The greatest problem solvers
three things that make a great teammate
This article will explain a short personal story then three things that I think make a great team.
Story time:
When I saw this picture, I had to sit down and be honest with myself, which level was I? (Shaan Puri)
It took some humility to admit that I was stuck at level 3, but honestly I had no experience in creating a system until my time at the AI Lab at Biola. All my life, I had only been told what to do from my classes, to homework, to studying—our society has built system to churn our “capable” individuals called education. But rarely does it give you opportunities to manage other people or incentives you to identify problems and solve it yourself.
if an assignment was to manage other classmates, that would be very unscalable as the classmates would have to take turns being the employees
if the assignment was to identify problems and solve them, the teacher would need to grade each project individually—possible but hard to do at scale
So breaking out of level 3 is hard because it takes a level of Agency to create this opportunity for yourself in order to learn it. And that’s exactly who I was: just someone who could do things he was told to do.
But once I realized that I was ONLY good at doing things that people told me to do, I realized THATs exactly what AI is designed for: doing something that someone tells it to do! In other words… I was just a worser version of AI…
This was my ice water plunge that made me believe:
If I want to meaningfully contribute to society, I have to be great at doing things AI can’t do
If humans still want to have a society, we should double down on what makes us unique
What I think makes a great teammate
1. Being able to identify problems (+ speed)
Imagine you are working with me, and ALL DAY I constantly ask you what I should do next. You would probably go insane.
You want someone who always knows what the next thing to do it. But guess what?
Only God knows. So what you’re really looking for is someone who isn’t afraid to be wrong. To iterate ideas, fail, and try again. Prototyping is how you can get feedback quickly and make it better. No one knows the right answer right away.
If someone could know the right problem to solve immediately, then I’d argue we would have no problems tomorrow because they would know the solutions to everything. But that’s not reality. Thus, iterating with speed IS the process of identifying problems.
Great teammates aren’t afraid to fail because they know that every set back brings them closer to success.
2. Knowing the vision and mission well
Imagine you are working with me, and somehow, whenever you need something, I already did the thing you thought of. You would probably be really happy.
You want someone who can execute on your behalf without your input. That’s possible if we align on the same vision and mission because what you want is what I want. There are no conflicting agendas of why I wouldn’t do something for you. Your success is my success.
This is only possible because of trust. You won’t have to worry about me releasing something to our customers that would wreck our brand. You trust me because you know my heart; I care about the same things you care about. This puts less burden on you, and it gives me freedom.
Great teammates have trust in each other because they share the same vision and mission.
3. Smiling
Imagine you are working with me, and whenever I see you, I FROWN >:(
You would probably be really uncomfortable.
You want to work with people who are genuinely happy to see you. Especially for smaller teams under tight time constraints with multiple overworking hours: if you’re spending 40-80 hours a week with someone, it would be phenomenal if you were good friends with them.
Smiling is so wonderful. It’s so simple, yet it can make someone’s day.
Great teammates are genuinely happy to be in each others company.
closing thoughts
I mention these traits of a great teammate as if I mastered them… no. haha
I’m still working on everything I mentioned in this article.
It takes practice to iterate with taste, it takes empathy to understand the vision, it is easy to take people for granted. I want to get better.
I want to be a great teammate and help other people be ones too.
-joseph