How many people have you encountered that you would be confident enough to run a small 2-3 person startup with? To make the question a little more interesting, let's say that company was going to be 100% funded by you or your mom (assuming you actually like her). Try to think of some of past/present colleagues, classmates, or friends that may fit into this category. You may be surprised how few people make the cut. Now take the rest of these mates and put them into other groups.
The groups that I came up with for my purposes were as follows:
- Would run a small startup with
- As a hiring manager, would recommend or hire
- Would work with again
- Like to avoid if possible
- Could care less
Unfortunately, there were some in the #4 category, but this post doesn't concern those so we will ignore them. The majority went to group #3, as potential people that are nice to work with. Group #2 was a bit tricky because the circumstances of the company that was hiring is not specific, but in the end, there were quite a few people who fit into this one as well. Now back to the top dogs in group #1. How many people did you put into this bucket?
Well, let's continue with our experiment. Let's say you withdraw all your life savings for your new company, but you only have enough for you to get the company's essential equipment and provide living expenses for 3 people, including yourself, for a six month period. If the company doesn't show serious promise by then, it's back to the daily grind in your canvas covered box in corporate America. Who did you pick? Don't say these out loud, because you coworkers may be near and may get mad if they didn't make the cut.
What qualities do you find in these two people that set them apart from everyone else? Most certainly, they are honorable since you are willing to trust them with your life savings and your success. Surely they are hard working, because when it comes to your hard earned dollars, you don't have tolerance for slackers. I assume they are pretty intelligent too, since they fall into your top 2. OK, so they are honorable, hard-working, and intelligent. That's fine; however, I assume at least most people that fit into groups 2 and 3 also share these characteristics. I can't answer this question for you, but as for my top dogs, here are some of the common traits. They
- are very innovative
- always ask why not instead of why
- believe that if something sucks then they can make it better
- are very technical
- are very well spoken and love to speak/present/mingle with others
- read, read, and read some more
- constantly keep up with their industry and fight to stay current in their knowledge
- are perfectly capable to communicate both written and verbal
- are driven naturally towards success
- are smarter than me and constantly challenge me
- TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR WORK AND ARE TRUE CRAFTSMEN
You may notice some of the things that didn't make the list were knowing how to call meetings, doing performance reviews, forwarding emails, and other trivial management skills. When you are running a small company, you can be damn sure that everyone on the team is willing to and knows how to get down and dirty.
I have worked with a couple of excellent managers, but they probably wouldn't be in my top 2. So what makes them excellent and when would I hire them? Well, first we need to determine what really makes these managers so excellent. Let's try to break some of these down. They
- take fire and provide cover so you can focus
- are good at talking the talk and playing the game to the outside, so you don't have to
- trust you and give you the space needed to be innovative
- believe in you
- rarely talk about themselves and always make you feel as if you are their #1 priority
- are concerned for their people above themselves
- know that their success is dependent on the success of the team
- are not concerned with personal power, just the team
- ARE LEADERS NOT MANAGERS
I can't help but notice that the manager qualities that didn't make the first list, seem to still be missing off of this one. Meetings, performance reviews, emailing, micromanagement, and personal power trips are not qualities that you look for when trying to start an efficient, profitable company. In reality, these traits are something that you would never look for when hiring.
Let's revisit our startup for a moment. Your company is starting to grow legs and take off a bit. Good job, you picked your partners wisely. You have done so well, that you now have enough in the budget to hire 2 more people. So here is the conundrum… when do you hire these excellent managers that you have encountered? Do you hire 2 more workers, or at some point, do you bring in a manager? You will want to keep your top dogs focused on the work, so you have to decide what they need the most. At some point, you will need someone to handle all the outside duties such as dealing with lawyers, accountants, etc, etc.
This is where your excellent leader comes into the picture. Who better to deal with everything else while your big dogs keep pumping out innovative products? This is a person who is used to running cover, doesn't care about personal power, and knows that their success is only accomplished through overall team accomplishment. They know that this can only be achieved if the big dogs can continue to do what they do best.
These guys are very important and can be key in the company's success, but not because they have power, need to keep people in line, love meetings, and make you put cover sheets on your TPS reports. It's because they have qualities as a leader that are found only rarely these days. They put the team over themselves at any cost. They are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure growth and innovation, no matter what task they are assigned.
What's most interesting about our imaginary startup is that leaders/managers were brought in to support our technical people only when we had the extra budget. This is definitely not the model that you would see in the typical work environment. To climb most corporate ladders, you need to "grow up" and become a manager at some point. If you want to succeed, you must leave anything technical behind or be doomed to always just being a lowly laborer. As a manager, you can have power and feel important with other pointy-haired bosses while drinking Starbucks around the conference room table, but in the end, you will not really be contributing to anything worthwhile.
It's really no mystery why typical corporate workplaces are plagued with stagnation, inefficiency, low moral, high turnover, and general discontent. Most managers, whether they admit it or not, act as if workers are expendable, easily replaceable, and need to be constantly monitored and managed. True leaders know they exist only to stay out of the spotlight and run cover for the team while they get down to business and actually work. There is a serious need to turn the attention away from office politics and personal power campaigns and refocus on what's most important, the craftsman.
-ewH
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