Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg explains the ideology behind one of our core operating principles: “Leave your ego at the door." Brett breaks down the difference between confidence and ego, and why “nice guys don’t close big deals” is lazy thinking that hurts mission outcomes.

We get practical: how to hire high-agency people, how to spot toxic ego in interviews, when a strong personality becomes net-negative for the team, why learning rate is Brett’s personal success metric, and how to give high-conviction builders room to run without letting them steamroll the org. Brett also shares the operating principles that took Vannevar from 50 to 250+, the cross-functional model that 10x’s outcomes, and which roles he thinks are the hardest to hire.

We discuss:

• Confidence vs. ego (and why ego is often a lack of self-confidence)
• The “net output” test for keeping or moving on from a hire
• Red flags in interviews
• How to structure teams for high-conviction bets without chaos
• Scaling culture around specific outcomes as opposed to generic values

Click here to watch a video of this episode.
Outline
00:00 What ego means in high performance teams
00:25 Self-confidence vs. ego
01:56 The line between confidence and toxicity
04:37 Screening for ego in interviews
09:20 Do founders need ego to succeed?
11:07 Managing your own ego as a leader
14:59 Can you coach out unhealthy ego?
16:52 High agency leadership without steamrolling
19:14 Vannevar's interview process
21:59 Profile of first five hires
24:29 Hiring mistakes and lessons
26:31 Core operating principles
28:44 Scaling culture from 50 to 250+ people
33:25 Most difficult roles to hire for