Chapter 3Ops: Wearing the CEO's Diet Coke
Today I'm thinking about Bill, one of the smartest and craziest people I know. He is a large, short man with long black hair that's balding on top. He's always sweating, loud, and often obnoxious. He loves Subway and dislikes pretentious food. Bill can drink, and he finds every good, bad, and ugly reason to take his team and people he likes for too many pours from the well. Most important, he makes people happy when they are around him. You are either Bill's friend, and he takes care of you, or you are his enemy, and he seeks to bury you for your faults, misses, or anything that he can use to show you who's boss.
He loves Disney. Loves it. He knows all the ins and outs there before there were apps and secret guides on navigating FastPasses and getting the most for your time and dollar. When necessary, I know I can always diffuse Bill's anger by bringing up Disney, and he'll switch gears to tell me all he knows. He plans my trip there, and I am grateful for his advice. He's a kid at heart but a bulldog when it comes to getting things done.
Several weeks before I met Bill, I had no choice but to say goodbye to my head of network operations. Pavel is a nice guy, and we are close, even though I had trouble making friends with the staff and my direct reports once I became their leader. For the most part, he knows how to get shit done, but he is nervous and struggles to answer questions with authority. We are a growing company, and management ...
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