Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

by Tony Fadell

When you truly give a shit, you care, you don’t let up until you’re satisfied, you pick things apart until they’re great. People will hand you something that they worked on tirelessly for weeks, that they’ve thought through and are proud of, that’s 90 percent amazing. And you will tell them to go back and make it better. Your team will be shocked, stunned, possibly even dejected. They’ll say it’s already so good, we’ve worked so hard. You’ll say good enough is not good enough.

It’s not easy. But all that attention, that care, the quest for perfection—they’ll raise the team’s own standards. What they expect of themselves. After a while, they’ll work incredibly hard not just to make you happy, but because they know how much pride they feel when they do world-class work. The entire culture will evolve to expect excellence from each other. So your job is to care.

So it’s wise to stand alone—not to let anyone at work get too close. Even if you wish you could just grab a drink with your team like you used to. It’s a cliché to say “It’s lonely at the top.” But it’s also true. Most people assume being CEO is a hard job—stressful, busy, high-pressure. But the stress is one thing; the isolation is another. You might have a cofounder, but you shouldn’t have a co-CEO. It’s a one-person job and you’re all alone up there.

But when you’re CEO, you’re in charge. Sure, you’re constrained by money or resources or your board, but for the first time there are no constraints on your ideas. You get to finally test out the things that other people told you couldn’t be done. It’s your opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. That freedom is thrilling and empowering and utterly terrifying. There is nothing scarier than finally getting what you want and having to take responsibility for it, good or bad. And the tables begin to turn—as CEO you can’t say “yes” to everything. You have to become the one who says “no.” Freedom is a double-edged sword. But it’s still a sword. You can use it to cut through the bullshit, the hesitation, the red tape, the habituation. You can use it to create whatever you want. The right way. Your way. You can change things. That’s why you start a company. That’s why you become CEO.

That’s why board meetings are so important, and why truly understanding your subject matter and doing a great deal of prep work beforehand is vital. The best CEOs always know the outcome of a board meeting before they walk through the door.

Bad CEOs come to board meetings and expect the board to help them make decisions. Good CEOs walk in with a presentation of where the company was, where it is now, and where it’s headed this quarter and in the years to come. They tell the board what’s working but they’re also transparent about what isn’t and how they’re addressing it. They present a fully formed plan that the board can question, object to, or try to modify. Things might get a little heated, a little bumpy, but in the end everyone walks out of the meeting understanding and accepting the CEO’s vision and the company’s path forward. Then there are the great CEOs. With great CEOs the meeting is smooth as butter.

One might look at that and say, “So what’s the problem? If the board doesn’t give you guidance, then just go do it yourself. You’re the CEO.” But that is not the solution. Even the most incredible CEOs in the world still need a board. Not the meetings, necessarily, but the advice of smart, invested, experienced people. Even big projects within a company should have a mini-board—a collection of helpful execs who can work to guide a project lead and step in if things go sideways.

When people pay for something, they value it. If something is free, it is literally worthless. So if employees get a perk all the time, then it should be subsidized, not free. If something happens only rarely, it’s special. If it happens all the time, the specialness evaporates. So if a perk is only received occasionally, it can be free. But you should make it very clear that this is not going to be a regular occurrence and change up the perk so it’s always a surprise.

Sometimes the only warning flag you can wave is your resignation letter.