Five Things That Great VC’s Do = Five Things That Great CEO’s Should Do?
Focus, reducing redundancy, avoiding pointless procedures, better utilization of time are equally applicable to enterprises as they are to start-ups.
And, to VC’s as they are to CEO’s.
I like the following article recently on TechCrunch- 5 Great Things That VCs Do because it:
- Cuts through the chase
- Holds people accountable for the important things
- Allows time to be utilized much better
And frankly, it applies equally to highly focused and results driven executives, for VCs and CEOs of small-medium and large companies.
The 5 things proposed are pretty logical and easy to follow. I wanted to focus on 4 particular elements (and remember my premise: This applies to all execs , VCs and any size company):
1. Replace meetings (which are often repetitive) with meaningful and often more demanding meetings. Replace meetings with regular, brief video or other meet-ups and do so when needed versus hour long scheduled meetings. Folks blank out the hour prior and after a meeting! A sight I will never forget is sitting in the lobby of Microsoft and seeing the employees, laptop in hand, swarming from meeting to meeting…
2. Replace meetings with thinking and processing time. Let’s produce more versus meet up more. Weekly meetings should be abolished!
3. Board meetings are not only ½ day to a full day hog of time but are often totally redundant. Instead, require all board members to read all the material in advance, submit questions, have a one hour board meeting to discuss the critical matters. The matters that often don’t make it on the agenda because reading the slides took 4 hours. And remember, each board meeting sinks support staff time for weeks, during the PowerPoint-festival of impressive slides. That is way ineffective and old school!
4. Yes, all CEO’s should be somehow involved with large clients, and with the company’s key sources of revenue. Instead of burying a CEO in infinite meetings, take her or him on the road and use the time effectively. While meetings are great to show a busy schedule but do very little to grow the business of the company.
Just a few thoughts to ProVoke your thinking around not to do business as usual. If your calendar is booked by meetings every hour, step back and be honest. If you are in meetings how are you getting your work done? Or is it that you like the meetings to keep your calendar busy? Humans need time to think, process and get work done.