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Channeling @eriktorenberg
A summary of his big ideas, in three threads...
Thread
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2">: Management and Leadership
A summary of his big ideas, in three threads...
Thread
Good management matters more than ever…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Today’s employees need to be both productive and creative
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">To do that, they need to be inspired and internally motivated
Management gives you leverage…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Optimizing management creates ripple effects
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Managers dictate the experience of most people at a company
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Leverage is the art of making small changes that have big impacts
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Employees optimize for managers as much as the specific company
A reminder for founders…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No one cares like you care
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No one& #39;s going to sell like you will
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No one’s going to have credibility like you do
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">You own functions initially, while building out processes that scale beyond you
A reminder for CEOs...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Recruit people
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Hold people accountable
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Nail down the strategy for the company
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Deliver the capital to pursue the strategy
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Decide what the company will and will not do
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Communicate the hell out if things, within and outside the company
Create cultural infrastructure…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Hire for culture upfront
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Culture is what people do when you& #39;re not there
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Culture is more like gardening than architecture
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">You plant some seeds and pull out weeds that aren& #39;t working
Set goals and communicate them…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Often problems come up that seem like communication problems, but they& #39;re planning problems
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">There are different ways to set goals, just make the process clear and transparent for everyone
Allocate enough time to recruiting…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">After you raise money, your job is to hire people who can build
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">More than 50 percent of your time should be spent hiring
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Spend time with ideal passive candidates, recruiting over a long time horizon
Take your time hiring…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Hiring should be a last resort
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure you have a good job description and need to hire
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don’t decide too quickly whether you should hire a person or not
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Get the first 10 hires right (each employee will replicate themselves ten times)
Draft Tom Brady in the 6th round…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Calibrate raters
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Treat recruiting like a funnel
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Diagram the experience and identify potential leakage
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Qualify leads (i.e. comp expectations, ideal role, location)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Find people Google isn’t chasing but have even more talent and grit
Some qualities to look for in hiring…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Drive and grit
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Bias to action
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">High integrity and low ego
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">High slop and learning velocity
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A person who is long-term oriented
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A micro-pessimist and macro-optimist
Don’t just interview the candidate, *sell* the candidate…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Quality interviews
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Social time with the team
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Consistent communication
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make them feel special, not a cog
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Transparent and sensible process
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Clear expectations of role across team
When onboarding a new employee…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Articulate what success looks like
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The best indicator of how long they will stay is their experience on the first day
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure everything& #39;s set up so they can ship something on that day
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure they can understand company priorities
A hire isn& #39;t truly a hire until…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">They& #39;ve completed a 90-day plan
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Have a hire write first draft of an annual review and co-define what success looks like
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Then back into a 90-day plan (which should have been backed into from the job description)
Give direct, clear, and concise feedback…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Give it during regular 1:1s
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure you ask for it too
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">You& #39;re looking for people to take ownership and show a growth-mindset
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make it a good experience for the feedback giver or else they won& #39;t give it
Run group meetings well…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure people are prepped ahead of time
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Have a meeting owner to move people along
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Have a note-taker to track decisions and next steps
Measure performance and pull compensation levers…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Decouple performance review from bonus (do that before the review)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It’s more important to figure out fair compensation within the organization than within the market
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The goal is no surprises: retain, renew, and reset
Double down on your stars…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It& #39;s how you keep great people who would otherwise leave
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Promote from within if you believe you have people who have 10x value creation
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Improving their abilities is more important than trying to fix people who won& #39;t create 10x value
Fire crisply and kindly…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Cut the cord
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don& #39;t negotiate
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don& #39;t feel too terrible
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don& #39;t demote (usually)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don& #39;t have long transition periods
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">You& #39;re letting people go to a different company where they will be more valued, more respected, and more successful
Only when it’s clear you need one, hire an executive…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don’t hire too senior, too soon (or too late)…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">If you& #39;re not sure whether you need an exec, don& #39;t hire one
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Understand whether the role is value protecting or value creating (spec accordingly)
The best executives…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Act like owners
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Act as part of a team
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Act as primary individual contributors
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Act to build organizations, often from scratch
Source executives but don& #39;t outsource your evaluation…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Create a roadmap
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Use data to write specs for the role
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Know why you’re hiring and what you& #39;re hiring for
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Hire the best person for the next nine months
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A great exec pays back 10-100x+ more than the cost of a search
After you hire executives…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Manage them
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">But don’t micro-manage them, except temporarily
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Ask people under them semi-regularly how they& #39;re doing
Lastly, don’t hesitate to fire an executive…
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Judged by output of their organization
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">When you no longer trust them to build their org and you feel compelled to micro-manage
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Andy Grove said you always fire a bad exec too late. If you& #39;re really good, 3 months too late
Find the rest here...
Threadhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> https://twitter.com/jmikolay/status/1316413891098935298?s=20
This">https://twitter.com/jmikolay/... and other Big Idea Summarieshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙌" title="Raising hands" aria-label="Emoji: Raising hands">
https://letter.substack.com/p/the-best-of-erik-torenberg-part-1">https://letter.substack.com/p/the-bes...
Thread
This">https://twitter.com/jmikolay/... and other Big Idea Summaries
https://letter.substack.com/p/the-best-of-erik-torenberg-part-1">https://letter.substack.com/p/the-bes...
