I’ve been “off air” for awhile. The combination of helping out Daily Grommet and joining Pixability has reduced my capacity for writing to zero. But, I am getting back into it and definitely have a lot of material from the “trenches” to share.

So that all said, today I want to focus on some of the missteps many of us take in managing our most precious resource – people. I want to point out three major ones I have seen lately in the entrepreneurial community:

Read the full article on The Lean Startups blog»

I feel like I correct perceptions about what operations professionals are and are not at least 2-3 times per week. Most folks, especially from organizations in technology-heavy industries, automatically assume “operations” is purely systems management.  While an operations person may really just be a senior network administrator in some organizations, the true responsibilities of a (business) operations manager/leader are much broader. Unless one specifies they are referring to technology operations, people should always assume they are talking about business operations.

In many of the companies I have served and become familiar with, the responsibilities of the operations team are extremely broad. The head of operations (be it COO, VP, or Director of Operations) is usually responsible for coordinating and managing the execution of the vision and the road map developed with the CEO and the board. What does that entail? Although it slightly differs from organization to organization, most heads of operations will oversee everything from talent management (HR) to finance (unless there is a CFO), forecasting, infrastructure, IT systems (where we hire technology operations people), customer service, product development, and even sales. As operations professionals, we pride ourselves on our ability to conduct this “orchestra” and keep everyone happy, working efficiently, and supplied with all the tools and resources they need to do the jobs. Our unspoken responsibility is also to protect the organization, locate and remove rogue employees and suppliers, and reduce risks as much as possible.

For example, if I was in technology operations, my success would be in the hands of the software development and/or IT team. In business operations, my success is in the hands of EVERYONE in the company. Technology operations folks are very important part of my team, but they are only a small part of it. My team is the entire company. That is why 1. I am so protective about the best and brightest in the organization 2. I will rip out every “bad apple” before they can spread their “noxious rot” (and make sure we don’t screw up hiring someone like that again).

Hope this help in understanding the differences between the two professions.

P.S. There are also trading operations, manufacturing, and couple of other industry-specific operations, but somehow nobody ever confuses those.

Photo credit: Leo Reynolds

I’m sure most of you have read my article “Time to end the frat house culture! We need more women in our midst.” I want to see more women in leadership roles and the ranks of techies, scientists, and entrepreneurs. This not only benefits society, but is also great for business (see my previous article for the data).

This article was inspired by several months of conversations with successful female professionals about the subject. I also had the pleasure attending a great event organized by MITX and Girls in Tech called “Lessons Learned: Women’s Careers in Review”. Here are 7 “commandments” that summarize everything I’ve learned so far:

• “Don’t ever use being a woman as an excuse for anything “ (Dianne Hessan – CEO of Communispace). Nothing is more damaging than self-segregation. All the BS (like women are not good at math or leadership) you may have heard from some idiotic teacher or a male counterpart is just that – BS! There are women engineers, mathematicians, CEOs, etc. and you can be the next remarkable one too.
• Find a mentor(s) TODAY. Yes, thanks to the remnants of idiotic old school thinking, it is harder for women in certain fields. But if you find another woman who has done it, you can gain knowledge that will skyrocket your career. Find a role model you admire and ask her for help. Most people love to help, because it is the ultimate reward and recognition!
• Use being a minority in you field to your advantage. Are you one of the few women in the sea of testosterone at a techie event? This is the time to gun for the most important folks in the crowd and get their face time. You will get attention and be remembered because you are not dime a dozen. As a man, I love being in a minority at some of the events dominated by women for exactly the reason I just described.
• Stop hanging out in female only groups and dive into bigger communities. Cutting knowledge in technology, entrepreneurship, and other fields is not developed in academic institutions or by a handful of thought leaders. The best stuff comes out of huge communities and you have to contribute to gain. Be it user group events or online forums – find time for them and participate. Example: are you an aspiring video game developer? Become the “gamer chick”!
• Stay professional at all times – don’t date people you work with. I heard this advice from several female exec friends of mine. There is no place for romance at work and it is one temptation that should be put to rest not only by women, but also by men.
• “As a parent, you will always be concerned about not spending enough time with or being there for your kids. Get used to it. Get over it. Deal with it. Your kids may just thank you for that some day.”  (Nataly Kogan – entrepreneur and currently Senior Program Manager at Microsoft). This one is important for all parents to understand. My mom and dad were very successful and busy people, but they also were great role models, and we had the best childhood. Grow your career and show your kids how it is done – you will build better future productive members of society.
• “Learn how to speak last” (Gail Goodman – CEO of Constant Contact). This piece of advice is again applicable to both genders, but women gain from it the most. Because there is a wide stereotype about women “sharing a lot”, use it to your advantage and make people listen to what you have to say. It is an art you will have to master.

