When I was 21 (yah, before the dawn of time!) i worked in the most amazing place. A company that made one of the first portable personal computers. A little company called Hyperion, with 150 of the most invigorating, energetic, and inspiring people I've ever worked with. We worked 15 hour days, nights, weekends, and LOVED it! I was fresh out of school and green but i had one thing this company wanted -- the right attitude.
Quite simply, it was the people that made the place and while I have worked with many great folks since, I have not felt the chemistry that this little startup created. It was positively awesome and when I see some of these people now, there's an instant connection.
I was at my vet's the other day and got to chatting with the hospital administrator -- this vet hospital is hugely successful, the market leader within a 300 mile radius. With a staff of 120+, the #1 challenge they face is people - they've got top notch vets, surgeons, and the like, but the real challenge is in bottling the energy and enthusiasm of a few front-line people and injecting it in to the others. In other words...the right attitude.
hmmm...another place where the people factor makes the difference.
An old friend and colleague of mine, the CEO of a growing $15M software company, was trying to entice me into working with them to ramp their business - why me I ask? he says, "because you're not jaded -- you have a child-like enthusiasm and energy that will be infectious". Again, a people factor!
What's the point? I think you know.
If it's the people, why do we spend so little time worrying about this? We obsess about product schedules, sales forecasts, and operating budgets, and every now and again we throw in a company event and expect everything to be cool.
It doesn't work that way so let's stop kidding ourselves. Donuts on Friday ain't gonna cut it.
Take a close look at your people and how much they're lov'in what they're doing and the people they're with. People do their best work when these two conditions are met. If we really want a competitive edge, it's right here under our nose.
Best to wrestle with the people factor today, cause it only gets harder when you layer on more people.
So true. It never ceases to amaze me, how business leaders can, in one breath say "people are our most important asset" and in the next, act like they never give any thought to the art of getting "people" right.
Posted by: Eliot Burdett | August 23, 2005 at 10:08 PM