Dave Alberga is not one to back away from a challenge, such as the economic downturn that hit in 2000 and 2001 as he sought investors
for his new company, The Active Network. But with a solid business plan in hand and a track record of success in his previous endeavors, The Active Network, which offers technology and marketing for active lifestyle organizations, has steadily grown to more than $60
million in revenue this year with nearly 500 employees. With a management a style that welcomes open dialogue and even intense debate
when necessary, Alberga and his company have found their niche. Smart Business spoke with Alberga about his informal leadership style
and how it’s helped his company succeed.
Be open to discussion.
My style is one that’s open to feedback and discussion about almost anything. I hope, frankly, that I project that
style with my personality in all my dealings within the company.
I think it’s through the culture of being informal, and of being open to ideas and giving credence to ideas from every level of the
organization. Inviting real discussion and discourse, not just saying we invite people to differ with us but actually looking for differing opinions and differing points of view on things.
I certainly have strong opinions about things, but I don’t view them as the ultimate answer. I’m very open to being convinced that
my opinion is not the right way to go. My style is very much one of consensus-building.
What I really like to do is get really talented people in a room and let them argue over something passionately until we get to what
we believe is a well-thought-out answer or approach. I’m happy to have people take a devil’s advocate position, so we’re all forced
to argue different sides until we really understand what it is that we’re dealing with.
Find the right people, then match authority with responsibility.
If you’re going to hold someone’s feet to the fire to get something done, you
better make sure that they have the authority within the organization to get it done.
A big part of the job is identifying and recruiting good talent and then giving that talent the right environment in which to be successful. I’m just always recruiting.
There are probably a lot of CEOs out there who are a lot smarter than I am coming up with answers on their own. I rely upon my
staff to come up with answers. I frankly don’t think I come with the horsepower to come up the same quality of answers that my staff
does.
I’d rather pull someone with a ton of intellectual horsepower from a completely different industry than find someone with less
horsepower who has direct industry experience.
I need someone who comes with both the personality and the intellectual bandwidth to change as rapidly as the job is changing.
Learn to deal with complexity.
You have to be comfortable with feeling a bit out of control at all times when you’re growing at this rate,
particularly in a business that really hasn’t been done before.
The best defense against that is actually going out and finding really good talent within the organization that can handle complexity at every level.
If it’s up to only senior management to handle that complexity and to figure out new solutions and processes, you’re definitely
limiting your growth significantly.
Don’t be afraid to admit failure.
This is not something that a lot of managers are terribly comfortable with. I’m very willing to admit failure. I think you’re just doomed to repeat it if you don’t.
I don’t attach a stigma to failure as long as we’re not repeating those failures and we’re learning from them. We’re much more
likely to learn from them if we’re reasonably public about them.
I’m very open about what I think has not been successful, and I’m happy to take responsibility for it.
I assume that even the really best team of folks is going to make mistakes. The key is to learn from those and figure out what the
best answer is. If you have this culture of not wanting to talk about failure, it’s awful tough to avoid walking back into same issue
again.
Watch your money.
It’s far easier to spend than it is to earn. Many companies get themselves in a bad way financially, and it doesn’t
matter how good your products are and how successful you are with your market; if you can’t fund the growth, you’re in trouble.
Make sure you’ve got the right financial backers and the financial wherewithal to hire the right folks.
Know when to take risks.
There’s an element of society that views what I do as very risky as an entrepreneur. I’m not risk-loving; in
fact, I don’t really like risk that much. I just think I have a different perception of risk.
At some point, every company and every CEO faces a situation where it’s not necessarily, ‘Bet the company,’ but it’s certainly,
‘Bet a year’s worth of growth.’ It comes back to, ‘Have you built the right team so that you truly understand what you’re up against?’
There are bets you make as a company that have less or more risk associated with them. If I view something as, ‘Bet the company,’ it’s probably not something I’m going to get behind.
HOW TO REACH: The Active Network, www.active.com