One of the guys I’m following is Tony (@Schlanghole). He owns a successful business here in Boise (don’t bother heading over there if you’re on an iPhone… the whole site is Flash, except the footer. Boo, I know.). Tony recently started a blog to share some of his thoughts and musing on life and business. Last night he posted a great, uh…  post on his staunch “No Prick Rule“. I loved it! Basically Tony believes that the people you hire matter. Not just what they do (which is important) but who they are (which matters more). I think we should all adopt this rule.

But it got me thinking about how different people interact with one another in team environments. My personality type has been known to cause more than a little conflict on teams. And I’m no exception. Playing devil’s advocate comes very easily to me and I have to keep my desire for conflict in check at times.

Having said that though, I know that I do my best creative problem-solving when I have 2 or 3 or even 4 divergent views being advocated for vigorously by invested parties. I call those times of discussion–those times of conflict, creative conflict. I love creative conflict. Its a tight rope though. It can easily just become conflict with winners and losers, victors and… well, you know. Creative conflict isn’t about winners and losers. Its about solutions and win-win. Its about that 5th way (in this case) that brings everyones ideas to the table and finds the best way to move forward for everyone.

I know… it sounds ridiculous. There are always winners and losers. And I suppose that’s true. But when you work somewhere that has a “No Prick Rule” you’ll care less when you lose… and more importantly you’ll care less when you win. And that’s when “creative conflict” can happen. I wish there were more business owners who followed Tony’s philosophy.

Now, before I go any further, I could be totally wrong. This is a simple hypothesis I’m chewing on. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance by this time tomorrow I’ll think something completely different. But, until then, this is what I’m going with.

The entrepreneur believes in tomorrow. Tomorrow holds even greater possibilities and profits than today did. The worker believes in today. Today put food on the table and helped pay the bills.

The entrepreneur believes in rocking the status quo and risking his security. The worker believes in putting in a honest days work for a honest days wage.

The entrepreneur believes in himself. The worker believes in others.

Now, for the record, I don’t think the entrepreneur is better than the worker, or the worker better than the entrepreneur. In fact, one without the other is dangerous for the sanity of all those around him or her. And I think for any small business to succeed you need both the entrepreneur and the worker. The entrepreneur gets all the street cred, but its the worker who makes the world go round.

My 2 cents on this fine winter day.