to present a speak about Give First: The Energy of Mentorship, which Erik Mitisek had organized for a gaggle of Denver-area founders.
In it, one in every of Erik’s questions prompted me to go off on a riff about authenticity, which led me to one of many Techstars Mentor Manifesto gadgets titled Be Genuine—Apply: What You Preach and a piece within the e book titled Nonsense Phrases Corresponding to “I’m Worth Added”. I gave the instance within the part Being Filled with Worth‑Added Shit and defined that once I hear somebody say “I’m an (adjective) (noun)” I insert (in my mind) the phrase “not” after the phrase “I’m.” From the e book:
I’m amused when somebody says, “I’m genuine,” “I’m clear,” “I’m founder-friendly,” or “I’m a value-added investor.” Each time I hear one thing like that, I routinely insert the phrase “not” between “I’m” and the remainder of the phrase.
I’m suspicious every time somebody says, “I’m an (adjective) (noun).” Why did it’s worthwhile to say, “I’m an ideal tennis participant,” “I’m a deep thinker,” or “I’m a beneficiant individual”? As a substitute, why not merely play tennis, no matter how nice you’re? Or suppose as deeply as you need? Or be beneficiant?
I’ve adopted it up with two extra Techstars-related talks, the place I used this instance once more. Within the final discuss, I stated, “I feel I’ll make that right this moment’s weblog.” So – right here’s the story.
“Hmm,” I believed to myself.
I had simply watched a video interview with a well-known VC. Though I didn’t know him, I used to be pleasant with a number of founders who had labored with him and knew of no less than one of many conditions he had described.
The VC’s verbal fillers took up the primary half-hour of the interview. There have been loads of “Truthfully” and “To let you know the reality” woven in between “I’ll be clear about what occurred” and “The most effective
founders are genuine to their true selves.”
One in all his tales, which I used to be aware of, didn’t really feel proper. I knew the founder/CEO of the corporate he described and thought she’d had a very tough time with this VC. Nonetheless, the VC’s preamble was, “In tough conditions, I’m at all times clear about what is going to occur with the founder. That manner, they’ve a possibility to problem or right me.”
I emailed my founder-CEO pal to ask in regards to the scenario. I advised her I’d simply seen an interview with the VC by which he mentioned her firm. Had she seen the interview? Did she agree with what
the VC stated?
“He’s filled with shit,” stated my pal. “That man is a manipulative psychopath. Earlier than we even talked in regards to the scenario, he’d gone round me to everybody on my administration staff and planted seeds of doubt with them. He advised various things to every staff member, lied about our scenario, and attributed issues to me that hadn’t occurred in any respect.”
“So, he wasn’t clear with you?”
“Are you kidding me? I do not know why anybody takes this man critically.”
“Did you once you first met him?”
“Nicely, sure, in fact. He was charismatic, had lots of capital, talked a great sport, and had lots of people who stated nice issues about him.”
“What do you suppose occurred?”
“I feel he’s a manipulative, misogynistic, ego-challenged one who is deeply deceitful. Nicely, possibly he’s not misogynistic, however all of the individuals who appreciated him have been males, and I’ve subsequently met a couple of different feminine founders who had related experiences to mine.”
The VC was neither clear nor genuine. As is commonly the case, his popularity finally caught up with him.
