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

Pick your {insert role} carefully

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?

Originally Posted on: Jan 29, 2008