Lesson #16
Managing People Is about Achieving Objectives through Others
Any time you put more than two people together in the same room, you're going to run into politics and a variety of human-resource–type issues—which usually creates problems and distractions. However, you'll sleep a little easier if you remember this one thing: Managing people is nothing more than achieving specific objectives through others. Sometimes you simply have to show, coach, or teach them how to do it. And other times, you must tell them to get over it and, as the Nike slogan proclaims, they need to “just do it.”
Entrepreneurs commonly fail in the early stages because they think they can do everything themselves. What's worse is that even when they realize they can't, they don't recognize what things they should be hiring others to handle and which tasks they should be performing themselves.
Not surprisingly, many entrepreneurs tend to do the things they like and think they can do better than anyone themselves. They don't take the time to teach others how to complete these tasks and therefore free themselves to tackle more substantive issues and opportunities that provide a bigger payback. In situations like these, entrepreneurs are ultimately doomed to fail or run out of steam, because they are constantly exhausted. This also usually means that some critical must-do items never get done.
There is a geometric progression in business: As your venture gets more complex, your day becomes more compressed. ...
