Orin and Motech

Orin, the Chief Executive Officer of the EdTech startup, Motech, was feeling the pressure of keeping the
company afloat. He had worked tirelessly to make Motech a success, and in the last couple of years, sales were
only a little short of the 1 million mark. Motech was an innovative EdTech startup that aimed to help college
students understand technology easily and understandably. Orin himself was passionately involved in creating
course materials and video lectures. His unique teaching style was becoming popular among the students. He
had worked with a small, talented, and dedicated team of teachers, programmers, marketing managers, and
customer service executives. The organization was flat, and everyone helped others when needed.

Motech's staffs were supremely talented, and soon their names spread across the industry. More prominent
EdTech players came to hire them because of their talents, offering them hefty salary packages that Orin could
never match. He watched helplessly, as some of his best staffs started leaving and joining the prominent
competitors. Orin was devastated, but did not lose faith. To make matters even worse, sales revenues, which
were showing a steady increase ever since the company was born, started dipping. This was not unexpected,
some of Orin’s best staff members had left the company, not to mention his team was small enough already.
Orin soon realized that he must do something to make his company survive.

After thinking for a while, Orin called a meeting with the staffs and asked them for their thoughts on the
situation. All the staffs agreed that Motech had contributed to the recognition of their talent, and it was
because of Motech that they had become well-known in the industry. However, they also admitted that the
salary packages that competitors were offering were too much to refuse, some even reaching twice as much as
their current salary. Orin was very close to his staff from the very beginning, and had always considered them
as a part of his family. He knew each and every one of them and their family members individually. He was
always there whenever they were in need, even at a personal level. The staff had also looked up to Orin as an
inspirational leader and had always valued his people-oriented approach.

While talking to them, Orin also realized that most of the staff still nurtured a love for his organization. From
the start, Orin recruited talented people and gave them independence in their work. Orin rarely interfered in
their work, and they had always come up with brilliant, innovative ideas.

After thinking over the situation, he then proposed to the staff that from that day onwards, apart from their
salary, they would also take a part of the profit of the company and, in a way, would be shareholders of the
company. The staff were elated and promised Orin that they would do everything to make this company a
greater success.

Orin realized that, in the short run, he would face some financial challenges at an individual level, and he would
be taking a hit on his compensation. But as an astute leader, he was also aware of the benefits of his decision.

Orin's initiative soon started paying dividends. The staff, who were now technically co-owners, started
contributing more, and the revenues and profits of the company soon started reaching dizzying heights.
Motech became one of the top Edtech players in the country.

Orin's transformational leadership and people-oriented behavior helped Motech sail through the rough waters,
and his story became an example for the next-gen entrepreneurs.

One lesson we could conclude from this is that when you have a talented team with you, as a leader, your
people-oriented behavior and transformational leadership skills help the team reach greater heights.