Comments on: Food for thought

By: Chris Doyle

Chris Doyle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:01:03 +0000

Yes, that A+ is definitely subjective - in my first ‘proper’ role in London, someone once told me ‘One person’s idiot is another person’s perfect employee’, and it also reminds me of Good Will Hunting, ‘it’s not whether they’re perfect, it’s whether they are perfect for you’.

Hence that mathematical problem can be postponed, because there might be more A+ people in the world than you think

By: Six Big Ideas from Stanford for Start-Ups | Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:55:51 +0000

[...] Adrian noted, not everyone will want to be as crazy-committed as me, but a few more on the boat/bus as the company scales will [...]

By: Paul McArdle

Paul McArdle — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:34:52 +0000

Thanks Adrian,

Will continue more offline - my main comment is that I see that, as our company grows into its Vision, we will transition towards the people you speak about (which might be “less passion about the company, more specialist in role”).

For a few key people we have to get on the bus now, it’s too big an opportunity (and challenge) to have people regarding it as “just a job”.

Regards

Paul

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:04:54 +0000

Hire only A+ players…

This is an interesting one.

A ‘wise head’ once told me that as a company grows in size, to be prepared for the day when people want to come and work to earn their salary. Their passions and drive to work with you, with your products and company are not high on their lists. Their primary drive is their hours and/or what they take home at the end of the pay period.

Well, it happened and thankfully we were expecting who and when, so was simply a step in the growth of the company. I spent more time managing the MD who didn’t immediately come to terms with the fact that somebody didn’t have the same passions and drive for his ‘baby’!!

Of course this doesn’t mean they are not star players in their own right and will always have a key part to play in the core foundation of a company.

I guess the other consideration point is going to be the availability of skills and the balance between candidate fitting the role and the role fitting the candidate.

By: Paul McArdle

Paul McArdle — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:45:03 +0000

Thanks Nick,

The way it looks from where I sit, we’ve only just begun…

Cheers

Paul

By: nick sarillo

nick sarillo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:31:09 +0000

Hello Paul - great integration of the 10 lessons and the work you have done with your culture…and as you have modeled so well in this blog, the improvements you continue to make.
-Nick

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:12:47 +0000

Thanks for the confirmation, Bo.

BTW have your latest book in the Amazon shopping cart, so a review will end up on the blog here at some stage (but not immediately - our library is overflowing!)

Paul

By: Bo Burlingham

Bo Burlingham — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:52:46 +0000

BTW, you might want to check out the addendum and comments at my blog, http://www.smallgiantsbook.com/blog/

By: Bo Burlingham

Bo Burlingham — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:50:30 +0000

Great comments and observations, Paul. Sounds to me like you are definitely on the right track.

Cheers, Bo