by Doug Hanhart
You know that feeling of unlimited potential when you start a new job? How everything seems simple before you understand the entire situation, how free it feels to have a high-level view of the landscape before you get caught up in the day-to-day? Isn’t it amazing how easy it is to imagine strategies and grand initiatives before the “real work” sets in and you’re in the weeds every day, dealing with email and meetings and the minutia of management?
At least that’s the way it usually is for me. Some years ago I co-founded an Internet startup with a few long-time friends. As a founder, you can have whatever title you want, and I was the Chief Information Officer, but don’t let that fool you: I was also the junior database administrator, at least at the start. The company took off, and for three years we grew 500% per year, eventually becoming a $78mm business. It was quite a ride, the ultimate startup success story. At some point during that growth I had to let go of my database administrator role and focus on being a true CIO. It was a hard thing to do, and I found myself continuously caught up in the weeds.
One of the wisest things that I did during my tenure there was to establish some regular offsite meetings with another co-founder, Ken Smith. At one of these meetings, we realized that we were caught up in the weeds and not doing our real jobs of being executives. Speaking for myself, I wasn’t focusing on the strategic needs — I was being completely tactical. My day had become filled with email and meetings and the urgent things that running a business requires.
But by virtue of being intentionally away from distractions, meeting at a coffee shop, we were able to poke our heads up for an hour a week. These were great times for introspection. Both Ken and I knew that we had a lot to learn. One day we had somewhat of an epiphany about our situation and asked ourselves the question: If I fired myself and hired someone new, what would they do?
Our answers surprised us. They were so different from what we were doing each day. We knew that if we were new we would look at the company’s needs from a higher viewpoint and we wouldn’t yet be distracted by hours of email and meetings. Simply thinking about it was incredibly freeing. We brought that inspiration back to the company and it was useful. We began to think again like executives, focusing on strategies, methodologies, leadership, and other critical long-term needs.
Since then, I’ve asked myself that question from time to time, and the answers never cease to amaze me. It’s impossible not to get caught in the weeds when you’re working hard at something, or at least it is for me. Asking this question is always fresh, always new. As a matter of fact, writing this blog, it occurs to me that it’s about time to ask it again.
If I fired myself and hired someone new, what would they do?
Ask yourself that every three months or so.
Doug Hanhart
Managing Partner, Executive TimeSlice