Create Positive Culture In Your Business

Why do business titles create entitlement in employees

“Do you like interacting with people that feel a sense of entitlement about anything? No. Entrepreneurs, we hate that stuff. We hate people that feel like they're entitled to something.”

— Eben Pagan

Business titles create entitlement because they give people symbolic power they can use to claim special treatment. When someone says 'I'm the CEO' or 'I'm the director,' they're using the title rather than their value to justify authority.

How does company culture really get created

“The more I think about it, the more I think that a lot of that stuff is hogwash because the culture typically is whatever you are.”

— Eben Pagan▶ 3:28

Company culture is simply a reflection of the leader's behavior. If you're stuffy and play power games, you'll attract stuffy people. If you're open-minded and supportive, that's the culture you'll create. Leaders must 'go first' in modeling the behaviors they want to see.

What does go first mean in leadership

“In neural linguistic program, one of the things they say is you go first. You go first. And what they mean there is if you want someone to go into an emotional state, you go into that state first and then the other person will go there.”

— Eben Pagan▶ 4:18

'Go first' means leaders must model the emotional states and behaviors they want their team to exhibit. If you want your team to be relaxed and celebratory, you need to demonstrate those behaviors first rather than just telling them to do it.

Why should entrepreneurs avoid giving random titles to employees

“I think you can rob them of self-esteem, self-worth, growth, motivation. I think you can rob them of these things by giving them something that you thought was useful. I think you can put a cage or a box around them.”

— Eben Pagan▶ 2:14

Random titles can rob employees of self-esteem, self-worth, growth, and motivation by putting them in a symbolic cage. Titles make people dependent on external validation rather than developing real capabilities and value creation skills.

How do negative workplace behaviors become permanent

“Eventually, you can rotate all the monkeys out. So all the monkeys in the cage never got sprayed with water. But anytime a monkey goes near the steps, the rest of them jump on them and beat him up.”

— Eben Pagan▶ 7:21

Negative behaviors become self-perpetuating even after the original cause is removed. Like the monkey experiment where new monkeys who never experienced punishment still enforce the same restrictions, workplace cultures can maintain toxic patterns long after the original problem is gone.

The Hidden Danger of Business Titles

Eben reveals how traditional corporate titles create entitlement by giving people symbolic power they can exploit. He explains that the word 'entitlement' literally contains 'title' and shows how well-meaning leaders accidentally rob employees of self-worth and motivation through random title assignment.

Culture Reflects Leadership

Challenging conventional wisdom about corporate culture programs, Eben argues that culture is simply whatever the leader is. He demonstrates how leaders who are stuffy and political attract similar people, while open-minded leaders who roll up their sleeves create collaborative environments.

The Go First Principle

Drawing from neural linguistic programming, Eben teaches that leaders must model the emotional states they want to see rather than instructing others to change. He shows how celebrating, relaxing, and working hard as a leader naturally creates those behaviors in the team.

Why Negative Patterns Persist

Using the famous monkey experiment, Eben illustrates how workplace dysfunction becomes self-perpetuating even after the original cause disappears. This demonstrates why leaders must be extremely careful about the behavioral patterns they establish, as they can outlast the leader themselves.