Turning Executives Into Rocket Fuel
Learn 8 invaluable lessons for turning executives into rocket fuel. Understand the game you're playing and how to optimize for experience and passion. Focus on their words and pay close attention to what they say.
Alex Lieberman
Cofounder @morningbrew. Host of 60 Second Startup & The Crazy Ones.
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Executives can accelerate or kill your company.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
8 invaluable lessons for turning them into rocket fuel: -
Know the game you’re playing.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
Some senior leaders are built for short-term gains, others for the long haul.
Hiring for the short-term? Optimize for experience & pattern matching.
Hiring for the long-term? Optimize for passion for the brand & critical thinking. -
Focus on their words, not their delivery.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
The more senior the employee, the more confident they likely speak.
Pay close attention to what they say & how clearly they think.
Good delivery can be a disguise for bad thinking.
Especially true of senior marketers & salespeople. -
Open-mindedness & humility is a must.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
Execs often have big egos & a rigid view of the world.
They must be open to new info & changing their opinions.
Otherwise, they'll pattern-match your business into oblivion. -
Execs are multipliers & divisors.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
A great leader leapfrogs your business 1-2 years.
- Bring strategy/people that would have taken time or mistakes for you to find
A bad leader holds back your business 1-2 years.
- Set the wrong strategy & create organizational debt -
Execs always cost more than you think.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
You're not just paying for their all-in comp, but also for their team, growth plan, and playbook.
Be explicit about their budget ahead of time and hold them accountable.
Unless you're okay with them overspending. -
Trust is earned, not assumed.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
Spend lots of time with execs in the beginning. Ween off as you gain trust.
Extrapolated trust can be dangerous.
Just because you trust them in one domain doesn't mean you should trust them in a domain of non-expertise. -
Interview like it's the real deal.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
Simulate actual work to avoid surprises about how senior leaders think, work, or where their blind spots are.
Consider a working session or even paying them as a contractor before hiring. -
Reference checks help in non-obvious ways.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
Most of the time, they won't change your hiring decision.
But they can help you manage a hire.
Ask references: “Where can I coach XYZ to make them unstoppable?”
It's a way to uncover weaknesses without references feeling defensive. -
And those are 8 lessons for making execs rocketfuel rather than quicksand.
— Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) April 9, 2023
1) Follow @businessbarista for more musings on building startups.
2) Listen to my podcast episode that goes deep on hiring & managing execs: https://t.co/l8pNVoGR5A