Hiring People Who Are Smarter Than You

Many people claim to hire people who are smarter than themselves; but what is the consequence of doing so? It is that they will be right more often than you are. So if you find yourself shooting down their ideas or correcting them,

1. You didn't give them the information they needed
2. This is one of the rare cases where you are right and they are wrong
3. You are wrong and don't realize it, because they are smarter

"The Myths of Innovation" by Scott Berkun

I highly recommend "The Myths of Innovation" by Scott Berkun. If you are interested in creating innovative software, this book is a must-read.

Find Out What's Going On In Your Organization

In order to effectively lead and manage any organization, it is imperative that the leader/manager knows what is going on in his/her organization. This feedback allows for for mid-course corrections when things aren't working out as planned. It also let's you know when your initiatives are being misinterpreted or ignored. When the organization is not implementing your plans, you have to find out why and figure out whether there is a problem with the plan or with how the plan was communicated.

Receiving quality feedback up through the chain of command is an age-old problem that can never be fully solved. There are fables of kings dressing as commoners in order to learn the true state of their kingdom. While this approach does not often work in modern organizations, there are many techniques that can help.

Culture. Try to create a culture that rewards accurate feedback. You can't make good decisions with bad information.

Channels of communication. Create multiple channels of communication for feedback, some of which should be anonymous. These can include blogs, email, voice mail, suggestion boxes, small group meetings, informal hallway chats, informal lunches, and the best of all, impromptu visits to various work areas. Pick a few of these and practice them regularly so that everyone begins to feel comfortable with them.

Response to feedback. When you receive negative feedback, model the appropriate behavior consistent with the culture you wish to create. Recognize that the lack of negative feedback indicates a serious problem in part of your organization.

Corporate Training and Culture

One thing that is often overlooked in corporate training is that, for better or worse, it is an important medium for conveying culture. It amazes me how little attention is paid to how mandatory internal training, especially for new employees. Don't tell me what your corporate values are--I can hear them loud and clear. Don't tell me how innovative your new product is going to be, and then harangue your developers for 90 minutes on the consequences of filling out their timecards incorrectly. If you are a manager, you must audit these courses to find out what your people are being told and whether the proper values are being conveyed.

Reflecting Reality

Often times, the only thing required to help people and organizations improve is to help them see reality. This is the value added by project managers, outside consultants, schedules, and status reports. You would think that these people and activities don't add value--that we can just supervise ourselves. In practice, we are not good at seeing reality on our own. Once people see things as they really are, they are usually good at addressing problems on their own and the manager or colleague doesn't have to be the bad guy.

Barry Diller "gets it"

In the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Barry Diller of IAC is quoted as follows:

WSJ: Would you want to run a movie company today?

Mr. Diller: No. Words like "tent pole" and "merchandising" have nothing to do with telling good stories. The current process of major film companies is so different than it was 10 or 20 years ago, and I find the output that comes from it far less interesting. It's a very hard business to get into, and I don't know why you'd make that choice rather than shoe manufacturing.