Escape from Cubicle Nation

I chanced upon this really cool blog Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Sims, after reading a post on Guy Kawasaki's blog.

Her "Open letter to CXO's" is exceptional, wonderful, and very insightful. I have been guilty of not doing a number of items on her list. On the other hand, we've done at least some of those. The only excuse I have had is the fact that being the founder of the company, I have ended up spending more time on project execution than on actually running the company, and managing the teams. In our short-sighted objective of meeting next quarter's revenue targets, we've lost sight of the more long-sighted goal of grooming a leader to take over from me. Nevertheless, every new hire I make is done with the thought whether he/she can eventually take over from me. Sadly, that has not yet happened at least for operations out of our home base. We've got a brilliant chap to run the Middle East show for us.

Last week, I happened to be back home for a 5 day short trip, and realised how important it is for me to now stop executing consulting projects, and take a step back. To spend more time looking at what I need to do to build a great team back home, and to grow the business. One key decision we took was that my profile would now no longer be part of any proposals we send out. Instead, we would take the risk of losing the projects or use external consultant profiles if the need arose. That's the only way to extricate myself out of this.

But coming back to Pam's post. I love her points about really looking into people's eyes and learning who they are, and what drives them, and where is it that they want to go. And also about teaching them how to create wealth. In fact, my constant refrain within my firm is usually that what I've done, anyone can do. But I think now is the time when I really get down to brass tacks and show them how to actually do it. Another fantastic point is to ensure goodwill is maintained when someone decides to leave the company. With the exception of a couple of people, we are on great terms with our alumni, and that itself has resulted in significant revenues. The other thing we do is not to watch the clock. We don't bring up the time/leave rulebook unless the case is severe. We've tried to create a results-oriented culture, but this again needs constant attention and mentoring - something I have not been able to do very well so far.