When Dan Neuburger worked at American Express, he was seen as the entrepreneurial guy in a strategic company. But when he
went to Cendant Corp., where a year was considered a long time, he was seen as the long-term, strategic guy. He hadn’t changed
his leadership style; it was just a matter of working in two different cultures. Those different experiences help him now as
president of the $152 million staffing firm Todays Staffing. Neuburger spoke with Smart Business about how he makes difficult
decisions when he doesn’t have all the information he needs.
Be decisive. Making a good decision and making progress is better than making the perfect
decision and taking too long to make it.
E.L. Doctorow is a famous American novelist, and he once said that writing is like
driving a car at night — you only see as far
as your headlights go, but you can make the
whole trip that way. It’s a great visual that
reminds me that you can make progress by
capitalizing on the small amount of forward
vision that’s exposed by your proverbial
headlights.
It is better to make decisions that require
midcourse corrections, knowing it will
require midcourse correction, than it is to
not make a decision because you’re looking for all the facts so nobody looks over
your shoulder and says, ‘Ooh, you made a
mistake!’ I’m OK with making mistakes. I
don’t know about the rest of you guys, but
I’m human.
Small actions can be the steppingstones
that eventually get you to where you want
to go. Sometimes you need to be moving
from one small milestone to another
instead of trying to jump across the ocean.
Be guided by principles rather than just
business goals. You give yourself more
latitude to make mistakes because
you’re still operating consistently with
those values.
Fail intelligently. Encourage people to try
new things and have intelligent failures.
Some organizations are petrified to fail. It’s
important to fail because it shows that
you’re stepping out of the box and trying
new things.
The definition of insanity is doing the
same thing over again and expecting a different result. If you make a mistake, figure
out what went wrong so you don’t make
that mistake twice. Celebrate the breakdown. Let’s figure out what went wrong.
We’ll make plenty of other mistakes.
We’re human, but let’s make sure we don’t
make that same mistake again. That is not
intelligent failure.
There’s stuff that you know, stuff you
don’t know and stuff you didn’t realize you
were going to learn along the way. When
you try new things, you learn the things you
otherwise wouldn’t learn, and when you do
that, you create competitive advantages.
Lead change. As a leader, you can’t say,
‘We’ve been good in the past, therefore,
we’re always going to be good.’ You’re not.
Talk to people in your organization, get
their ideas, create the burning platform,
and then communicate with them often to
keep them involved in the changes you’re
contemplating making.
Years ago, we changed the comp plans.
We were going to pay people more money
if they performed well, but they freaked
out. We could sit there until we were blue
in the face talking about it, but they didn’t
see it as a positive as much as they viewed
it as a change. Even when people understand the current situation isn’t working,
they hold on to the past because it’s more
comfortable to deal with a known situation
than an unknown.
Have a healthy degree of respect for the
past, but you also have to drive change.
Tony Blair has been quoted as saying, ‘I’m
proud of my country’s past, but I don’t want
to live in it.’
Hire for will instead of skill. The will is the passion to do something, the desire to do
something, the motivation. The skill is the
obvious piece — the expertise.
If you lack the desire to put forth the
effort to differentiate yourself and your
company, you’re never going to be the best
you can be, and the company will never be
the best it can be. The technical stuff is the
least important.
Ask a lot of questions when you’re doing reference checks. And not just the people
that the individual says, ‘Call Billy Bob and
Mary Sue, and they’ll tell you all about me.’
Call that person, but ask them who else did
you work with? I’ll ask around in my network and see who else may know them.
You’ll get the real scoop.
Never accept at face value what somebody’s referrals say. There’s a saying I’ve
shared with my folks and it’s, ‘Don’t accept
your dog’s admirations as conclusive evidence that you’re wonderful.’
Take your time hiring. It’s like getting married.
The person you’re hiring, you hope will be in
a long-term relationship with the company.
I’ve seen people say, ‘I have this opening.
I have to get it filled.’ They quickly find candidates. They interview them. They pick
the tallest dwarf, meaning they pick the
best person on this sheet of candidates.
Then, six months later, when the person
isn’t performing, and they’re going through
the brain damage of having to fire the person and start the process again, they’re
going to end up in the same situation.
Take the time to go through the process
the right way, and never hire someone
unless you’re absolutely positive it’s the
right person. If you don’t have the skills to
do that, you’re better off raising your hand
and asking for help from a leader in the
organization who does have that skill set or
going to (a staffing firm).
Make people care. Learn how to motivate
other people. If a leader can connect people to the importance of what they do, then
they’ll have passion. Then you’ll be able to
accelerate whatever it is you ask them to
do. It’s like adding rocket fuel to gasoline.
We showed a video of candidates talking
about how Todays helped them find a job
and now they can support their family. …
People said afterward, ‘I forgot what I do
for a living. I don’t just fill jobs. I help people with their lives. I really do something
important.’
Figure out the common cultural bond of
the people, and that’s why they should do
the things I’m asking them to do for our
short- and long-term plans.
HOW TO REACH: Todays Staffing, (877) 586-3297 or
www.todays.com