The Indiepinion

Jason Black at SXSW from Diverge Communications on Vimeo.

I just would like to draw these two quotes from this edited lecture:

• (8:20) “you gotta overcommunicate, you gotta bring your team in and show them where they fit within the food chain”
• (11:35) “if you feel like you have to have a lot of people in a meeting it says there’s not a clear accountability and ownership”

And on a related note i would like to point you to W. E. Peterson’s (now online) book Almost Perfect about his time at WordPerfect. I think he closes with a very pinpoint accurate summary:

If you read this book hoping to learn more about running a business, then I hope you noted the parts about teaching correct principles and allowing employees to govern themselves. In spite of the problems I had understanding and implementing this philosophy, I am convinced it is the best way to run a business. In today’s competitive environment, businesses can no longer afford the overhead of one supervisor for every five or six employees. As organizations flatten and supervision decreases, employees will make more decisions on their own and govern themselves much more than they have in the past. If a company is to function effectively, its employees must have a good understanding of what is expected of them. Very small organizations may be able to find success without defining and teaching correct principles, but any business with more than 25 or 30 people must get organized.