The Wall of Reality
In the last two posts “The Reality Principle” and “Focus On The Winning Idea” I wrote about the importance of seeing reality clearly.
This post is about how leaders can push reality to achieve great things.
Building Teams
September 24, 2012
Show Confidence in a Job Interview
Nigel Morris: “Would you bet the interview on it?”
Screwing up a big job interview taught me how important it is to show confidence.
August 9, 2012
Managing Someone Out (The Right Way)
I was a little dramatic in my last post Good Leaders Fire People. Managing someone out (the right way) is different from firing.
My definition of “firing” is a forceful and immediate removal from the company. Firing should be reserved for someone who steals, lies or otherwise shows big integrity problems. Firing decisions are easy because they are so clear.
Managing someone out the right way means you ask someone to resign and he or she does so willingly. It’s a lot tougher than firing someone.
I’ll teach you how.
August 5, 2012
Good Leaders Fire People
You can’t be a good leader unless you learn to fire people.
I call it “managing out.”
Sometimes you make a hiring mistake. Sometimes the organization outgrows the ability of a person. Sometimes people get too comfortable and complacent. The list goes on.
July 26, 2012
Glory in the Struggle
Building a business takes time. And effort. And pain. Lots of pain.
“Oh sh*t, one of my top stars just quit.”
“Oh frack, the employee we fired for stealing is threatening legal action.”
“Oh cripes, the sales team made the same mistake again?!”
There are days when just going to work feels like a grueling crawl through the mud. We’ve all been there.
June 21, 2012
You Have 100% of My Confidence Until You Don’t
You have 100% of my confidence until you don’t.
Last year I had a conversation with a leader, Chung. She was giving me a hard time about an ineffective manager, Vy, who reported to one of my direct reports, Linh.
Chung said, “Haven’t you talked to Linh about this behavior? It’s not ok. People are leaving because of Vy.”
May 28, 2012
You Can’t Lock Up Your People
One of the dumbest things I see managers do is try to hang on to great people by blocking office access to job websites such as TheLadders, VietnamWorks or KiemViec.
Do these managers really think that blocking access at the office will prevent an employee from finding another job? I mean, come on. It’s ridiculous.
May 4, 2012
Best Present Ever
My old team made a video for me as a going-away present. I think their objective was to bring a tear to my eye at my going-away party.
They succeeded spectacularly.
It was the best present ever.
February 19, 2012
Lawrence Sinclair — Bringing Silicon Valley to Saigon
“We empower people a lot. We have our developers work directly with our clients. We have people who it’s their first job, and right away they’re working directly with the CEO of a startup in Silicon Valley.”
Lawrence Sinclair
Founder & CEO, East Agile
January 31, 2012
“Ask Chris Anything!”
Go ahead – ask me ANYTHING!
No one wants to work at a place where they don’t trust the leaders.
A lack of trust will cost you dearly. It will eat away at your organization like a invisible cancer. Your people will communicate ideas less freely, especially with you. They feel less secure and less committed to the company. People in such an environment are far less likely to achieve great things.
And you want to achieve great things, don’t you?
