Guy Kawasaki | If I knew then what I know now | SXSWedu
It is depressing to watch an average, the machine fight lean, firm degrades mediocrity In Silicon Valley, we call this process the explosion bozo This slide down seems inevitable after a company experiences an often successful in during the years following an IPO the aim of this article is to prevent, or at least delay this process in your business.
The first step is to determine if an explosion occurs Bozo Here are the top ten signs bozosity to help you decide.
1 The two most popular words are your business partners and strategic Furthermore, the partner has become a verb, strategic and is used to describe the decisions and activities that don t feel.
2 The management offsite two days in places like the Ritz Carlton to foster communication and formulating a company mission statement.
3 The above statement of the company's mission has more than twenty words of which two are partners and strategic.
5 seems biorhythm of your car like that.
8 0:10 am 00 Japanese cars exceed German cars.
October 00 hours 5 00 German cars Japanese cars exceed.
24:00 5 10 00 Japanese cars exceed German cars.
6 Your HR department requires an MBA degree for any position; it must also five to ten years of work experience in an industry that is only four years.
7 Time is now considered more important than money if you have a company cafeteria, health club and a grooming service pet In addition, the first thing that employees show visitors is the cafeteria , health club, and a grooming service for pets.
8 Someone whose music sells in the iTunes music store happens to the company Christmas party.
9 An employee is paid for doing nothing to write a blog.
10 The success of a competitor bothers you more than the loss of a client.
If you have seen other signs of the slide bozosity, leave them in comments and I will add to this list.
11 You have a layer of middle managers who have worked in big names usually consumer goods companies like meetings and appoint project leaders I experienced this first hand Zoli Erdo.
12 Your rental of a large consulting company name that provides MBAs with one year of experience to rethink your business strategy.
13 The reception staff will look better and less competent Jeff Barson.
14 Your CEO or CFO spends more time on CNBC that in Laurie Sefton office.
Did you swallow Don t sweat it you are not alone In fact, you'd be alone if you weren t go through the slide s Here's what you can do with the situation.
Insist that managers hire better than themselves, for example, an engineering manager should hire a programmer who is a better programmer it is, no worse Incidentally, this principle begins at the Board of Directors when hiring the CEO.
Reduce arrogance arrogance is evident in two main areas of all, when your employees describe the competition using terms like clueless, Bozo ironically, or just plain stupid second, when your employees start to believe in manifest destiny that is, that your business deserves, and will achieve, total domination market your competition probably isn t stupid, and trees grow don t heaven.
Understaff Pay less people you're sure you need to consider this hockey stick growth, you are sure that you will realize when you are in a race to fill the openings to accommodate growth, you make mistakes Unfortunately, many companies are adopting the attitude of Hire an intelligent organism, or we'll lose business, we will fix everything later.
Undergrow This is the reverse of the under-staffing I suggest to renounce intentionally small and thin Staying sales is a perfectly acceptable management policy At the very least, to calculate the full impact on the number of head to get this additional sale, new line of business, or acquisition.
Look beyond CV The recruitment goal is to build a team of great employees of attorney to an employee is a relevant education or work, however, the level of perceived law school and experience work are not sufficient conditions for excellence hiring a bozo with the CV right may drag down other employees and increase the likelihood of hiring more bozo not hire a great person because she has no right resume is not as harmful, but is also a mistake.
Some companies diversify resemble the people business version Stepford Wives are too similar, for example, everyone has a PhD Everyone grew up in a white family, upper middleclass Everyone went to an Ivy League school this Sá bunch me Mini me when this happens, it means that the form is function bypassing, and how people succeed in representing good shape, and not for excelling right soft return is asswards.
Deduplication You owe it to your employees to take corrective action and, where appropriate, terminate people when problems come to light you can think of, let's wait and see; maybe it will improve; our numbers are still great, etc., but it is unfair to everyone involved If there's a problem, a solution if you can fix t, then make a well exployee, establish performance excellence as standard company.
Written at America West, flight 567, seat 4B, Phoenix Orlando.
