Reading Time: < 1 minOne of the best things that Nick Saban did while coaching the University of Alabama football team was promote an unbelievable amount of team over individual. While they certainly had a ton of amazing individual athletes on his teams that have gone on to great success in the NFL, Saban made sure the focus was […]
Leadership
What can we do to get out of your way?
Reading Time: < 1 minI’ve shared a bit about Danny Meyer (founder of Shake Shack, among other restaurants) before, as he has some amazing insights on leadership. In a recent podcast with Adam Grant, he shared a few more gems. One in particular was a quote about hiring. Danny believes in hiring great people and then allowing them to […]
Never manage people who don’t need to be managed
Reading Time: < 1 minI often see posts on Reddit that follow a similar path: While I certainly appreciate that processes exist for a reason and there are times to square things back up, when people are working hard to get things done it’s often best to stay out of their way. Ideally, employees should be lead, not managed. […]
Founders shouldn’t be hireable
Reading Time: < 1 minAs GreenMellen has grown over the years, one of the challenges that Ali and I have faced is figuring out what our roles should be at various stages. Early on it was easy; she was the designer and I was the developer. Once those roles were filled by others, where did that leave us? It’s […]
Make decisions before circumstances force them to be made
Reading Time: < 1 minMarch 2020 was a scary time to be a business owner. Things were still going well for us, but the future was very uncertain — for everyone! Ali and I took some time that month to plot out two sets of scenarios for our business. The plan was simply to be ready. If things went […]
Define the problem
Reading Time: < 1 minIt’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it. I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about: The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and […]
Who is the best listener you know?
Reading Time: < 1 minI was recently reading Kevin Paul Scott’s “Inspired Every Day“, and one little statement he made hit me very hard. He simply said: “Who is the best listener you know? What is that person’s impact on you and others?” It hit because this should (in theory) be me, but it’s not. It’s hard to really […]
If you’re a leader, you’re a teacher
Reading Time: < 1 minJim Sinegal was one of the cofounders of Costco and had some amazing quotes captured over the years. My favorite, while not related to this post, was what he told his successor as he was stepping down: “If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.” For today’s quote, though, […]
Your personal board of directors
Reading Time: 2 minHaving a personal board of directors would be amazing. I’m on a few boards with other organizations, but it’d be neat to have my own — I could just have a group of people to call on to answer questions and help me work through things. As it turns out, I have one! Most of […]
Teamwork requires trust
Reading Time: 2 minOne thing that I love about having a relatively small team (it’s myself and Ali, and then seven others) that are full-time employees instead of contractors is the trust that can be built. You certainly can build trust with larger teams and with part-time or contract employees, but it gets more difficult. Having people by […]