Part 3 of a presentation given to Renaissance Forum CEOs
Work gets done through people. They create the products, the processes and the revenue. They manage the customers, they manage the resources and they activate the strategies and plans. They bring the vision alive and actualize it. They should be your most valuable resource.
“A leader is judged in terms of what others do to obtain the results he is placed there to get.” Vince Lombardi
Historically, most companies hired good people, trained them and kept them for many years. Loyalty went both ways. They followed a philosophy like these ones at Procter & Gamble and GE.
“I know that the single biggest contribution I will make to this company is helping the next generation of leaders become the best that they can be.” “My job is to unleash the creativity, initiative, leadership, and productivity of P&G people. They are the leaders who’ve delivered the results.” AG Lafely, Procter &Gamble CEO
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others.” Jack Welch Ex CEO of GE
“If you leave us our money, our buildings and our brands but take away our people, the company will fail. But if you take away our money, our buildings and our brands but leave us our people, we can rebuild the whole thing in less than a decade.” Procter & Gamble CEO Richard R Dupree 1947
That philosophy is no longer the case for many companies. Meaningful development plans no longer exist, particularly for the CEO. That means you need a plan that recruits the right person for the job and moves them out quickly when they are no longer right. Half a body is worse than no body at all. It means far more work to do anything through someone who isn’t in tune and it lulls you into a false set of security since you don’t have a ready hole to fill. Plus you are paying for the full measure while only getting part. Training and development takes time and money. The “hire, admire and fire” is also quite expensive when all the costs are added in, including the loss of the intellectual capital that goes out the door each time. Be careful in your strategic selection.
“Recognize the skills and traits you don’t possess and hire people who have them.” Howard Schultz – Starbucks
In either philosophy, a critical action is selecting “A” players and having them in key positions. An “A” player is someone who consistently excels and goes beyond expectations, reinventing and improving new situations. They take initiative, and that they exhibit purposeful action. No organization can have all “A” players, but “A” players have to be in the key positions for the organization to be successful. The responsibility of the CEO is to understand which positions within the company are key positions and to insure that the business has “A” players in all key positions in the company. Then have fully functioning “B” players in the other roles to support them. Move out the “C” players to other companies and opportunities where their talents will allow them to become “A” or “B” players there.
“Life with top players is heaven! Life without top players is not life at all. It is hell!” All managers of non playoff teams
What are your people plans?
How are you nourishing them so that they deliver above average results?
Check back tomorrow for the next tip. In the meantime, answer the questions so that you can put some of these tips to use to accelerate your business.
John Maver
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management
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