Another warning sign is when all of a sudden you have a layer of management, all types-former companies, which generally deal with issues calling for a series of meetings and hiring a new project lead every time something new comes on the note less serious, I challenge your parking test, I guess that means that workabees are there long hours, management conveniently pointing to the middle of the day, but after tried both, I'm a big fan of Japanese cars now you can spend lots of money and combine luxury with a much higher quality than most Europeans.
Jeff Barson, Nimble February 26, 2006 at 11 am 15 - Reply.
additonal signs Bozodom All managers are provided the latest Blackberrys but nobody knows how to set up the e-mail function The reception staff becomes progressively younger, cuter and woman Everyone has an Aeron hand towels appear in bathrooms with a new laundry service CEO has a podcast with a 3 input minutes, and management of personal shopper didnt know what the office is or why the Laughing staff just mho I'm sitting here on my folding chair in my office without windows, while I contemplate the purchase of paper towels for the bathroom so we have something.
The most recent Industry February 26, 2006 at 11 am 17 - Reply.
John C Welch February 26, 2006 from 22 O'clock 4 - Reply.
1 The company spends a quarter of a million dollars on a consulting firm to create passionate employees, instead of talking to employees 2 rituals Bizarre as a Christmas Bonus not Mars, line really like to get tribute to massa 3 Program suggestion that even recognizes your suggestion, but is surprised that you can fill PDF forms online, then use the form that you created to simplify the process and reduce waste without thanking you 4 you can get a new server more easy you can get business cards because VPA or more can have business cards 5 chief IS trying to ban wireless networks because it could not do without a keyboard working corrrectly wire 6 head of the company speaks assistance festive decoration for employees for the party to his house that no employee will ever see 7 they have two attempts to divest a poorly performing division, because they weren t able to complete the sale in time 8 they have a benefit plan that a few hundred dollars cheaper than self-insurance, with the worst coverage while talking to employees on how we are family 9 benefits are so tightly regulated so as to be unusable, ie no online courses are covered even if they're from Harvard or MIT that way they arrive to say they have an advantage no one is able to use Oh, yes, and classify training linked to employment, such as an MCSE or ACSA as a corporate expense, and only allow the reimbursement tuition classes to be applied to 10 colleges formal Ensure that senior management is the only contact the CEO with the company, unless it is the accounting department.
No I do not understand 5, look at the biorhythm of your car like that, maybe because I do not care for someone in the UK enlighten me.
The loose cannon February 26, 2006 at 4 am 15 - Reply.
I have some Bozo Hell 1 VPs somehow become unable to walk by an unframed mahogany 2 door reward for a division, throws management made a cake and ice cream party for employees cracks abound referencing some relevant quote Marie Antoinette 3 graphics Org undergo redefinition of quarterly job function of person really changes 4 Ability to coordinate projects and meet attendence is a higher value than the engineering discipline and the results of entire teams measurable begin to train these coordinators, pushing all the engineering talent.
Ack, I'm having serious flashbacks to my days in time All these things are sometimes reached several positions in real time, including mine changed from the time of rental to time new hires actually arrived for their first day of a sure sign of labor Bozo -invasion much emphasis on a profit of a penny same value or find a buyer than worrying about the product.
8 Someone whose music sells in the iTunes music store occurs at the company Christmas party, I think you mean they hire a big name artist, but sells in the iTunes music store doesn t say Almost any shmuck that Internet-savvy can get his music into the iTunes music store, I thought of putting an album out there myself iTunes is a long tail thing sells at Tower records could get an update on better.
1 The mission statement vaguely looks like any other company's mission statement 2 And we do not know what that means 100k 3 A budget is allocated to market the new blog of the company because no the bed 4 Your manager is jealous of you because you are smarter 5 How could you miss this iT department forces everyone to switch from Mac to Windows.
Brad Hutchings February 26, 2006 at 11 am 34 - Reply.
