If You Go To the Trouble To Hire People, Make Sure You Allow Them to Use Their Skills
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PART 2 – Tuesday, December 4th, Dave Franzetta, co-author of Changing Places, talked with talk radio host, Michael Dresser, on the Michael Dresser Show, broadcast on CRN Digital Talk Radio. This is Part 2 of a 5-part edited version of the radio interview.
MICHAEL DRESSER: We were talking about entrepreneurs finding the right people to fill the gaps in their own skill set. One of the things I noticed over the years is that people who start businesses usually bring a bit of ego into the equation. You know: “I started the business, it’s mine”, and when they hire people they are not looking at how much more those people can do than they can do themselves. It’s usually somebody that they think they can have control over–not in every instance, but most of the time. I’ve always believed that if you start a business and you bring somebody in, you should do it to augment your skills, because you can’t do it all yourself. That person should know more about that position than you do.
DAVE: It’s an absolute fundamental. Why would you bring somebody in unless they know more about it than you? There was a fascinating article on the Internet the other day where the writer was talking about how Chief Executive Officers, especially in smaller companies, not Fortune 1000 companies, but companies with less than 20 million of revenue–large by some measures, but in the grand scheme of things, smaller companies–where the Chief Executive Officer simply doesn’t give enough scope, enough span of responsibility or enough credit for ability to his Chief Marketing Officer, or his Chief Financial Officer, or Chief Operating Officer and the CEO can’t stop himself from trying to run every aspect of the business himself. You mentioned it’s often an ego issue, and many times it’s the result of a fundamental desire to control everything about their environment. Unfortunately, giving in to that desire can come at the expense of the company’s future after the CEO makes his exit.
To be continued…stay tuned for Part 3 in the next blog post!
Check it out: “Changing Places: Making a Success of Succession Planning for Entrepreneurs and Family Business Owners”(published by AuthorHouse). Feedback please to: dfranzetta@gmail.com
LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – (DAVE FRANZETTA > SIRI > BLOG POST> 12.20.12 > 4:57PM PST)