It snowed again today in Vancouver. I say again, because it doesn't usually snow often here (maybe once or twice every couple of years), but this is probably our fifth snowfall this year. When it does snow however, it brings the Lower Mainland to its knees. Schools close, highways turn into parking lots, and business comes to a crippling halt. But the wonders of internet technology, SSL connections and VPN clients allow us to work from the comforts of home, without having to brave the elements. Ok, so maybe a quick trip to Starbucks is allowed. As I get caught up on e-mail, I thought I'd use the solitude of my home office to get back on the blog.I spent a couple of days this weekend up at Whistler skiing with a business associate (let's call him "Shane") - let's just say that that this guy is so successful, that it makes my job pale by comparison. His base salary as CEO is probably over $500k/year, and his business endeavours look to double his company's investment in a year. Double. Buy a company for something less than 2x revenues, refresh the management structure and strategy, then sell it a couple of years later for double. I can't even imagine what the commission/bonus is on that.
I'm not going through this to depress you. But when you spend time with someone who has this kind of perspective, it makes the "multi-threaded performance of an UltraSPARC T1 vs. T2" seem a little insignificant. Needless to say, he had lots of insightful management thoughts and sound bites.
One of the best ones Shane said was, "Don't work for someone who has done the job before you - you'll never live up to the expectations they have". Brilliant. It may not always work out that you can pick a position where your manager hasn't been in that role, but it certainly makes sense. You could do everything perfectly, and even over-achieve your target, but if you aren't doing what he/she did when they had the job, you're probably not doing enough.
It's kind of a different spin on ex-CEO Jonathan Schwartz's advice, "Pick your managers carefully". That was the advice he gave us last time we saw him in Menlo, when someone asked what suggestions would you have for new managers at the company. My own philosophy on this, is to pick the right people for direct reports - you hire smart people for your team, and you'll be successful. But there's a tricky balance of having a person who is competent yet content to stay in their role for a while. We all want our folks to be successful too, but that might mean staying put long enough to drive value for the company... too much movement creates chaos. Remember that we're trying to reverse entropy here, right?
