Being comfortable in your own personal universe

Corporate Life

In a previous blog, I spoke about some introspective thoughts that "Shane" gave me. My parting thought was about finding the right team, and getting them to stay put long enough to extract value for the customer and the company. But at the same time, we've got to keep their career interests at mind, right? But promoting someone for the sake of promotion doesn't always work either. Some of the worst managers I can think of were great sales reps at one time. No, Shane's advice was to find the guy that is happy to play their position.

Ok, his perspective requires a bit more explanation. There's people out there that where their "personal universe" (that's my term for it) only extends to limit of their skill/capabilities. There's also folks out there, where they can see further into their universe than their CV can take them - i.e. they have higher aspirations than they should. In Shane's line of business, his challenge is to find someone who is very capable of controlling a $200M company, but isn't going to get a bruised ego when Shane comes into town, shuffles things around, and then leaves. No, Shane's ideal candidate is the guy that can stay within the confines of his universe, and be happy in it.

This train of thought doesn't mean that we should be putting blinders on the folks on our respective teams, but it does imply a level of complacency. I'm not talking about the ones at this company that are already semi-retired (you know what I'm talking about, and likely even know a few of them). No, I mean the ones who can do a great job, and yet don't feel constrained by the confines of their personal universe.

I'll give you an example in another business world. A good friend of mine, Kenny, is a plumber - a very successful plumber, mind you. He is so busy, that he finds that there is much more work than he can handle himself. Problem is, how do you find another plumber, that doesn't think, "I can do this on my own - why am I only getting a salary from this guy?". But he did manage to find another plumber (Ben) who is happy to drive the second van, do the work, but doesn't aspire to have his own plumbing company. Kenny got a very competent professional, that can independently handle work, and he doesn't have to micro-manage him, and is not concerned that in 6 months that he will jump ship for the next job or opportunity; i.e. Ben is comfortable in his own personal universe. If only we had it as easy as Kenny.

Originally Posted on: Feb 03, 2008