What's the statute of limitations covering bozosity I hope that 5 years is enough 1 Turning your worst customers Any company employees 2 Friday morning ritual involving alcohol experimental 3 employees 4 Employees who stay for lunch 5 No cars in the US 6 parking recruiting CEOs for its business courses or other professional pyramid scheme 7 business is like the game of Go 8 outside, partner management like the Politburo to insiders, partner management like a party keg Tech 9 people who want offices without windows and without contact with non-techies 9b Tech people who resent others who want tech windows of their offices and want to discuss hotties people 9c Tech water cooler that go on and wanking on how they survived the communist system and are greatful to have a comfortable chair the plac ard they have chosen for an office 10 All employees known cartoon names it is fun, if you work with a bunch of Bozo, you should try with a co-w orker The aim is to appoint all toons in the office, do a site for them, and not be found or fired.
One of my side When you spend too much time making organizational processes rather than selling and customer service When you spend more than 10 days in the classroom in a year instead of a guy selling and customer service 16 people are bits of everything and spoil When you have a responsible Cheif strategy, Cheif operating officer, an officer Cheif sales, a Cheif marketing officer in addition to a general manager Cheif.
Guy thank you I learned a new term little more I could relate to 1 A new director or management restructures and reorganizes the team when it needs new people, reduce its numbers 2 You get to hear that often new levels of skills are required other companies and existing skillsets of employees were laid off 3 employees are encouraged to become entrepreneurs and are encouraged to search for websites and make cold calls 4 company adds one more term strategy and long-term partners so that no new projects that might come exisiting move away customers to competitors 5 the COO, vice presidents and CEO are sitting in their cabins and question the implementation details of each project 6 When each new project outside the central area of the company is marketed as an expert opinion vertically and becomes a business night line 7 when CEO publishes a press release for a very small business and win claims his long-term vision are working.
Anonymous UK In the US the Japanese German car analogy means that rank and file staff making a minimum wage drive cheap cars, Japanese, but maybe we should add to this list with Korean Hyundai and Kia growing in popularity very paid execs appear in their BMW and Mercedes more expensive and usually go right to work for 17 hours, I worked in two places where this happened daily.
More Ideas There are so many vice presidents of the company that much time is lost PUSH paperwork back and forth direction adopts I know the mentality where new approaches to old ideas are quickly discarded and debates are avoided Big egos get in the way of more Headway millions are allocated each year to send employees for team building and other skills training, which change little in the overall attitudes and skills of management employees considers training as part of their list of things to do instead of focusing on the desired outcomes and tracking the lessons learned management aims to make a better mousetrap instead of seeking to develop solutions on the market really wants.
Another warning sign is if more than 10 of all employees are positions with the vice president or vice president in the title.
Fantastic post very clear description of the forces on mental health in the workplace because it seemed like a good idea at the time resultign in death execution and common sense Another suggestion; As the business grows each new vice president decides to proove campaigning to improve the product before they even understand what actually makes the product or how to use it.
A little bozosity your organizational unit has two or more weekly meetings that are scheduled for an hour or more, but usually when the time is up, it is still a useless discussion going on these meetings also spend time reading the minutes but not decide any action whatsoever there is much discussion about the client, but when asked, no one really knows who he is you have regular events for the team build morality, but on the day the current is wasted energy business in search of goats management by objective emissaries in your organization is used as a reason why you are not getting a bonus There is much discussion about the process and they must be monitored and optimized It's used casually to have a reason not to get real work done management said things like we need to spend less time doing good things and more time doing the right thing Don t laugh, I heard it and it was not meant to be a joke or quote Dilbert guy thought he was really something my SOMETI Scott Adams as scary.
Bizarre, we have just the thing the other day car All people working later can regularly look out the window one night and see everyone elses crappy car in the parking lot below next to their own We believe that it could be that if you have a car now, you should feel the need to go out and drive it doesn t really matter as long as it is not in the office.
Beaver smiles wet when tickled February 28, 2006 at 6 am 36 - Response.
More; Manage your career becomes more important than your work Wage rates are defined by the title and accreditation, rather than the skills, experience, and the real value of human not pick up incoming calls Leveraging skills base and maximize shareholder value appear in official documents, in the same paragraph.
A couple more Vice President spends all day designing a company values displayed Power Point that includes a reference to employee morale, while his only contributions to morale were ridiculous micromanagement refusal to buy cheap supplies necessary evil, and a three-year wage freeze you spend thousands of dollars on new CAD software that is on the shelf for over a year because manglement refuses to buy computers that can run the the idea of mismanagement of a thin client environment is that 20 users can share a software license.
