1/ I'm *still* not going to dunk on the Basecamp leadership team. I'm pretty sure the people leaving Basecamp are heartbroken. This is no time to gloat, no time to say I told you so.

I *am* going to do my best to reflect on what it means for me & any other leader.

2/ One of my colleagues put it best: as a founder, there comes a time when your organization becomes bigger than just you, bigger than just your dreams, bigger than just your vision. The org become a vessel for every team member's hopes and dreams.

This is not always obvious.

3/ As the founder / CEO, you still have to steer. You still have to lead. You still have to make hard decisions.

Only as you grow, the weight of that work, the impact of those decisions, it's not just you. If that doesn't scare you, you might not fully appreciate the situation.

4/ The job of leading an organization, the trust the people you recruit place in you... sometimes I just sit back in my chair and it feels like an absolutely crushing responsibility. This is not my ship. This is *our* ship. And they trust *me* to captain this thing? Wow.

5/ The responsibility, it takes my breath away.

6/ Say the wrong thing and you can crush a colleague's hopes even if you don't mean to. Inspire a colleague to be their best, watch them accomplish the impossible, watch them make the org better, watch them be right and you wrong, and it's the best feeling in the freaking world.

7/ To be very clear: I'm not complaining. You should not feel sorry for me or any other org leader even for a second.

It is the deepest privilege to be entrusted with this role by every person I hire. Each is a vote of confidence in me. For now.

8/ For now. Not forever.

I'm not sure every leader gets this or, more importantly, I suspect certain levels of success make leaders forget this. If enough people think and say that you're amazing and infallible, at some point you might start to believe it.

9/ So this thread is just me reminding myself: don't ever fall for it. You deserve this role only as long as you're worthy. Your team chooses you as their leader, maybe not every day, but certainly every so often. They can change their minds.

10/ You'll make mistakes. You'll hurt people. You will need to make it right. Because that's what leaders do. And if you complain about how hard it is, then maybe you've forgotten what a privilege it is to be entrusted with the role of captain.

Don't ever freaking forget it.