# Dashboard: Is Staying Small Selfish? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish.md Podcast: [21 Hats Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638) Published: 2026-08-21T09:06:29+00:00 Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish--74230079 Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74230079/dashboard_is_staying_small_selfish.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/21-hats-podcast-502638/episodes/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish Duration seconds: 2261 ## Resource I met Lamar Tyler, founder of Traffic Sales & Profit , a couple of years ago at a Zone of Genius conference, where I interviewed him on the main stage. It quickly became clear that Lamar, who helps business owners grow, had a lot of smart, practical advice to offer, and I’ve been following him ever since. He recently posted something on LinkedIn that stopped me: “Staying small as a Black business owner is selfish.” Lamar, obviously, was speaking primarily to Black entrepreneurs, but his challenge applies more broadly. His argument is that owners who have the ability to build larger companies—and create more jobs, wealth, and opportunity—should not use “protecting their peace” or “staying lean” as an excuse to remain comfortable.I understand and appreciate what Lamar is trying to accomplish. But “selfish” is a heavy word. Isn’t an owner entitled to say, “I built this business to create a good life for myself and my family. Isn’t that enough?” Entrepreneurship is already hard. Most businesses fail. How much more risk should we encourage owners to take—and how much responsibility should they be expected to carry? That’s where Lamar and I begin this week’s Dashboard conversation. The episode is brought to you by Grasshopper Bank . ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/21-hats-podcast-502638/episodes/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.