I really learned a lot from the conversations about these topics with my female peers. It is definitely going to make me a better leader and help change things in the professions I deeply care about. I hope all my readers – male and female – will walk away from this article with something they can use in their daily careers.

Photo credit: Mike Licht

Last week a founder of a software development company asked what to look for in a COO on answers.onstartups.com. Since this is a fairly common question to me, I decided to expand upon the answer I posted and further describe what attributes a great business operations leader/professional should possess.

Bit of background: I have been in operations for almost my entire career and have had some incredible mentors along the way. I spent 2+ fun years as the heading operations for an awesome software development company that we grew to 120+ employees by the time I had to move. It was an honor serving some of the smartest software development professionals in the market.

So here are the points one should consider when looking to add a Chief Right Hand Person to your team:

• Operations is operations, no matter the industry. I have worked in the entertainment, professional services, legal, software development, and technology consulting industries. Operations is the same everywhere (in ultra-specialized and regulated industries we just surround ourselves with specialists and attorneys).
• A good operations leader will be an ultra-generalist. This person should have broad hands-on experience in the areas of IT, HR, accounting, recruiting, infrastructure, marketing, sales, etc.
• Those who need credit and recognition for everything have no place in operations. Operations people should be the Secret Service of the company. If the operations team works well, everything runs smoothly and nobody knows what the heck we do.
• Instead of “faking it”, a good operations person will pick up the phone and ask for advice from experts. A large “rolodex” of suppliers, vendors, and specialists is essential for their everyday success.
• Earning credibility with everyone in the organization is extremely important to the success of the person in this position. He/she should be able to speak the “language” of every professional on the team.
• The COO must understand the delicate balance that is required to keep employees and customers happy while also protecting the company. It is a tough skill to develop and requires a passionate drive for sniffing out the facts and mediating outcomes.
• Operations professionals at every level must have highly controlled egos. Leading by serving is an important attitude.
• An operations leader should have no qualms about getting his/her hands dirty. No white gloves here!
• Real operations people will have backup plans for backup plans.  This is how our heads work ALL the time (at work and home). You will not find us bungee jumping or skydiving because there is only one backup in case of failure.

I hope these criteria help you pick your Chief Right Hand Person. Operations is a very sensitive area of the company, so be very picky. A great ops person can dramatically improve the way your company works and make your life a lot easier.

Photo credit: Nina Hiironniemi

“Cutting costs” has been the buzz phrase for the last decade or so. In some cases, companies got drunk on cheap money and plentiful investors, and in others the unchecked management flaws of greed and vanity led to company bloat. Whatever the root cause, we seem to be only treating the symptoms of the problem. We first look at our staff for the “fat”, then our business process, then… well by then it is usually too late. Although I have mastered the art of cutting costs, I am very aware of the reality: you can’t cut/lose fat without cutting into muscle.

So instead of treating the symptoms, how do we avoid the root cause of wasteful spending?

#1. Never give anyone anything you may have to take away. I use this rule religiously. Don’t give people titles, privileges, perks, raises, or anything else that you may have to take away. It hurts the morale, makes great talent leave, and hurts the company bottom-line (in form of what you gave being actually the “fat”).
#2. “Hack it” for short-term gains and “build it” for long-term ones. This rule especially applies to your infrastructure and other fixed costs. Figure out how to push your existing infrastructure to the limit before you start spending. Determine if you are directing your people to engage in wasteful work not core to what your company does. Having a startup mentality at all times will lead you to more frugal behavior and decision making.
#3. Never hire “one trick ponies”. Even when you must hire specialists, look at what other areas they will complement with their skills. You should always have an updated skill matrix document visible to all and work on filling in the holes when performing interviews.  During downturns, “one trick ponies” will cost you dearly.
#4. Hire adults and treat them accordingly! An A-player or alpha personality type does not guarantee adult behavior. A lot of times the opposite actually occurs, which results in company “fat” in the form of politicking, creation of functional silos, territorial behavior, etc. And by the way, most so-called “A-players” I have dealt with tend to surround themselves with a lot worse talent. If your organization is comprised of individuals who are able to be the “CEO of their job”, it is very unlikely you will build a fat hierarchy and later need to “lean it out”.
#5. Develop your product together with the customer. Better yet, unless you have a deposit check from at least one customer, do not start the work. Why? In the Lean Startups movement we talk a lot about the minimum viable product. Wasting resources on a product nobody wants to buy is reckless. Having to convince customers to write checks for a product that isn’t totally built yet will make your team listen to what the real problems are that you can solve for your customers.

