Community feedback: The value of putting more of your people front and centre.

I used to think this was a strange sentence. It sounds off to me because it's not commonly said but such was the opener to my discussion with an ASX CEO last week.

I haven't got confirmation I can attribute this story so... let's call him Steve.

Steve is a cracking guy who has built, organically and inorganically, a really substantial business - more than $125m market cap, 150 people and a real global business.

One of his big unlocks came when his COO told him he needed to be explicit with his team. That it was okay for them to run ahead of him, and be great at their job. That it was okay for them to outshine him, that doing so is not a negative - but a positive. 

Steve has a founder mindset.

It hadn't occurred to him that some people in his organisation were holding back so they didn't get ahead of him. Maybe they let his ideas be the high water mark of what they could strive, rather than take it on themselves to go further. Maybe they let the target, be the maximum. 

Some of their best sales people had even been let go in other organisations for being too good at their job (whhaaaaaaat??). Their managers had felt threatened by their success, and found reasons to move them on.

To Steve, and to me, this sounds crazy but we've both lived in startup/scaleup land for so long, where you're always trying to get better, learn from other people - hell, learn from your own mistakes - that learning and personal growth are second nature. 

So he tried it.

He started saying to people "it's okay if you outshine me" and he started to see results, so I've been trying it too. So far, I've raised it with three people in my team, two have stepped up, one has moved on. 

But what about being listed?

This email series is about being a listed leader - so you can definitely use this in the leadership side of your role. The way I've posed it is this:

"Hey I just want to raise something for you to consider. I want to make it really clear that you're already great at your role, but sometimes people can pull punches to make sure they don't outshine or overstep the mark. You can't do that here.

You can't be too bright, too intense, too good - that doesn't exist here. Take a couple of days, and at our next 1:1, I want you to raise anything you think we can be doing better and how. Anywhere we aren't being ambitious enough and why. No topics are off topic."

It has worked - two people have stepped up, and one stepped off, but put your own spin on it and give it a go.

Now, being listed is a different beast. What triggered for me was thinking about who is in front of the market. 

Too often, I see just the MD or CEO speaking to the market, when you have bright, engaging, and insightful people in the team hiding away in the dark.

Let them shine, let them grow.

Because at the same time, you all keep telling me how time-poor you are. 

So here's a classic two birds, one stone solution.

Start thinking through who else in the business can get involved in IR. People to put on camera. People to bring on a roadshow. The board, the executive, the broader team. 

They don't need to handle a roadshow by themselves on day 1 - but maybe they can take on some of the load, answer questions, join you on a webinar or some meetings. They can help spread the load and maybe unlock some new areas too.

Who else can you bring forward and let them shine? They might step up and really surprise you, and it could also save you a bunch of time!

Cheers,

Ben