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Guest: Chuck Davis
Episode in a Tweet: Leading CEO, e-commerce pioneer and former international president of YPO shares in-the-trenches insights from a storied career.
Quick Background: Chuck Davis has pretty much seen it all. From his early days at blue chip companies to his time running internet pioneers such as Fandango, Shopzilla, and now, Swagbucks, Chuck has a lifetime of lessons and stories. Add to that his time as international president of YPO and you know he’s been at the forefront of best practices for leading companies all over the world.
Transcript: Download the full transcript here.
Key Insights
Chuck Davis: How one hires dictates how one’s company performance will end up going.
1. Put the consumer first.
In building a fast-growth company, Chuck mentioned the importance of going where the consumer went. You need to know what they were buying, what they were experiencing and where they were spending their time. He said, “It is thinking about the consumer first. That’s what I’ve tried to do in every company I’ve been in.”
2. Don’t be a first mover on technology.
“You don’t want to be the first into anything on the technology front in case that technology doesn’t work. I know there are a lot of people that want to be first and be a first-mover, but the risks are higher. So are the rewards,” said Chuck. Being on the bleeding edge can be very costly.
3. “Be in the neighborhood of new technology.”
Rather than be a first-mover on the technology side, Chuck said, “What I try and do, and I try to do this as a consumer also, not just as a CEO, is to be in the neighborhood of this new technology and start learning it to figure out is this something we should be preparing for.” And getting back to thinking about the consumer first, he said, “We try and look at the technology and figure out how will the consumer use it and then should we be in that neighborhood or not. If so, we jump in fully.”
4. Change or die.
On the importance of being open to change, Chuck shared this quote from baseball great Pete Rose, “You die a little everyday. You’ve got to work a little harder everyday to make sure you don’t slow down.” Chuck added, “I would encourage all of us to make sure that we try and defy those odds and not slow down. That means we need to be open for change because even though it’s more comfortable to live in the exact same way we have been living, that is not a good longer-term formula. We need to adapt and we need to progress with technologies, with getting out of our mindset that the way we do it is right, and we need to just keep being flexible.”
5. Continually upgrade your team.
How would you grade yourself? Chuck said he believes, “A’s beget A’s and B’s beget C’s. In other words, if you’ve got a leader who thinks they’re an A, but they’re actually operating at a B-level, then they don’t recognize that they’ve just hired a C person. If that happens, then your organization has more problems in the future than more solutions.” This highlights the importance of continually upgrading your staff. For example, when a team member leaves, always hire someone better than the person who left.
6. From good to great is a big gap–close it.
Good hires don’t make a great company. Great hires do. Chuck said, “There’s a big difference from good to great. I think how one hires dictates how one’s company performance will end up going.” Take a look at your last five hires. Were they good or great?
7. Take a little extra time on the big decisions.
“All too often I see in business that big decisions are made too quickly. Therefore, they aren’t executed properly and then there’s a mop-up to fix it,” said Chuck. To avoid this, Chuck said, “I like to take a little extra time, not to make the decision, but to think through the ripple effects of that decision and how, will, and should it be handled.”
Coaching Takeaways:
1. Avoid the bleeding edge of technology but “be in the neighborhood.” Being first mover might give you bragging rights but it’s usually better to assess new technology, see where consumers are heading, then jump in.
2. Take a little extra time when making a big decision. Despite what you may have heard, great leaders don’t make up their minds very quickly. They take a little extra time to think through the ramifications of their decision so they can improve the effectiveness of its implementation.
3. Don’t settle for good; reach for great when hiring. The quickest route to building a great company is to fill it will great team members. Look at your company’s team. Good or great?
Transcript: Download the full transcript here.
