My CEO Life

Can culture in a business be managed – yes i think it can.  However not directly as in “directed” but through coercion, through leadership, and through example.  I believe that the role of a CEO and the leadership is to shape the culture.  Not create it directly but to morph it, to shape it in the direction that you want it to go.

This is achieved through a number of things.

Language – The language used in the business can help shape the culture.  I think you need to be positive, open, honest, up beat, responsible.

Attitude – the leaders of the business will set the vibe for the business.  You attitude determines what is acceptable behaviour.  In business, everything is transparent.

Communication – How you communicate and what you communicate is very important.  Email begets email, phone calls beget phone calls and so on … live the way you want the organisation to live.

Presence - it is important that the leaders of the business have high visibility in the business.  This presence will ensure that the right cultural messages are communicated to the broadest audience.

In short, live the life that you want all employees to live.  Be open and honest and they will be open and honest.  Have a closed door approach and they will say nothing (and probably resent you).

We have no offices anywhere (except meeting rooms), we have open discussions about the business, and we foster an environment where great people rise to the top.  I hate politics and everyone knows it.

How does one make an accounting/reporting role exciting? I was cracking my head after reading your blog on how to attract excellent people. How does one start the conversation to do a hard sell on accountants? In most cases it’s probably the other way round. Any comments on this?

Well this is a tough question but very answerable.  Firstly, you need to think about what the role of accounting is in your business.  At one end of the spectrum, it can be described in a procedural, boring way at the other, it is the check and balance of the business.

So, firstly, we view accounting / finance (ie CFO reports) as being part of the right hand of the Chief Executive Officer.  I spend lots of time with them, trying to understand the numbers and seeking their input on what can be done better.  They are more than just number crunchers – they are the monitors of the life blood of the business and they have all the rights to have input into what is right / wrong with the business.

Basically i am saying that the finance / accounting roles need to be clearly related back to the objectives of the business.  They need to see how they clearly contribute to its success.  Also, you need to make sure that you rotate people through the business so that finance / accounting guys get a true feeling for the business.

Secondly, i would make sure that when i advertise the accounting role – i focus on the upside / the working in the business / the career opportunities etc rather than the more procedural side.  I would describe it as more than a traditional accounting role – “be a key participant of the leadership team driving the growth of the business.  Liaise directly with senior management to provide them with timely and invaluable advice on where to take the business.  Etc … ”

I hope this makes some sense.

Also – the last thing we did we hire a fun CFO.  He is great, energises his team, knows the details and is repected across the business not only for the numbers but for his leadership.  I would start with my CFO!

I was recently asked the question “how do you attract and retain excellent employees?”.  This entry looks at the second part of the equation.

Firstly, you need to make sure that your team members are paid at least at the market rates.  Now you can often get away with paying a little less than market rates if you have the ability to issue options / equity in the business to the employees.  When we pay our employees, we ensure that everyone has a bonus component linked to measurable KPI’s.  We also allow people to earn more than their package through over performance.

Secondly, you need to create a culture where people can grow.  Now to do this, you need to understand what people want to do and then ensure that they can achieve some or all of those objectives.  We are about to instigate a google type 1 day per week for tech guys to explore new ideas.

Thirdly, we are a strong believer in spot awards.  For example, a team has just completed a marathon new product launch.  So as a reward, we are going to ask them all into a room, give them a day off AND give them $2k each to spend in that day.  Make it fun for them!

Fourthly, we create a very open environment where people’s thoughts / concerns and ideas are clearly heard.  Often a closed environment means that people get sick of going no where and leave.

Finally, you need to ensure that they have part of the business.  That you make them feel like owners and that they can ride the growth of the business.  Options are a great way to do this.

I would love your thoughts and questions.

I am busy preparing for our twice a year full staff get together.  For each of the last 6 years, i have flown in all staff from around the country to participate in 3 days of bonding, learning, sharing and well the occasional bit of drinking.

