📖 Business
First Who, Then What
A principle discovered in Collins' research: good-to-great leaders didn't start by setting a new vision, strategy, or direction. They started by getting the right people on the team and the wrong people off. THEN they figured out where to go. This reverses the conventional wisdom that great leaders start with a compelling vision and recruit people to execute it. Collins found that if you have the right people, they'll figure out the right direction together. If you have the wrong people, no vision will save you.
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How It Works
The core sequence:
- Get the right people ON the bus
- Get the wrong people OFF the bus
- Get the right people in the RIGHT SEATS
- Then — and only then — figure out where to drive the bus
Three practical hiring/people rules from the research:
- When in doubt, don't hire — keep looking. A company should constrain its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people. It's better to have unfilled roles than filled-with-wrong-people roles.
- When you know you need to make a people change, act. The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake. The right people don't need to be tightly managed.
- Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. If you sell off your problems, don't sell off your best people with them. Managing problems drains energy; pursuing opportunities creates it.
Why "who" before "what" works:
- The right people are self-motivated — you don't need to manage or inspire them
- The right people will debate vigorously but commit fully once a decision is made
- If the direction changes (and it will), the right people adapt — the wrong people cling to the old plan
- "What" decisions become easier because you have excellent judgment in the room