“When you spread yourself too thin, you give 60 percent here
and 40 percent there,” Schottenstein says. “Give 110 percent to a few key areas
and let someone else give 110 percent and don’t spread yourself too thin.”
If you find that too hard to do by yourself, put a board
together of people outside the company who you can trust to provide honest
feedback.
“You have to find people that aren’t satisfied with great,
they want exceptional,” Schottenstein says. “I found successful people and
people that I make their clothes and I have gotten fairly close to them. I’m
constantly trying to hear from them. What makes you tick? What would you do in
this situation? What would you recommend? Sometimes they don’t want to be
bothered with it. But that’s part of being an entrepreneur. You don’t take no
for an answer.”
Your reaction to criticism can go a long way toward encouraging
people to be straight with you.
“There are moments when you want to freak out and go crazy on
someone,” Schottenstein says. “All you’re doing is telling those people, ‘Don’t
ever tell this guy bad news because if you do, he’s going to go crazy on you.’
Praise in public and criticize in private.
“You have to listen to criticism, and you have to have people
around you that are willing to criticize. Because if you just let everyone blow
sunshine up your ass all day, you won’t get anywhere.”
Today, Schottenstein shares the duties of leading his business.
He even hired a president.
“Everything is different,” Schottenstein says. “There are
actually people who are held accountable for each and every department. When I
was doing it on my own, every single item and every single thing was me, me,
me.”
Like any addiction, micromanagement is not an easy thing to
give up.
“It’s a leap of faith,” Schottenstein says. “I don’t think
there’s a way to make it comfortable other than to do it gradually.”
