What a View, Part II In Part I, I talked about how Return Path’s 360 reviews have become a central part of our company’s human capital strategy over the past five years. While most staff members’ reviews have been done for weeks or months now, I just finished up the final portion of my own review, which I think is worth sharing. I always include my Board in my own 360. My process is as follows: 1. I send the Board all the raw (and summarized) data from the staff reviews of me, both quantitative and qualitative. 2. I send the Board a list of questions to think about in terms of their view of my performance (see below). 3….
Category
Leadership
CEO Diary: What Makes a Great Day?
CEO Diary: What Makes a Great Day? 5:30 a.m. – run (have to keep up with Brad) 8:45 a.m. – networking coffee with former main contact at large strategic partner; now CFO of another company in the industry 9:30 a.m. – work time/email/read newsletters, Wall St. Journal online, various RSS feeds 10:30 a.m. – internal meeting to discuss mothballing a product feature that’s hard to maintain and doesn’t generate much revenue 11:00 a.m. – internal meeting to clarify roles and responsibilities between account management and client technical operations 11:30 a.m. – brainstorm 2006 strategy with head of one of our lines of business 1:00 p.m. – great sales call on a Tier I prospect with new sales person; business almost…
Unfolding the Map
Unfolding the Map I heard two similar catchphrases last week, both from entrepreneurs I respect, that are diametrically opposed: 1. If you don’t have a map, you can’t get lost 2. If you don’t have a map, you can’t get where you’re going How to reconcile the two? I think the answer is stage of company. In the early days of a business, being too rigid on what you’re building and how you interact with your customer set can doom you. You have to be nimble! Spry! Not care exactly what your endgame is, as long as it’s good. As your business grows and you have a customer base to support and numbers to hit, having too much product development…
Book Short: Not As Deep As You’d Like
Book Short: Not As Deep As You’d Like Deep Change, by Robert Quinn, is a reasonably interesting collection of thoughts on management and leadership, but it doesn’t hang together very well as a single work with a unified theme. The promise is interesting — that we must personally abandon our knowledge, competence, techniques and abilities and “walk naked into the land of uncertainty” to undergo great personal change that can then lead us to organizational change — but the book doesn’t quite deliver on it. That said, I enjoyed the book as a quick read for a few of its more interesting concepts. For example, Quinn has a great crystallization of many things I’ve observed over the years called “the…
A Lighter, Yet Darker, Note
A Lighter, Yet Darker, Note I’ve been meaning to post about this for some time now since my colleague Tami Forman introduced me to this company. It’s a riot. You know all those well-intentioned, but slightly cheesy motivational posters you see in places like dentists’ offices? The kind that talk about “Perseverence” and “Commitment” and “Dare to Dream” and have some beautiful or unique, usually nature-centric image to go with them and their tag line? For the sarcastic among us, you must visit Despair, Inc.’s web site, in particular any of the “Individual Designs” sections featured on the left side navigation. The posters are brilliant spoofs on the above, with such gems as “Agony” and “Strife” and “Despair” (whose tag…
Counter Cliche: Sleeves, or Shoes?
Counter Cliche: Sleeves, or Shoes? Fred’s VC Cliche of the Week this week is about "rolling up your sleeves." It’s a good one about how investors need to really understand a business inside and out in order to be effective board members – that they have to believe that they work for the CEO as much as the other way around. One of my very first posts on this blog over a year ago talked about the fact that as a CEO, you have to remember that you don’t just work for your board, but you also work for your customers and your employees. It’s the same principle. My counter cliche this week is that Sometimes You Have to Walk…
What a View
What a View We’ve done 360-degree reviews for five years now at Return Path. Rather than the traditional one-way, manager-written performance review, we instituted 360s to give us a “full view” of an employee’s performance. Reviews are contributed by the person being reviewed (a self assessment), the person’s manager, any of the person’s subordinates, and a handful of peers or other people in the company who work with the person. They’re done anonymously, and they’re used to craft employees’ development plans for the next 12 months. The results of 360 are a wonderful management tool. Mine in particular have always been far more enlightening than the one-way reviews of the past. The commonality in the feedback from different people is…
Shifting Gears
Shifting Gears My Grandma Hazel has a Yiddish saying that she uses to describe me from time to time — "gor oder gornisht" — which means "all or nothing." My Dad has a Greek saying that he uses to describe me from time to time — "meden agan" — which means "everything in moderation." These two approaches to life seem diametrically opposed. Which is right? Being a successful entrepreneur requires BOTH approaches, each at different times, and more important, the ability to shift gears between the two and be clear about the shift to yourself and to others. There are periods of time when you need to be in "all or nothing mode." Push extremes. Demand more from your team. …
Counter Cliche: No Conflict, No Interest
Counter Cliche: No Conflict, No Interest The entrepreneur’s take on Fred’s VC cliche of the week — "No conflict, No interest" is that it applies equally but differently to management teams. Our nation’s first president, George Washington, is often said to have brilliantly placed political enemies Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton on his first cabinet so he would have differing points of view from which to choose when deciding some of the complex and delicate issues that faced our nation in its infancy. And many of those early decisions of the Washington administration — things like how to pay down the debt from the Revolution, or whether and how to put down the Whiskey Rebellion — were critical in forming…
Go Ahead…Make My Day
Go Ahead…Make My Day I’ve taken to smiling and giving a simple wave to fellow joggers out in Hudson River Park on Manhattan’s lower west side, especially at off times like early mornings and late nights. Call it the fellowship of the urban exerciser, blame it on the endorphines, whatever. I’ve also noticed that very few people respond, even when they clearly notice. So I tried a little experiment this morning and kept a running count (yes, pun intended). Of the roughly 30 people I passed this morning, I’d say 15 made no acknowledgment whatsoever of my friendliness, although they clearly noticed it. Another 7 gave me a weird look like I was nuts (perhaps not wholly incorrect). 5 were…
Counter Cliche: As Simple As the Wheel
Counter Cliche: As Simple As the Wheel Fred’s VC cliche of the week this week is about the analog analog. It builds on one of Brad’s great concepts which he blogged about here. The concept is that figuring out how a digital idea mirrors an offline idea is a better way of handicapping future success of a venture than understanding pure technology analogs. I tend to agree with Fred, that it’s one useful lens with which to evaluate a new idea, but not the only one. So my counter cliche for the week is to look for something As Simple As the Wheel. At Return Path, by the way, nearly every business we’re in has a clear analog analog (Email…