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March 17 - March 26, 2019
every staff meeting we have will be loaded with conflict. And they won’t be boring. And if there is nothing worth debating, then we won’t have a meeting.”
If we do anything between now and the end of the year, what should that be?”
“If everything is important, then nothing is.”
I don’t care at this point what our competition is doing. That seems like a distraction more than anything else—at least until we get rolling and the market takes shape.”
proving to the world that there are customers out there who are interested in our products. Revenue is not as important as closing deals and getting new customers.”
Whenever I’m interviewed as a founder of the company, people ask me about key customers. They want marquee company names and people who are willing to vouch for us.”
“Because that will give the press something to write about. It will give our employees confidence. It will provide more product feedback for Martin and his engineers. And it will give us references to go out and get more customers next year.”
We will have eighteen new customers by December 31.”
“During the next two weeks I am going to be pretty intolerant of behavior that demonstrates an absence of trust, or a focus on individual ego. I will be encouraging conflict, driving for clear commitments, and expecting all of you to hold each other accountable. I will be calling out bad behavior when I see it, and I’d like to see you doing the same. We don’t have time to waste.”
The team seemed as though they were embarrassed by having exposed themselves and were pretending that it had never happened at all.
as disappointed as she was that the group had not completely internalized the concepts from the off-site, she knew that this was a typical first response.
don’t ever slam one of your teammates when that person isn’t in the room. I don’t care what you think of Mikey.
She is part of this team, and you have to take your issues to her directly, or to me. You’re going to have to make that right.”
Are you making this team better, or are you contributing to the dysfunction?”
I have to tell you that I don’t see you stepping up and helping people. If anything, you’re tearing them down.”
You have to decide what is more important: helping the team win or advancing your career.”
today we’ll do a quick review of what everyone is working on, and then spend most of our time laying the groundwork for the eighteen deals we need to close.”
whose technical ability was matched only by his lack of social awareness,
who do you all consider to be your first team?”
“But when a company has a collection of good managers who don’t act like a team, it can create a dilemma for them, and for the company. You see, it leads to confusion about who their first team is.”
putting team results ahead of individual issues.
Your first team has to be this one.”
“As strongly as we feel about our own people and as wonderful as that is for them, it simply cannot come at the expense of the loyalty and commitment we have to the group of people sitting here today.”
“Well, you don’t have to destroy it. But you do have to be willing to make it secondary. And for many of you, that might very well feel like abandonment.”
“I don’t know how else to say this, but building a team is hard.”
We’re questioning how good our products need to be for us to win in the market.
that might come at the expense of having the market embrace our current technology.”
He proposed cutting one future product line entirely and delaying another for at least six months. Nick then suggested redeploying the engineers from those projects and training them to assist sales reps with product demonstrations.
Carlos is a vice president of the company, and he needs to prioritize better according to what we agreed to do, and he needs to challenge people in the organization who are not responding to his requests.”
Some people are hard to hold accountable because they are so helpful. Others because they get defensive.
Others because they are intimidating. I don’t think it’s easy to hold anyone accountable, not even your own kids.”
“I want all of you challenging each other about what you are doing, how you are spending your time, whether you are making enough progress.”
“No, trust is not the same as assuming everyone is on the same page as you, and that they don’t need to be pushed. Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.”
Push with respect, and under the assumption that the other person is probably doing the right thing. But push anyway. And never hold back.”
my job is not to avoid confrontation with the board. My job is to build an executive team that can make this company work.”
my husband is a lawyer, and so I don't think you'll have an easy time making a case against me.”
You don't participate in areas outside your department. You don't accept criticism from your peers, or apologize when you're out of line.”
“I didn't see Mikey being willing to adjust her behavior. And it was hurting the team. So I asked her to leave the company.”
“I'd like to take a few minutes to deal with the elephant that's sitting in the corner.
Though it always amazed her, Kathryn knew from past experience that the departure of even the most difficult employees provoked some degree of mourning and self-doubt among their peers.
“I don't plan on losing any of you. And that's why I did what I did.”
After a heated debate about whether to promote one of Mikey's direct reports, Kathryn stepped in to break the tie.
“All right. This has been a good discussion, and I think I've heard everyone. Does anyone have anything else to add?”
who can demonstrate trust, engage in conflict, commit to group decisions, hold their peers accountable, and focus on the results of the team, not their own ego.”
“You are fighting. But about issues. That's your job. Otherwise, you leave it to your people to try to solve problems that they can't solve. They want you to hash this stuff out so they can get clear direction from us.”
“I don't think anyone ever gets completely used to conflict. If it's not a little uncomfortable, then it's not real. The key is to keep doing it anyway.”
if it comes down to a little interpersonal discomfort versus politics, I'm opting for the discomfort.”
This is about having the discipline and persistence to keep doing what we're doing.”
the team seemed to stay together, choosing not to go off on their own as they had at previous off-sites.
they were noisier than they had ever been, and one of the most prevalent sounds that could be heard among them was laughter.
