Simon Sinek and Tim Harris identify "as long as" as a phrase that masks self-interest and erodes team trust. When someone frames a commitment with conditions, leaders should ask what they really want to achieve next, turning it into a coaching conversation about ambition and growth.
There are 3 unspoken words that will ruin any endeavor. Go on. As long as. Say more. I want you to fulfill this function for us on our team. Simon says, yeah, sure, of course. In his mind, he says, as long as I make more money than everybody else, as long as I get the credit, as long as I can be in charge.
Instead of just getting away with it, what you're saying is check yourself. Why are you saying as long as. And if you're saying, as long as you pay me more than everybody else, the question is, is am I feeling underappreciated? Is this my ambition that I'm not meeting my own expectations? Right, right, right, right.
I think we have a tendency to all have as long as. How do I kind of manage that and try to make sure that I'm helpful to Simon? I sit with team members and I say, hey, Simon, you are the director of ABC. And Simon says, okay, that's great. I want to do that. And I say, okay, Simon, you're coming into this job, what's next? How does director of ABC set you up for the next thing? It's a way of encouraging someone to have a little bit of self-reflection on their own journey. Okay, so if Simon says, look, I want to be the director of seat sales, okay, that's, that's tremendous, Simon, because we think you could do that. What do you want to do next? And Simon says, well, I want to be an astronaut. Okay, I don't know how that's going to help you, Simon. But if Simon says, look, I have huge aspirations as the director to within one year be a vice president. Okay, Simon, how are we going to make that happen for you? What are the things that we're going to be able to do to try to put you in a place so that you can try and achieve your goal? Simon starts feeling a little bit more safe to share his ambition because as long as it's a condition, but it's an ambition.
