The Parable of the CEO Who Burns All Their Profits
I want you to imagine a very successful business.
It has an excellent product. Its customers are very happy. Its employees love working there. And every aspect of the business gets better every year.
But the CEO of this business has a very odd policy about profits—
They hate them 😡
They think it’s greedy to make any money.
They feel that holding on to any money will make them a money-grubbing capitalist villain.
They think “good people” are humble and poor — not flashy and rich.
And so the minute even one dollar of profit hits the company’s bank accounts…
The CEO withdraws that money and sets that pile of cash on fire 💰🔥
The customers and employees and investors beg the CEO to USE that money.
They say,
“You don’t have to hoard it like Scrooge McDuck!
You can reinvest it! You can turn it into employee bonuses! You can even donate it to charity!
Please, just stop burning it!!”
But the CEO pays them no mind.
“Profits are morally bad,” they say. “We must never have profits, even for a minute.”
Coincidentally, the CEO is always stressed about money…
There never seems to be enough cash in their business!
It feels like the company is starting over from scratch every single day, no matter how well it’s done in the past.
So they push their employees harder and harder. “Work harder! Do better! Sell faster! We need more cash!”
They don’t understand why they always find themselves in this cash-strapped position.
Surely, it has nothing to do with their habit of burning all the profits… 🤔
I know, this story sounds insane :)
No CEO in the world would ever act like this.
But every day, millions of high-stress high achievers act EXACTLY like this…
Not with money…
But with praise, accolades, and positive feedback.
Let me tell you the story again, but from the perspective of a stressed out high achiever.
I want you to imagine a very successful person.
They have an excellent skillset. Their boss and colleagues are very happy. Their team loves working with them. And every aspect of this person’s skillset gets better every year.
But this person has a very odd policy about praise and compliments—
They hate it 😡
They think it’s arrogant to accept and internalize praise.
They feel that truly believing that they’re doing a great job will make them a lazy, insufferable jerk-face.
They think “good people” are self-effacing and constantly striving — not confident and securely on top of things.
And so the minute even one word of praise is given to this person…
They reject it out of hand. They ignore it. They discount it. They argue with it. It may as well never have happened. 💌🚫
Their team and bosses and families beg the person to BELIEVE that praise.
They say,
“You don’t have to rest on your laurels like an arrogant jerk-face!
You can believe in your competence and then build on it by doing even more.
You can acknowledge how good you are, stand confidently on your own strengths, and then push the benefits of your goodness out, to help even more people!
Please, just stop rejecting it!!”
But the person pays them no mind.
“Acknowledging that you’re good at things is morally bad,” they say. “We must never say we’re doing a great job, even for a minute.”
Coincidentally, the person is always stressed about whether or not they’re doing a good job…
They never seem to have enough confidence!
It feels like they’re starting over from scratch to prove themselves every single day, no matter how well they’ve done in the past.
So they push themselves harder and harder. “Work harder! Do better! We need to prove that we’re good enough!”
They don’t understand why they always find themselves in this “I’m not good enough, I need to prove myself” position.
Surely, it has nothing to do with their habit of rejecting all praise out of hand… 🤔
The human brain is a funny thing to retrain 🧠
You know what’s often the LEAST effective way to retrain it? Cold, hard logic.
Your brain is an expert at confirmation bias.
If you make a direct frontal attack on your brain’s current beliefs, it will simply judo-flip you and your “logic” and double down on what it already believes.
You know what often works much, much better to retrain your brain?
Stories.
Analogies.
Characters.
Examples.
Passive immersion in a stream of new ideas.
Interesting questions to quietly chew on in the background.
None of these things are a direct frontal attack on what your brain believes.
And so your brain doesn’t tense up and go into Defense Mode.
It stays relaxed, in Play Mode.
And when your brain is relaxed…
And just playing with its toys, or listening along to an interesting story…
That’s when change happens.
These are the principles my course & coaching program is built around.
You get access to me for coaching, don’t worry :)
But you also get to listen in on all the coaching in the program in the form of Case Studies.
These are the stories and examples that will rewire your brain.
This is the passive immersion from which your brain will emerge, reshaped.
Join the waitlist today :)
What my clients have to say…
“If you're just starting out, you should learn this toolkit with an expert like Pooja.
Now I'm able to open up a Google Doc and make good progress on my own.
But if you want to do it the right way, you really should have someone listening to what you're saying, guiding you, and course-correcting you.”
—Client | Solutions Engineer at Fintech company
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