Are you a CEO or a COO?

August 14th, 2008 Chris Posted in General | 1 Comment »

I was out for dinner and drinks with a few friends last night (surely not again). We went to our regular sushi place and then to the pub for a few pints. These are guys that I used to work with so we get to share our war stories of working in a mid/large company and all the insanity that ensues. I do suspect our company had more than its fair share with the prevailing hypothesis that there was way too much lead in the water in Dallas. What company you ask? I’m afraid that discretion demands that its identity stay private although evENTUally I may reveal it…

There is always an interesting contrast between life in the big company versus the micro business. Apparently, it is very surprising that Colleen and I haven’t killed each other. When I joined Colleen about a year ago, I did say that my criteria for staying in the business after one year was that we had to raise revenues enough to keep me in the lifestyle to which I had become accustomed and there were no homicides.

This perception of our potential for mutual-violence is not uncommon. When I left the big company and went to work with Colleen, about half of our friends predicted that our bodies would be found by authorities, interlocked in mutual strangulation.

What’s the source for this perception? Probably it’s because the way Colleen and I approach business is very different. And I believe that is precisely why we work well together.

When discussing this last night, my friend asked if I behave the same way now as I did in my former company. He was kind enough to clarify his question along the lines of the following: “I mean, are you still a real a**hole?”

I’d like to think that this is a kind of euphemism for someone who is focused on business objectives and makes honest feedback a priority in all his communication. But it is true that sometimes this has been at the expense of people’s feelings. The way my brain works is very simple: what’s the business strategy, what is the plan to achieve it and is a particular activity in-line with that plan.

So when someone suggest working on something that is less important than other activities or does not contribute to the business strategy, I tend to provide honest feedback. The other night, Colleen made the suggestion that we develop a particular piece of marketing collateral, a welcome package for some customers at a conference. In three separate emails, I immediately responded with the following feedback on the idea: (no word of a lie, these are verbatim):

• We do not have welcome packages. Please feel free to add other stuff for us to give you that doesn’t exist.
• And I think we should have revenues of one billion dollars every day. How’s sales going?
• And I would like the magical beer fairy to give me a beer every night while I work on stuff that we needed one month ago.

OK, it seems I really am an a**hole.

But here is the great part – it works for us. Why? Two reasons: 1. Colleen is used to my foul mouthed drama and 2. It complements her strengths. We’ll focus on #2… and leave #1 to Dr. Phil.

Not only is Colleen a fantastic sales gal, critical for our business, she also is a great visionary. And she believes there is nothing we can’t do. This is fantastic as it challenges us to do stuff that a more conservative person wouldn’t. She is open minded and constantly looking for ways for us to think different. And it has paid off huge dividends.

And here in lies the balance – we can both agree what the overall strategy for the business is and then come up with a compromise plan to do it. Compromise in that Colleen will want to do 1000 things and is easily distracted by “bright-and-shiny” objects, and I will want to do three things and ignore everything else less critical. In the end, we come up with a balance between boundless optimism and pessimistic realism in our ability to execute.

As I said, in the end it works. Colleen will challenge us with doing new, crazy things without any thought to how it will actually get done and I will ensure that what we do lines up with what we’re trying to achieve as a business and make sure we can actually achieve it.

I would challenge you to figure out what type of person you are: crazy, creative CEO or grumpy, focused COO. That’s the easy part. The hard part is being willing to find someone: co-worker, friend, mentor, etc… who gives you contrasting thoughts about your business and taking them to heart.

Luckily for me, I’ve got no choice. I live with that person…

C.