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brainstorm, creative, notes, entrepreneur

The king of management says “Uncle”

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Something monumental has happened in the world of business. Equal to taking a bulldozer to the foundation of a high rise, this will change how business is taught.

I usually don’t write about the big behemoths of business.  They are too far removed from the day-to-day lives of entrepreneurs.  Yet recent changes at GE need a closer look.  The shift they are making challenges so many foundational beliefs. This wipes out a third of the books on my bookshelf.

Jack Welch increased the value of GE by over $300 BILLION during his tenure.  In 1999, Fortune Magazine named him “Manager of the Century”. Over time his beliefs washed into every nook and cranny of business. Multinational conglomerates to twenty person shops adopted Jack’s way of thinking. It became absolute best practice.

And now, with little fanfare, GE is in the final stages of jumping ship. Left are thousands of companies. Each operating with a basic philosophy that could be doing more harm than good.

The GE we know

Known for a rigid system of performance management, GE relied on the Topgrading method. For almost 30 years, the company administered an aggressive annual performance review process. Employees were scored and ranked against peers. The bottom 10% of under performers were then fired. As an industrial conglomerate, Jack Welch’s no nonsense style drove results. It was a time when cost, efficiency, and operational excellence were paramount.

At it’s core, GE’s used an approach based on meritocracy. Reward the best talent, get rid of the worst. Some might describe the process as ruthless. Others call it good business. Either way, GE has decided to change. And, as a consistent leader in business effectiveness, GE’s move is noteworthy.More

work, collaboration, collaborative, team work,

The easiest ROI booster that most entrepreneurs miss

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From day one of starting a business, so much entrepreneurial mind share goes to figuring out ROI. Every dollar counts. You start hiring people. Their salary is cash out of your pocket. When they screw up, it costs you.

The business grows. Complexity increases. The search for ROI improvements continues. For most businesses, people investments add up. They can be the largest single expense line.

So what do entrepreneurs do to maximize the output of the team? Most of the focus falls to hiring, firing and intense management of performance. Hire top performers. Expect great things. If they turn out to be a dud, fire them. It sounds harsh, but this is a reality. When an investment isn’t paying off, move on.

The problem with this cycle is cost. Many expenses associated with employee turnover are invisible. The end-to-end process burns a pile of cash. So entrepreneurs focus on better hiring, better on boarding, faster firing. It’s an expensive way to learn.

There is a cheaper, faster, and simpler habit you can develop. It won’t cost you a dime. And if you’re not using it already, it’s guaranteed to boost your ROI.

The ah-ha moment

A colleague of mine relayed a story to me. He was meeting with the CTO and founder of a billion dollar start-up success story. Over coffee the CTO shared a recent revelation. He had come to appreciate the ROI of asking his team about their weekend. People worked harder and gave more to the company because he showed interest in the personal lives of his team.

I shared this story with a senior leader at another company. Her response: “Wow, that’s exactly what we need. If we could get our CEO to do that… to say good morning to the team… to show he cares… it would revolutionize our company.”

Why it matters

In the early part of my career I worked in a team of 12 people reporting to an executive. He was my second-level manager so I didn’t interact with him much. But I did have full appreciation that my career rested in his hands. He came in every morning and went right to his desk. He never said hello and rarely acknowledged me. Some days it made me anxious, other days it pissed me off. In both cases it affected my creativity and contributions to the company.More

Working at home

The secret to boosting innovation… and the catch.

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What if there was a secret that guaranteed your company an exponential innovation boost? And what if there was a small group of people who had figured out this secret? And what if that group was willing to share every intimate detail of that secret for free? Would you be interested?

I’m guessing you would jump at the chance.

Now, what if there’s a catch to learning this secret? And what if that catch requires you to challenge every personal belief you hold about leading business? Would you still do it?

Last week I spent three days with the people who hold this secret. They came together from all over the world to meet in two connected conferences. One in Hungary and one in Canada. These are deep thinkers. Explorers. They share an intense passion for figuring out a better way to run businesses. And together, they’ve found a secret they are willing to share.

Sometimes secrets are so big and so scary, we don’t want to hear them. This could be one of those secrets.

