Don't know everything

“Those who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Isaac Asimov

I had one of those déjà vu moments last week where I found myself in a constantly recurring set of conversations with the same theme. These tend to happen a lot (to me anyway) where I no sooner get off the phone with one person and another calls with the same issue.

In this one I had been chatting with a buddy who started a new job last year and is loving life. The company is doing well and he is happily a part of that success. He happens to be a talented sales exec who in his previous job had been through the classic start up dilemma where the founder just could not, no matter how much he tried and promised, ever turn sales over to the talented sales exec he had recruited to come help him. After two years of frustration when he got the call from a company offering him a new life he took it.

The next call a few hours later was from another friend, also a talented sales exec, who is suffering the same founders control dilemma. After being hired to kick the company up a notch my friend cannot make any headway due to the founder’s meddling, tinkering, procrastination, directional changes, criticism and about-faces. Coincidentally, my friend has just been contacted by an ex-colleague who now runs a company and is looking for a top-notch sales exec.

Hmmm….wonder how this will play out?

Few things slow down momentum more than constantly changing things without real merit or purpose. It’s called “rearranging the deck chairs”. Additionally, not allowing the expert people that you purposely go out and get to do what they know how to do (and you probably don’t) is wasting everyone’s time.

Most times this happens because a “leader” can’t stand for things to not be done exactly to their vision, style, font and color. They’re OK with change as long it was their idea.

If you’ve gone to the trouble to hire smart, experienced, diverse professionals to help make your company rock why would you constantly slow them down because they say “tow-MAY-toe” and you say “tow-MAH-toe”. It’s one of the toughest things entrepreneurs wrestle with since no one is ultimately as smart as they are.

Well Columbo, let me tell you something. Yes they are. In fact, in their area of expertise they’re smarter. Be careful or you’ll find yourself the monkey at the top of the tree looking down at all the smiling faces. Just remember what the monkeys below you see when they look up.

The books are full of failed companies who couldn’t grow past the founder’s reach. If it’s your company, you’d better pay attention. If you’re in one….you’d better pay attention.

True Grit

 "You can't take men by watching them run away!"  Ranger La Boeuf

How do you measure grit?  This was the conversation I had with my nephew the other day.  He's a senior level executive with a large retail chain and I was picking his brain on talent assessment and how he (and his company) determines if a new hire has what it takes to be a productive employee.

His response was, "if we could ever figure out how to measure 'grit' it would solve most of our hiring problems.".  Interesting choice of a word.  "Grit".  You don't hear it used much anymore.

So how do you measure grit without seeing the person in action first? 

Once you work with someone you get a sense for how they act and react.  Their dependability, honesty, follow-through.  How they react to pressure, criticism, change, uncertainty.  And over time you can determine if they have grit.  Do they dig in harder when the road gets rough?  Do they make more calls when the pipe is running low?  Do they rise above when others decide to back off?  Are they an "Andrew" in Whiplash?

But how can you determine all that from the interview process, even using talent assessment tools?

Once upon a time you could get a sense from reference checks.  In the less protective days of a generation ago you could quiz past employers as to the details around the person.  Ask point-blank, specific questions and get answers to them.  These days everyone is protected and other than Name, Rank and Serial Number you can't get much..

With entry-level people you could somewhat depend of part-time job history.  Did they work through High School and College?

The Millennials as a group have made the whole hiring process more difficult.  I am not going to go down the figuring out Millennials rabbit hole.  Too complex a subject, but they are either the laziest, most self-absorbed generation every or the most creative and misunderstood. (Wait, I just described my generation of the 60's and 70's).

The biggest problem for people like my nephew is Millennials will up and quit with the smallest provocation.  Thus his "Grit" comment.

So, I'm out to try to figure out how to assess if someone has grit or not.  If you think you've figured it out then bottle it 'cause there are people willing to pay good money for it.

The World According to Joe

“Imagining something is better than remembering something.”   John Irving

My friend Joe and I meet up every few months just to catch up.  Joe's successfully retired now but used to own his own mortgage brokerage.  Over the course of writing and rewriting loans we became good friends.

Joe's a fascinating guy.  Very cerebral, mild-mannered, topical and funny.  Not big on getting on his soap box about things but always has a thoughtful opinion.

Most all of our ka-tet's are about catching up on family, life, times, current events, et al.  No agendas or debate, just a nice couple of hours talking.

However, every now and again he'll take me completely off guard. Like the time he casually mentioned that he was writing a book.  A religious book.  About what it takes to get into Heaven.  Now Joe certainly never struck me as an Atheist, but neither did he strike me as being Religious. But as he described his beliefs that led to wanting to write a book I realized that he's not just a Believer , but a deeply devout and religious Believer.

Then there was the time that he, once again casually, mentioned that he and his wife was going to move away.  "Where", I asked, assuming Florida or Arizona.  "Costa Rica or Panama.  Probably Panama."  he offered.  Then went ahead to explain how he feels America has lost it's way and is off the tracks to the point that getting it back on is probably not possible.  No wild-eyed, arm waving, everyone must listen, we're all doomed theatrics.  Just a calm, this is my plan, I don't expect anyone else to follow or even notice approach.

So many people, inside and outside of business, feel that if you don't speak loudly and repeatedly that you won't get anyone's attention.  Joe proves otherwise.  Joe's approach is that IF and WHEN the opportunity to speak comes you must be prepared with thoughtful, intellectual material that you can articulate and defend. 

When taking a non-traditional approach - a roadmap for getting into Heaven being a prime example - you realize some things.  One, a lot of people aren't going to buy in.  Two, you probably cannot offer up any empirical proof.  Three, the louder your proclamation and the higher your soapbox is in direct disproportion to how much people will listen and at least try to understand.

So, maybe the more obvious and provable the point - 1 + 1 = 2 - the more you can get away with higher decibel arguments.  But the more esoteric and nebulous the point the more calm and measured the argument must be.

This, of course, does not apply to lawyers and politicians....

By the numbers

“There are lies, damn lies and statistics” Mark Twain

One of the biggest obstacles people new to the C-level face is understanding the numbers. Even with your MBA and managerial experience understanding financials can be daunting (unless you came from the CFO position). And using them properly can be the ultimate exercise in frustration.

CFO’s love to create elaborate spreadsheets with thousands of row and columns and dozens of links to other enormous spreadsheets; You just want to know how to answer the questions your investors are going to ask you at the next board meeting.

Finance people can be a lot like programmers in that they want to tell you in excruciating detail where all the numbers came from, how each one links into other pages and each ones importance. In essence they want you to love their spreadsheet as much as they do – just like developers want you to love their code.

What to do? Well, here’s what you don’t do. Don’t fake it hoping you’ll “catch up along the way”.

Here are some options:

• Along with your CFO sit down with a representative of your investor(s) and have them detail to both of you what they want to see and how they want to see it. The sooner the better. If phrases and acronyms that you don’t understand are thrown around suck it up and ask for an explanation. Better now than getting caught later.

• Use your network. You didn’t get to this point without establishing friendships along the way. Some of those people are or have been CEOs. Call them, visit them, buy them dinner. Allow them to become your confident. Believe me, you’ll find it useful for more than just financial jargon.

 

I once worked with a guy who had a sign in his office that stated: “When someone tells you it’s not about the money it’s about the principle…it’s about the money”.

If you’re in a C-level position no matter what people may say otherwise…it’s about the numbers.