With athletes, even the most rigorous training and strictest diet will produce a bit of body fat, and the same principle applies in an organization – it is unavoidable, but with the proper discipline and right methodologies, we can keep this “fat” to the levels that do not hurt out organizations.

Photo credit: Andrew Eason

Since I don’t allow anonymous comments on my blogs (including LeanStartups.com), sometimes I get e-mails with long diatribes on why I am wrong. Some are quite extensive and come from people who take my critiques to heart (sometimes taking things too personally). Not only do I love these e-mails, but if you send one, be ready to have a dialog!

I am absolutely honored to hear comments in person or via social media. I enjoy knowing when my answers to a question on LinkedIn (or Answers.onstartups.com) or another blog helps someone. But the world would not advance anywhere if everyone agreed! Therefore, I also highly value feedback from those who disagree with me (as long as it is presented in civilized manner). My critics and detractors keep me on my toes! No one is right all the time and I often advocate that being wrong often helps us move our companies forward faster.

Here’s why I love my critics and why you should too: Read the rest of my article on The Lean Startups blog

Call me old fashioned, but I cringe every time I hear another claim about how we are moving into the age of “careerism” and “just in time staffing”. Why? Because we always hear about this fad right at the tail end of every downturn.  It’s like herpes spread by some “experts” who never had to operate a company.

I am yet to see a substitute for a loyal team – during bad and good times. Earned loyalty takes time to build, compared to need-based loyalty, so you must build a strategy to foster earned loyality long before you need to “cash it in”.

What do I mean by earned loyalty vs. need-based loyalty?  Many people are staying with their current companies right now because of need-based loyalty – they have mortgages and car notes to pay. But this type of loyalty has no longevity because the company did not earn it. Yes, I said it: earning the loyalty is completely the job of the company and its leadership.

Progress is a #1 motivator for knowledge workers (money is not even in the top 3) and I think it is what helps keep people loyal. Here are some methods that could help build that earned loyalty:

• Companies should not be scared to improve the resumes of their employees. I would suggest that managers sit down with their team members and review their updated resumes every quarter. Why? 1.) To get on the same page about the value of their team members’ work. 2.) To stay in the loop about how their people feel about the progress. 3.) To look for areas where more professional development would help. 4.) To stay on the cutting edge – if you give people tools to help them leave the company, you will be much more motivated to develop tools to keep them loyal.
• If you have middle management, remove (literally and figuratively) the doors to the executive leadership offices. I have seen executives slowly get out of touch with what really is happening in the trenches and what customers are experiencing, even in small companies of 20 or less employees. One of the best ways to make sure executives are informed is to keep middle management honest and make sure your employees are being heard.  Remove physical barriers so that your people can communicate straight to the top, and punish those who are set on creating company politics.

This is just a small sampling of methods that addresses #1 motivator. There will be a few follow-up articles to this topic. In the meantime, I would love to hear your feedback in the comments section.

Photo credit: Celanth

In 2007, I was interviewing with a later stage stealth startup in Boston. During my conversation with one of the co-founders, I asked about her title. Her answer has stuck with me to this day. She said: “if you are in a startup and have a title, you are not doing enough work“! This sentiment resonated with me and made me think about why big titles are so dangerous.

I have worked for several very innovative “flat hierarchy” companies, where titles were irrelevant, that had rapid growth fueled by passionate employees who always went above and beyond to make customers happy. It is no surprise that at one company we had a 95% customer referral rate and the most loyal customers I have seen in my entire career. I also made the mistake of joining several companies that developed org-charts before they fully figured out what their customers wanted. The result was an environment of heavy office politics, innovation-squashing dictatorships, and clients leaving not too long after discovering the dysfunction. No amount of effort could turn these companies around and two out of the three went out of business.

So why are big titles so dangerous?

• Dirty hands help clear the stink cloud of company politics. So many founders/owners get caught up in their egos with needlessly large titles. It is not uncommon to see a 10,20, 30, or 50-employee company with CxOs, Executive Vice Presidents, Managing Directors, etc. Why self-impose such a hierarchy? Battles are more quickly won with leadership in the front lines. Your team is much more likely to give 200%, when the leaders of the company are right next to them burning the midnight oil. As your company scales, there is a need for specialization, but not for title inflation or creation of a thiefdom.
• If you need to hand out big titles to attract people, are you bringing in the right team members? I have met and worked with some amazing “rainmakers” who could care less about their titles. They saved that spot on their business cards for more valuable information. If someone cares so much about their title within your organization, do you think they will be “low maintenance”?

