Ones and Twos

Startups are hard

Нотатки й обговорення статті “Ones and Twos” про два важливих скілсета менеджера. Оригінал: https://a16z.com/ones-and-twos/

There are two core skills for running an organization:

* Knowing what to do

* Getting the company to do what you know.

CEOs are usually one of the other, rarely both.

Ones: Knowing what to do

Things they enjoy:

* Gathering information from a broad variety of sources

* Making decisions

* Doing strategy work and playing “high dimensional chess”

Things they don’t enjoy:

Execution details required to run a company, such as process design, goal setting, structured accountability, training, and performance management.

Twos: Getting the company to do what you know

“thoroughly enjoy the process of making the company run well”

They insist upon super clear goals and strongly prefer not to change goals or direction unless absolutely necessary. They also get overly anxious over big decisions, especially when there is uncertainty.

You need both

Founding CEOs tend to be Ones and must watch out for the “getting it done” part.

“Often Two executives act as Ones for their functions, but Twos as members of the executive team.”

If you’re a One, having another One on your staff can be counterproductive because she will want to set her own direction rather than follow yours. As a result, many great One CEOs employ primarily Twos and Functional Ones on their staff.

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