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Staying Great

bhorowitz.com

41 pointsmh_8 comments

Wow, that is a Maserati Problem. I can even begin to relate to the problem in this post...

I agree. I'm hoping some folks that do have this problem weigh in on the discussion. I hope I DO have this problem someday.

I think you have to think about employee development, which means that the requirement of the to-be-great employee becomes willingness to learn and dedication to the company (or you). This doesn't always mean spending time on mentoring them but can also include giving them a job that is just a bit taxing to their current abilities.

How to? Take them out to a coffee on the first day and get personal with them. Then talk about their goals and what they want from the job. What they value in their life. To be a great CEO, you have to be a great leader.

Because you cannot build a great company if you don't respect your people as people.

I think one of my biggest problems is having been involved in too many very poorly-managed companies and totally losing perspective on what it means to be loyal to a company and why it's not always a bad thing. It's very hard to get that back, and if you can't, it feels extremely dishonest to expect it from someone else.

This is why I hope my company gets big enough to push me out of employee management and into strategic development before too long. I think I have a lot to offer, but I definitely don't understand this part of it.

What you need to do is inspire people and discern who's going to be the best/ world class/whatever your terms are/ fit for your company.

Because, you're not getting the best VPs. They're taken. They're bored. They're not that good, just got lucky. There's always something.

A good team leader is able to get the best team without having the best individuals.

Perhaps you missed this part:

"As CEO, you can do very little employee development. One of the most depressing lessons of my career when I became CEO was that I could not develop the people who reported to me. The demands of the job made it such that the people who reported to me had to be 99% ready to perform. Unlike when I ran a function or was a general manager, there was no time to develop raw talent. That can and must be done elsewhere in the company, but not at the executive level. If someone needs lots of training, she is below standard."

Is it only me or the first paragraph is meant to be referencing someone well-known at Yahoo?

Without reading further into it than the paragraph itself... this seems like a pertinent worry of any hiring manager about any employee ever.

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