The need for change

Like it or not, our world is changing. With change comes disruption. With disruption comes discomfort. In business, this discomfort is showing up through disengagement. Right now 76% of full-time employees are open to new job opportunities. This raises a big question. How innovative is someone in their current job while thinking about working somewhere else?

The Google generation is looking for a new way of contributing. Power structures no longer work when everyone has access to the same information. Hierarchies collapse when everyone has an equal voice in the virtual world. Sub par ideas get crushed when power structures can’t protect them.

Yet we still aim to be innovative in organization structures designed for a different time.More

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Escaping the Policy Trap: Why young companies start implementing policies (and how to avoid them)

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When it comes to non value add activities in business, policy creation takes top spot. Trouble starts the moment your organization slips into control by policy. The breakdown of trust is underway.

Early in my career I rocked it as a master policy writer. I took great pride in my superb ability to foresee every exception and close every loophole.

I’ve since learned from my mistakes. I now see policies for what they often are—an attempt by one person to control another.

I recently connected with one of the most progressive CEOs in my network. He shared his view on the topic. “Policies are put in place to manage the 1% at the detriment of the 99%.”

Why would we do that? Why go to so much effort to punish the 99%? The answer is simple but perhaps not obvious.

The love affair with policies

At the core of policy development is predictability and structure. They create restrictions and limitations. For those of us with perfectionistic tendencies, control is like a comfortable blanket. It keeps us safe.
That explains why some people love policies. But what about the non-perfectionists who aren’t drawn to structure? Why doesn’t this group rebel and topple the policy fortress before it’s too big?

It turns out that the heart of the issue is fear. We are afraid of having difficult, important conversations with each other. Policies, even terrible ones, provide us with a safety net. When a problem requires a difficult conversation, we have control on our side. More

CEO, founder, entreprenur, working, outside, remote,

Seven signs you are successfully shifting from entrepreneur to CEO

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Over time I’ve observed the moments when entrepreneurs are called upon to become a CEO.  I don’t mean a title change on your business card.  I’m talking about that moment when the nature of your contribution needs to change.

When are these moments?  It might be your first large and meaningful customer order. Or when an investor dumps cash into the business.  Or when the company outgrows your kitchen table. The moment is different for each entrepreneur and each business.  It’s in these moments that you need to pivot.  Many of the activities that defined personal success and satisfaction shift to others. At the same time a whole new list of responsibilities and decisions get loaded on.

These moments are challenging times for entrepreneurs.  Everyone is watching.  Can you slide into the role of superstar CEO? Should you? Your funders are watching.  Your employees are talking.  And deep down, your inner critic is on overdrive.

Fear not.  Many have made the successful transition and you can too.

There are seven signs that the shift is underway.More

Work, business

Are you unknowingly dumbing down your team?

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Entrepreneurs leading fast moving companies have a critical blind spot.  One habit is single-handedly dumbing down groups of uber smart people.  It’s holding back the growth of businesses everywhere.

Changing one simple habit can unlock a powerhouse of collective brainpower and creativity.

In business “building a superstar team” is the ultimate quest. To be the best, hire the best.  Entrepreneurs have their talent antenna up in every conversation. The hunt for great people is never ending.

So what happens once that super smart and dedicated team is in place? Your frustration starts to mount. Your once agile business starts slowing down. Communication starts breaking down. You are pulled into every decision. Or worse, you are excluded from decisions that you later need to overturn.  You question how people you had thought to be smart now seem… well… dumb!More

be happy man

Why “Being mocked by my team” should be a 2016 priority

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We’re two months into a new year.

How’s your team doing so far?

If there is one period that creates more business disappointments than any other, this is it.  The first 60 days of the year.

As the leader of your company, you’re likely exceptional at creating a vision for the future. You know how to put together actionable plans.  Perhaps you even have a spectacular idea that is poised to rock your industry.  I’m betting you spent some time over the holidays thinking about what you learned over the past year.  You’ve likely drafted a road map for the next few months.  There are new projects you want the team to undertake… bad habits and poor performance of the past you plan to crush.

This is the year of big change and you have the plan to make it happen.

Two months in, and with your hand on the tiller, are things changing course as you hoped?

It’s about this time that new year’s resolutions and annual business plans start to get fuzzy. The enthusiasm that was palpable on January 1st starts to wane and bad habits continue to thrive.More