Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
The lure of “A” players – that “can’t miss” man or woman that so many companies claim to recruit and land – has taken another beating.
It’s not the first time that topgrading and the “A” Player strategy as a hoax has been exposed – and it won’t be its last. Like instant diets and get rich schemes, the attraction of the easy and instant talent fix never ceases to fascinate.… Read the rest
Tech valuations are popping (frothy is the well-used word) in the San Francisco Bay area. And the requirement to have high performing talent to quickly scale and produce a winning product may drive it all.
The scalp price for hiring or retaining top engineers was recently tabbed at $500,000 and the talent acquisition strategies of firms like Facebook includes the purchase of small start-ups only to shut them down and employ the newly acquired talent.… Read the rest
I’ll be working with the staff of my favorite preschool (also the school my son attended, and on whose Board of Trustees I sat for four years), the Little School in San Francisco this evening as part of their ongoing staff development program.
While my work is mostly helping senior execs and start-up and leadership teams raise the level of their performance, the same ingredients which imbed that work – efficiency and effectiveness – inform the work of teachers in a preschool.… Read the rest
There are a number of formulas for success for building “can’t miss” start-up and founding teams.
Here’s one that actually works.
A disclaimer first; depending on your business you’ll need to have reasonable domain expertise. If you’re in the internet networking space, you need to have people on your founding team that have the technical chops to have the engineering aspects nailed, as well as somebody who understands the competitive market dynamics (who buys gear, who is the competition, who is a player, who is not, etc.).… Read the rest
Dental root canals, IRS tax audits, and what for many is the annual formal performance appraisal are all equally inviting.
There are some simple, straight forward steps you can take to make the performance appraisal process more appealing and effective, and this post will walk you through those ways and perhaps even have it be easier (if there is such a thing), more productive, and attractive.… Read the rest
There is size that counts, and size that doesn’t: this is a post about size that counts.
And where size counts most (apart perhaps from your bank account and the quality of life/family /health measures) is the number of people in a team, group, or organization.
This tale about size starts with a story and ends with a bus stop: bear with it – it’s a story that applies to you too.… Read the rest