Dear Founder

The fact is, most people wait too long to fire someone. That’s a problem because most great performers become very frustrated having to deal with the results of working with second-rate performers. They expect that good managers and leaders will not allow for this situation to continue, and they will applaud it being resolved as long as it is done humanely.

We are all capable of more than we think we are. Dream big, and execute bigger. If you are willing to dream and then work hard and execute well, you can achieve more than you ever imagined. I wish you clarity in what you want to achieve, the willpower to work hard to accomplish your dreams, and the satisfaction that comes from knowing you gave it your all.

First, talk about what success look like.
• Decide what’s important and develop metrics on the key things that matter.
• Implement forcing functions.
• Have timely communication, where issues are addressed in minutes or hours, not days or weeks.
• Escalate problems.
• Understand that it’s not about what information you discover, but what you do with it. (Always ask, “What do we know now and what do we change?”)

Good is not good enough. Go for greatness.

Align the team so that they can make decisions quickly. At Bay Networks, when we were working on a really fast Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation, people weren’t making decisions quickly. To address the lag we were seeing, we introduced a twenty-four-hour rule where any problem had to get solved within twenty-four hours or it would escalate to me and the steering committee for rapid resolution. That project ultimately succeeded, and even earned a Computerworld Smithsonian Award nomination as one of the best technology implementations in the country that year.

I always find inspiration in sports: As Michael Jordan said, “You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.” That attitude is how he got to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time—and it’s really the secret for anyone to succeed.

Are you spending every dollar wisely and with impact? Being thoughtful about how you spend is another incredible resource and you need to know that you are handling it well.

Dear Founder,
“I can’t take a risk because I have a mortgage to pay.”
“I can’t accept my dream job because I’d have to move.”
“I can’t work after-hours because my spouse would be mad at me.”
I hear these statements—these self-imposed limits—every day. As humans, we often have too pessimistic a view on what is possible, and we let the world convince us we can’t do something, instead of thinking, How can I?
Well, most of the time we are wrong. Remember, common sense once knew the world was flat, and that travel by horse was the fastest speed man could go. When I was younger, I wholeheartedly believed that I was going to die at age forty-seven because my dad did.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.

ere are tools that I use to help drive an execution culture:
• Clearly set cultural norms and standards about what you’re trying to achieve. I always made it clear we were after excellent performance and that we wanted to set aggressive goals. I didn’t expect us to meet every goal, so I would give 100% credit for 80% of key goals made. It is also crucial to clearly articulate the definition of success for any given goal, and achieve alignment on these definitions with your team.
• Calibrate teams on what great looks like. “Great” should not be defined as what you think it looks like, but what the world thinks is great. Maybe it’s graded as an “A,” but you have to ask, is it an A in elementary school or an A in grad school? Too often, we celebrate greatness as getting better instead of being great on the world stage. If you are not vectored toward how the world sees greatness, it will just be okay—but not friggin’ phenomenal. (You want friggin’ phenomenal!)
• Make sure everyone knows that identifying problems is a good thing, and that issues get resolved quickly. I always set a standard that any big issue had to get owned and on a path to resolution quickly, ideally within twenty-four hours. I set high standards for myself on responding and troubleshooting, as I never want to be a blocker on critical path items.
• Articulate clear ownership for every major task. Ensure that the biggest tasks are appropriately resourced. You always have to know whose back to pat and whose butt to kick.
• Implement forcing functions (e.g., 1:1s, project reviews, and weekly status updates) to ensure that things stay on track. These are agreements on what you are going to do by when. Also schedule “deep dives” to ensure that work is on track and meets or exceeds the quality your company expects.
• Keep teams as nimble and small as possible. Even in big companies, keep the actual teams doing the work small. Build mechanisms to ensure that if any problems arise, they get escalated quickly. Pay attention to the whole team and stop by to see how they are doing. In addition to making sure they know the importance of what they are doing, make sure they know how much you believe they will do it.
• Have teams and leaders grade projects and outcomes in a transparent fashion. One of the best ways to set a culture of excellence is to have your own teams become tougher graders on themselves than you are. If every significant effort is realistically graded against the original goals with full transparency, good things happen. When things don’t go well, explore why with an air of wonder and a commitment to improve.
Once a team has learned how to be a high-performing execution machine, you will have created an amazing asset. Now all you have to do is ensure you deploy it on the right strategies!
All the best,

“When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”