The Importance of Morale
Observations as an employee and future owner
One of the most important currencies is morale.
Morale is what keeps the energy going while working obsessively towards a goal.
While it may not make the pursuit objectively any easier - difficult pursuits will always be difficult - high morale will certainly make pursuits subjectively easier to commit to.
Speaking from experience, I am infinitely more willing to invest my finite life towards seeing the success of the project with high morale vs middling morale. It also lessens the pain that comes with long hours and deteriorating lifestyles.
Tim Cook has a quote on passion, though it applies equally well to high morale:
You will work hard, but you won't mind doing so. You will work harder than you ever thought possible, but the tools will feel light in your hands
Similar to health, morale is one of those things you take for granted. You never really think about it until you don’t have it.
When low morale comes, I struggle to not only execute at a high level, but to execute at all.
Operationally, this bleeds into my day to day.
Already being what normal people would characterize as a workaholic (I literally write about work as a hobby lol), I find it increasingly difficult to grip onto discipline under low morale. There is this “grinding teeth” experience required to hit the minimal requirement of internal permissible productivity—I actively need to convince myself that working is worthwhile.
Burnout and feeling desolate come naturally. Optimism becomes scarce.
Now, most people don’t need a persistent high morale to work effectively (myself included).
While some amount of morale determined by vibes is usually sufficient, I don’t think it’s enough to produce repetitive “holy shit” achievements across a prolonged period of time. A normal morale certainly won’t help when circumstances are dire and timelines are short.
For high performers, morale is especially important, since it is additionally needed to stave off other attractive opportunities.
While I can’t say if I’m a high performer - I believe results are the arbiter of performance, not personal opinion - I can definitively say I get regularly bombarded with attractive opportunities.
My email inbox always has new outreach from hedge funds advertising $1M+ TCs, recruiters from premier AI companies, and founders looking for founding engineers.
For any team, you must persistently give high performers enticing reasons not to leave for other opportunities, especially the opportunities that look more promising than what you’re offering.
High morale plays a large part in this.
Ben Shapiro is famous for the line “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” The inverse certainly holds as well. Feelings don’t care about your facts.
What largely stops me from pursuing other opportunities is vibes. While I can spreadsheet out my net worth, plan out lifestyle changes, and draw a decision matrix, I can’t easily forecast optimism or joy in working on something.
The current morale offered must feel higher than what can be imagined elsewhere.
Current certain vibes must be better than any imagined vibes I get elsewhere.
Once morale drops, it’s difficult to restore. And it’s also difficult to monitor morale dropping in the first place.
Bad morale is similar to what I read marriages that end in divorce to be like. They both slowly decline until they fail all at once.
The accumulation of small missteps from management grows into failed morale.
Some examples I have experienced are hurried timelines that have no apparent reason and being blamed for someone else’s errors I had no control over.
When inflicted with bad morale, I find it harder to believe in the central purpose of the goal and its importance. Pessimism, skepticism, and cynicism become natural. Trust that management is competent is lost.
Also, outside opportunities become infinitely more exciting.