A Sack of Seattle

Food as a business trade secret

I'm going to let you in on one of my secrets. Food works. As my mother used to say -- "if you can't beat them, feed them".  And she did that well -- she was a master of sweets.  Growing up, we had a cupboard of Hostess twinkees and suzi q's. Our house was the house all the kids in the neighborhood flocked.  I learned early that food could bring people together.
When I started abuzz, I used to say that "the company that dines together, succeeds together". This was my adaptation of my mothers saying. Since that time, I've used food, meals, coffees, wines as a means of inviting people to break bread, have fun, talk and ultimately do deals. In my opinion, food is an underrated and under discussed business tool -- think about it over a piece of cake. And buy your employee or boss a cup of coffee and see what you learn.

Saying "I don't know" may instill confidence

I got this as some email feedback on one of my VPs.
But I was especially impressed with the VP  In response to at least two of my questions, the VP paused then admitted he either didn't really have an answer or that he hadn't thought about the issue simply because the company wasn't to the point of having to address the subject yet.  So rather than try to BS me with words, or telling me what he thinks I want to hear, he essentially shrugged and admitted to not having an answer.  In an industry like software development that's rife with alpha males, especially in leadership roles, VPs honesty and relaxed nature were refreshing - traits no doubt also recognized by customers, co-workers, investors, etc.
Nice job!

Managing through compensation

I was visiting a friend this weekend. He was asking my advice on a matter related to his small company. The company has 10 employees and one of the employees -- for the purposes of this post, let's name the employee Dillon-- requested a meeting to discuss compensation. In a nutshell, Dillon wants more money and more ownership in the company. Significantly more. He's currently making 225K but wants to be making over 500K. He also wants a solid equity stake in the company. Dillon is 50+ years old. Dillon has been doing an adequate but not excellent job. My friend is afraid to lose Dillon because it would harm progress the company is making. Dillon senses this fear and is really putting an aggressive tone to the salary conversation. My friend is willing to consider giving Dillon a raise but wants his work commitment to increase.
Based upon what I heard, I think this work relationship is going to end within 6 months. Generally, I don't think you can buy work quality or commitment. In my experience, salary has very little to do with work ethic.

Little appreciations go a long way

I got this email today...

I’m a fan of your blog and I was finally able to swing by one of the breakfasts.  I just wanted to say thanks for organizing it and getting it started.

Short, sweet and much appreciated! Put a good start to my hump day

CEO driveby

I've learned that CEOs need to be careful about the perennial CEO driveby.
As CEO, I have permission and responsibility to go outside the normal organizational boundaries to make sure the organization succeeds. I can ask what is going on in any part of the organization. Here's the problem with careless use of this right:

• Simple inquiries can and often are mis-interpreted as a request... or worse yet, a demand to do something.
• The random question or suggestion in the midst of an on-going process can and often does have the opposite effect -- it can interrupt ....or worse yet, undermine forward momentum of an existing team or manager.

Thus, the name -- CEO driveby.  I've learned the way around this is simple -- don't do it. Resist the temptation. (easier said then done) Make a note of your inquires and suggestions and bring them up during your weekly meeting with your managers. 

Organizational change

I'm quite happy with some of the organizational changes that have taken place at Judy's Book over the last couple months.  The things that make me happy:

1. Product -- we're making real progress on releasing what I think with be the best local deals site on the web.  The first phase of this release is now in beta and there's more coming in early April.
2. Organization -- we're acting like a real company. People are playing there positions and we're executing much better than ever before. This is due in part to an alignment of management focus as well as a reorganization that created more structured departments than we had before.

Let's keep rolling...

Individual contributors who want to be managers

I've had 2 conversations in the past month with people who are strong individual contributors in their current role and want to be managers.  One conversation was with a sales person and the other was a developer. I've seen this story before. Excellent sales person hits numbers. The person thinks management doesn't do a good job and that they could do it better. They get promoted because they're the best sales person and move to the management job. It turns out they lack the skills it takes to be the best manager. They lack the organization, the communication, or the leadership skills it takes to succeed as a manager. Moreover, they're less happy with the job than they thought they'd be. They didn't know that managing people can be a real pain in the ass. It's hard work. Yes, it's glamorized and everyone thinks they want to be the boss. But let me tell you -- being the boss is not for everyone. Not everyone is good at it. In this case, my career advice to both the sales person and the developer was you'd be better off, happier, and more successful (money wise) if you stay in your individual contributor role and expand your skills.  Just my 2 cents.

Operations folks

Operations and test folks are your typical unsung corporate heroes. They do not get the appreciation or acknowledgment they deserve for keeping systems and websites running 24 hours, 7 days a week. Our guys -- Kurt, Dave, and Jeffro, do a great job in general and in particular this week have4 been stepping up beyond the call of duty responding to pages at 4AM and making sure the site stays up. Thanks guys.

Low risk hiring

Risk is one of those things that is n't talked about when making senior level executive hires (or hires in general).  I learned early on that a great resume and a great interview do NOT make a great employee. Almost all of my greatest employees came from a referral.  That's not an accident.