The first day is for the leadership team and the management team to get sync’d.  We talk about how the business has performed over the last 6 months, what our targets are for the next 6 months and what the key issues are in the business.

The second day we break into different streams – tech, sales, etc.  Each stream has lots of education and training and bonding.

The last day is for everyone.  We get together look at the business, give away prizes, have external speakers, share highs and lows, and set targets and aspirations for the next 6 months or a year.

It is alot of work, late nights, way too much drinking and bonding, but at the end of the day well worth it.  People from around the country get to know each other and form great relationships.  However, a word for the feint hearted – not cheap $200k each time!

I have a great senior employee who is massively eager, capable and running at a million miles per hour – in generally right direction.

The challenge is not motivation, guidance or direction. The challenge is constraining him.

Why constrain, i hear you ask. Well it is all about moving a group forward rather than an individual. If we did all the things that this senior manager wanted to do in the time that he wanted to do them, we could over stretch the business and potentially not achieve the outcomes we want to achieve.

At the end of the day we need to get the balance between driving the business forward at a great rate of knots and running at the speed that the organization can cope. It is a balancing act and something that needs to be constantly monitored. The last thing a business needs is burnout.

However if the balance can be achieved, a business can deliver amazing results.

I received the following question from on of the readers.

“Did/Do you have a mentor? What is your opinion on the concept mentoring in the business environment?”

I do have a mentor and it is my father. Now the reason he is my mentor is that he has run large businesses, is very level headed, is able to tell me to pull my head in (and get away with it) and has a passion for customer service. He was a very good Chief Executive Officer who has a great track record of leadership in business.

I think it is important to have a mentor of some sort. I think it gives you an outlet that probably does not exist in the business and allows you to run ideas past a neutral person who, if they are good, will tell you straight what they think.

I think that another source of mentoring type qualities can come internally (in some situations) and that depends on the quality of the team at the top. We are lucky that many of the people on my team i trust implicitly and we have very open relationships between us. That allows key issues to be shared and addressed. This may not always be the case but is great is you can make it happen.

The last comment on mentoring that i would like to make is around the topics a mentor can cover. A type of mentor i have been experimenting with is a life coach. It is all about work life balance. We are not all guru’s in everything so taking the time to talk to someone else who can help balance work and life is great.

In short – you will be much better off with a mentor than without. Just make sure it is a good one.

Actually … another thought. In putting in place a mentor, it is important to structure the relationship to include monthly meetings with key topics of discussion. Use them as a consultant. The structure will bring results.

I was recently asked the question “how do you attract and retail excellent employees?” This entry looks at the first part of the equation – attraction.

Almost all businesses have the major issue of attracting new staff unless you are Google! Any which way you cut it, this is extremely hard and, in the early days, took up a lot of my time.

Perhaps the easiest way to think about this is why would some join your business. What are the key things you offer that make you more attractive to employees – it is almost like a sales call – you should treat is as a marketing / sales exercise.

Firstly you need to define the product offering – ie the job. Key elements of a great job are:

1. Being an exciting role – what makes something exiting for one person vs another is a difficult thing but people like to be excited so when you advertise the role, sell the good points.
2. A clear future – it is important as part of the attractiveness of any role is a clear future. We all want a future!
3. Great pay – this is never to be taken lightly. People always want to earn more however exciting roles and career advancement can off set this
4. Fun culture – people like to actually have fun at work rather than slogging it out for 8 hours a day

Secondly, you need to advertise where people are looking. This is really important depending on what type of role and where you are located. There is no use advertising for HR people in a publication – online or offline – that is tailored to techs.

We spend most of our advertising dollars in online recruitment. We also rely heavily on internal referrals. We pay staff $2000 (or local currency equivalent) per person they recommend and who join.

Finally, when you get people into an interview room, you need to do as much selling as you do questioning. Don’t assume everyone wants to work for you – they probably don’t. You need to sell yourself and the business – especially if you have worked out that they are excellent in the first 5 minutes.