Original article appeared in my Lean Startups Blog: “If you are in a startup and have a title, you are not doing enough work…” This is an updated version.

Ever since childhood I have been an avid “car guy”. Back in 2007 I started competing in autocross (included a video below of what it is like). I never thought I would be learning business and leadership lessons while burning some rubber.

When I started in Chicago, I did very well for a novice. But once I have moved to Boston, I have encountered much more skilled competition and it has taken me awhile to move up the competitive ladder. So as I was pondering my strategy and goals for the new year, I realized that some of the rules of racing are also very useful analogies for the world of leading companies. Here is a sampling of several things I have learned in racing that directly apply to business:

• Anticipate what is coming and let your peripheral vision and instincts deal with where the car is now. In racing we look one, two, or even three corners ahead and trust our instincts, experience, and training to handle where we are at the moment. If you spend a lot of time in the office studying your spreadsheets, reports, etc. instead of going out and talking to your customers, attending every networking event pertinent to your industry, and meeting people with the same fervor as if you were looking for a job, then the unexpected will blind-sight you.
• Multi-tasking is over-rated. You only have so much cognitive “cash”, so spend it wisely. In racing we remove all possible sources of distraction (including ignoring parts of the course that don’t matter). We never fidget with switches, mirrors, or do anything else besides driving. We prepare and learn to trust our cars, so we can focus on the road ahead. Micromanagement is the equivalent of multi-tasking when you are leading. In order to lead an organization effectively, you need to make things “instinctive”. What do I mean by that? Be very clear about your expectations and communicate them, delegate work without delegating responsibility, automate the mundane tasks, outsource the frivolous work, and empower your team to make the right decisions.
• A good driver can win even with a sub-par car. Buying a better car does not make you a better driver. Same goes for business. Better tools should only come after your team has developed sufficient skills. People with more powerful tools and lack of skill cause more damage to their organizations than if they were using something that limited them. I bet you have seen police reports of some yahoo crashing his high-performance sports car 10 miles from the dealership. Business world is no different. It is littered with “crashed” companies that were full of inexperienced and poorly trained people.
• You can’t make hard turns and change your speed (break/accelerate) at the same time. Driving organizational change is a balancing act. In racing we call it a “friction circle”. The same concept applies to business. Don’t change everything all at once or you will “over-drive” the organization and end up off-course.
• Small changes can make a big difference. Skilled drivers make small adjustments all the time. For example, they tweak tire pressure in small increments until they get exactly what they want. Focus on the impact that little details will have on the large picture. Those who make drastic changes usually end up with horrid performance, spinning out, or damaging their rides. Especially in the startup world, it is better to fail small and often, because you learn, improve, and live to try again another day.
• Smooth drivers win over crazy drivers. Fluid measured motions make the physics work for you. In the business world, the best of the best let their business dynamics work for them. It is easier to innovate when you are not battling the world. Trying to turn the market in a drastically different direction does not work.
• Going full throttle will only last so long before something will break. You can’t subject your team to non-stop high intensity work without risking a catastrophic breakdown. The goal is to last the entire season, not just win one race before your car breaks down.
• The best drivers always look for feedback and opportunities to learn. I have seen the most gifted drivers ask for other good drivers to hop in their car and give them some feedback or tips. Learning and improvement never stops! Those who invest heavily in learning are the ones who get the trophies.
• You are only as good as your competition. It is easy to win trophies when all your competitors are rookies. But that gets you nowhere in the long run. There will come time when a real competitor will come by and take away all your “glory”. In the business world I hear some entrepreneurs exclaim in their naiveté that they have no competition. I pity their investors, because fire sales are soon to come!  For those of us who are not naïve, we know that competition is a mother of evolution. We look for it, we better ourselves, and we are always vigilant.

About a year ago I was readin Jeremiah Owyang’s excellent article  ”What’s Your Career Mission?” . It inspired me to write down my Career Mission and the Value I bring to the table.

My career mission is to use my business operations, talent management, and technology background to build and maintain the backbones of sustainable growth companies.

So what puzzle pieces comprise my Career Mission and Value?

1. It all starts with people.  Build the right environment, bring in high-potential talent, and retain your team by ensuring they are treated fairly and helping them grow.

2. Without customers we are nothing.  Act as a conduit between all levels of the company so everyone hears and sees the customers and never loses sight of the hand that feeds us.

3. Sharpen focus by clearing the path.  Help those with the vision and the big picture of the company to “keep the eyes on the prize” by minimizing distractions of operating a company day-to-day.