A nice list Dilbert-esque signs of bozosity develops Guy Kawasakis the blog comments list with an overview of companies around the world is Bozo everywhere.
Rightnumberone February 28, 2006 at 2 o'clock 8 - Reply.
Brilliant, almost frightening reminder Exceeded days Here are some more insists everything be designed chief of engineering of military specification regardless of the audience and additional costs The company launches costly launch parties for clients and does not mention the product, or company name to this question executives spend more time talking to one consultant they do their customers engineering department spends more time playing foosball in the room game they actually work the CEO has absolute distain for its target audience is all a big secret.
Not What I expected March 1, 2006 at 10 am 57 - Reply.
I do not know why, but when I read the last, Guy Kawasaki How to prevent an explosion Bozo I still flashing on happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way of Anna Karénine is that my right brain to have a conversation with.
How about your company hires a former NFL player who's allowed to appoint his own title, and grammatically incorrect or semantically absurd as the vice president of Partnershipping and Strategy What happened to the Internet pennsylvania once top B2B flight I was working for.
Looking more comments seem a sign of Bozo-fication could be defensive Manager imagine that IT workers think that people who can not use computers are t Bozo makes things and is the real reason his business fails Bozo Almost all techies are like that of course they're not steer the ship, you Bozo UNLESS AN ICEBERG, ROIGHT AHEAD Bozo.
Com days of my points Your company gives all kinds of free pens, cups, slinkies and balls at trade shows, but none of them has the company name or URL on it, just the number 4.
This is seriously funny stuff One more sign 1 bozosity Having hostshots of all sites in the world fly with complex charts, trying to tell you where you stand in a small point in the larger scheme of things and how exciting scheme that is .
When you are still a start-up, but were leased for hiring recruiters who charge clearly understand your business, you're in trouble.
Take a walk and count how many times you hear buzzwords like action and drive as, generate income in a five minute period 10:00 to 11:00 If you count more than 10 -h.
What customers March 8, 2006 at 1 h 56 - Reply.
Evangelist and former Apple guru guru Guy Kawasaki, who gets more hits on his blog in a day than most people see in a month, these fun, but two serious messages about prevention of expolsion Bozo and the ability Bozoification.
Madhusmita Sharrma June 26, 2016 January 48 am - Reply.
-Hr people without technical background are the first level of technical guys shortlist I do not find enough equipped to interview a technical issue that make little sense for them and worse when responding they eventually realize that the technical question you answered was thrown at you by a guy that includes not just technical people ask stupid -Hr all possible questions and then at the end they say you mISS PASSION the phone, they decide lack -HR team should ask relevant questions to their coz department when trying to be the jack of all trades they land become master of nothing, also demotivate the right candidate.
When HR simply email you a link to a third employee management platform for your exit package and end of employment equity Thus, human resources can avoid human interaction whatsoever with the associated staff leaving the company and so avoid performing an appropriate exit interview that way, senior management actually doesn t ever hear or respond to bad management and the problems of society that are causing a players leaving plausible Deniability.
Seeing an early exodus, the Directorate General initiates an anonymous survey with the participation required by all in the summary of survey results on a call from the company-wide, the CEO said with genuine emotion that senior management was shocked, shocked, shocked that the question you recommend to a friend of the industry they work in this business was not answered 20 of all employees.
This was immediately followed by the CEO saying passionately that art 1 of every 5 employees Why does not upset these people just get the hell instead of a taste of what the problems are and how can we correct them, we'll start you could feel the instant deflation of the participants in the call as the loss of all hope of improvement set with the head of refusal from the same direction to recognize a problem.
Addendum Immediately after the summary of the investigation, I called a number of people I knew worked in bozoville and asked if they were unhappy that 20 They all gave a version of hell no, I don t trust that the survey was anonymous and really didn t want to suffer personal game until I can find another job and I really want to leave that means bozoville was much more widespread than senior management originally understood and shocking number was actually closer to 50.
Guy Kawasaki Preventing a Bozo explosion, Kawasaki, prevent, Bozo.
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