“What makes Steve’s methodology different from everyone else’s is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do – but the things that you decide not to do. He’s a minimalist.”
John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, as quoted on the Cult of Mac (October 14, 2010)
“Get to market. So many people try and spend so much time trying to perfect a product before they go out and sell it and what they don’t realize is that every year they’re expected to have better product.”
Rick Alden, CEO of SkullCandy, as quoted on Alister & Paine (December 7, 2009)
“I think the single, most important fact about doing a startup is being clear about your vision and not let it get distorted by what pundits and experts tell you. But the second most important thing is finding the right team, and that’s really, really hard, because people tend to look for people around them…You know, I was relentless… really spent well over 50% of my time recruiting, and I encourage all entrepreneurs to try and do that.”
Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures
and former CEO of Sun Microsystems, as quoted on TechCrunch (October 1, 2010)
On what constitutes a bad hire:
“Someone that’s bad for the culture. They can end up really bringing down morale, and it has this ripple effect that can spread like a cancer. It’s something we need to act on early and as quickly as possible. There’s the temptation to hire any warm body that can meet the technical requirements. Most companies, including us, tend to hire too quickly and then fire too slowly, when it really should be the other way around.”
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, as quoted on Alister & Paine (August 19, 2010)
“I think the number one thing I do is the ‘V2MOM’ process. It stands for the vision, the values, the methods, the obstacles and the measures. Each of one of those five things also connects to five questions. Vision, what do I want? Values, what’s most important about it? Methods, how do I get it? Obstacles, what will prevent us from having it? And measures, how will we know we have it?”
Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, as quoted on ABC News (July 22, 2010)
“The notion that you’re trying to control the process and prevent error screws things up. We all know the saying it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And everyone knows that, but I Think there is a corollary: if everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up. It’s better to fix problems than to prevent them. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and over plan things.”
Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, as quoted in an interview with the Economist (April 2010)
“In a lot of ways, our business model has been built upon continuous growth. We sort of adapted everything around that strategy… If you’re growing very rapidly, it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, in a way, because the growth kind of bails you out. And so having that hot water faucet turned off, we have to learn to live and take cold showers, you might say.”
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, as quoted on Statesman.com (December 19, 2009)
“If you think people in your organization are predisposed to rip you off, maybe the solution isn’t to build a tighter, more punitive set of rules. Maybe the answer is to hire new people.”
Dan Pink, author of Drive, as quoted on Telegraph.co.uk (August 14, 2010)
“I am responsible. We had to admit to ourselves and to the people of this company that we owned the mistakes that were made. Once we did, it was a powerful turning point. It’s like when you have a secret and get it out: The burden is off your shoulders.”
Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks, as quoted in the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2010)
Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Product and User Experience of Google, as quoted from her interview at Le Web Conference (December 10, 2008)
“I like to hire people who have two traits. They’re smart, and they get things done.”
TechCrunch added, “She also talked about the joy of working with a team where every member was passionate about the project. But the key message resonated. Smart people who aren’t closers tend to flail.”
I find it interesting to watch out innovative companies build teams to create a competitive advantage. There is an art to hiring the right people for the right role.
