Yesterday my four-year-old asked me to help her learn how to ride her bike. Her balance has a way to come…so I helped her quite a bit, with my arms to either side of her and she a pinball between them trying to stay upright as we went along.

And then I let her go.

The results were staggering. When I took away my support, she went 2-3 times further on her own.

By default, I directly relate this to business. I find that at Merge, I need to let go of the following:

-Employees (not let them go per se, but let them work). I need to get out of the way and let them do their thing. They can go farther without me than with me.
-The Creative. Trust the creative “process.” I tend to want to know how we come up with things, the rhymes and reasons for what we create. I need to get out of the way and let the creatives do their thing.
-Vendors. Trust them to do the job they say they are going to do. I’m going to start letting go earlier.

Wanting to be in control stunts our growth. To go farther, just let go and trust that people will give their best effort without you.