Category: Leadership

“The money comes AFTER you win the championship. The championship comes from the sweat of the brow.” – Rob Wiltbank

Everybody dreams of being the champion.

But no sees all the hard work, stress and toil that go on behind the scenes; the practice, the pain, the setbacks.

Though there’s rarely a free lunch, there is one guarantee.  No one wins unless they decide to play.

The players are the ones getting it done. Everyone else is a talking head blathering on about what the players are thinking.

Analysis comes from history so go make the history and let’s the wannabe’s talk about how you did it.

Rob Wiltbank was a panelist at the 2013 SSTI Conference in Portland

“When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.” – Jim Collins

Jim Collins on Discipline – part 3 of 3

Everything a startup does should be pointed at getting the product in the customer’s hands and then getting the next customer.

There will be a time for processes and middle management… perhaps.

Perhaps you will be acquired by then and not have to worry about it.

Your objective is not to win the next grant or to have a detailed research and development plan.  In fact, your financials will be totally unpredictable so don;t spend hours tweaking the spreadsheet.

Spend the hours getting the product ready to ship.

“When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy.” – Jim Collins

Jim Collins on Discipline – part 2 of 3

Rules generally mean one thing: people can’t be trusted to do the right thing.  Their presence also indicates ineffective leadership.  It’s easier to make rules for everyone than it is to deal with to root cause of a problem.

When you have rules, you have to enforce them and keep track of them and update them.  Before long, you have people whose job it is to enforce, keep track and update the rules.

Then it’s the rules that become the main thing.  Then we have the Federal Government.

Hire the right people.  Make sure they know the mission and their contribution.  Fire the wrong people quickly.

 

 

“When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy.” – Jim Collins

This is “Collins on Discipline, part 1 of 3”

I’ve been in middle management and I found that I spent most of my time explaining to the troops what upper management was doing and why. On the other hand, I tried to spend time letting upper management know what the troops thought. That never went very far.  Somehow, I came to believe this was deliberate.

If the mission is simple and clear, if there is an open line for brutal honesty and creative debate, and if the right people are in the bus, then there should be no need for a complex org chart.

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of choice.” – Jim Collins

Jim Collins claims it takes no more time or effort to create a great company than it does a mediocre one.  It’s all a matter of making the right choices early on.  The blue print is in “Good To Great” and it involves simplicity, maniacal focus and discipline, the right people and leadership at the 5th level.

Remember, “good is the enemy of great”.

“Jim Burke, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, estimated that he spent 40% of his time communicating the J&J Credo” – Jim Collins from Beyond Entrepreneurship

At some point you are going to have to hire someone, or even better, sell something.  Things change when that happens.  Up to that point, your dream, strategy, and purpose are safe inside your head and everyone there understands and embraces it.  What’s more, no one challenges it and it all makes sense.  As a Boy Scout, we opened every meeting by reciting the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  It is to remind us of the values, ideals and the purpose of being a Boy Scout.  After a few decades, I still remember them clearly.

You can’t just write down your mission statement and be done with it.  The leader of the organization must constantly find ways of reinforcing the message with employees, customers, stakeholders and the general public.  It’s like the downbeat of the bass drum in dance music.  It’s the center; the reference point and it is constant.

J&J is a very successful company.  You should check out their credo: http://www.jnj.com/about-jnj/jnj-credo

40% of the CEO’s time…. must be important

“I may not have led people who would take a bullet for me but I’d like to think they would at least push me out of the way.” – Gil Cruze

Gil Cruze is one of those guys who tends to speak in “tweetable” quotes.  This one was about picking your team.  He spoke of the profound friendships he has formed over the years with people who came on board to share in the dream of his startup.  He said that he is not always right about things and looks for smart people who will disagree with him.

Integrity, trust and respect go along with technical and marketing talent when forming your team.

“There are no peacetime generals in the history books” – Tom Peters

True heroes are called in the moment.  Circumstances arrange themselves and the situation finds itself in need of a leader; one who can make a decision rather than stand there.  Usually, doing something is better than doing nothing, but regardless, a decision must be made.

Failure can happen.  Chances are it will.  Good can still come.

I never really understood baseball until I figured out this:  it’s about being in the right place in case something happens.  It’s about practicing the possible scenarios over and over so that if something happens, you are in a position to make a play and you will know what to do.  It’s about reading the signs and anticipating the next move.

I believe this is how innovation happens.

We need more leaders.  We need more heroes.

“Send handwritten notes.” – Jeffery J. Fox

In this digital age of email, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and still more means of communication, it’s hard to remember that a large part of business is still about relationships.

I remember working for a particularly tyrannical boss.  Although I did not want to be like him in any way, he did one thing that stuck with me.  He would hand out handwritten notes when you did something he was pleased with.  And he was EXTREMELY hard to please.

I hated the guy but I wanted one of those notes more than anything.

We live in a world of noise.  If you want to stand out, do something different and deeply personal.  Send a note.

Read “How to Become CEO” by Jeffery J. Fox.