Carleen Hawn, Susanna Hamner and Erick Schonfeld write a How to Succeed in 2007 piece for Business 2.0. (Might require subscription) They query fifty of today's leading biz people with how they have become successful. With the utmost of respect for Carleen, Susanna and Erick, along with photographer Marc Simon, and the diligent work they've completed in putting together this most interesting feature, I will glean and paraphrase the comments of those leaders who resonate with me.
The link out to each company that I list here will take you to its About page or Company information.
Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google - Keep it simple. Make it simple. Focus on features not products. I find Google's home page clean and refreshing.
Howard Schultz of Starbucks - Trust is the foundation of the emotional connection they seek with customers and employees. Exceed the expectations of employees first.
Michael Dell of Dell Computers - Transform economies and improve lives with increased digital access.
Chris Dewolfe of MySpace - Add value to your member's lives while being consistent with your brand's identity.
Stephen Covey of FranklinCovey - Moral authority comes from character and contribution.
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures - Build a blog that builds your biz. Post everyday to build an audience. Use a sensational headline. Make it real and personal. Fred, I would provide a link from your biz blog to your personal blog A VC. Fred, who lends millions of dollars to businesses, provides a valuable lesson at A VC. He makes money from his personal blog. My only question is, do I start affiliating before or after I have collected over fourteen-thousand readers of my site? Think I'll make myself reader number 14,219. Way to go Fred!
Richard Branson of Virgin Group - If you're the leader, respond to people and give encouragement. Saying no shouldn't be delegated.
Rachel Ray - Take advantage of early opportunities. You can't be all things to all people. Decide what it is that you are and then stay true to that thing.
Debra Lee of BET Networks - Always maintain good relations. Don't burn bridges.
Edgar Bronfman of Warner Music Group - Hold town hall meetings within your company. Hold employee roundtables. Maintain confidentiality.
Kevin Rose of Digg - Let users run the show. Give tools to spread-n-share interest and share interests with others. Users will promote what is important to them.
Anne Mulcahy of Xerox - Build your corporate culture to define how you treat your employees, your customers, your vendors and community. Stay true to your values.
Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media - Be first. Not first...? Create a new category. Position yourself at the leading edge of a new wave. Tell a big story. Conferences - make em an A-list party. Care about the attendees.
Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank - Business is about problem solving. Most problems today sound complicated. They're not. Complications hide solutions. Bring problems back to simplest state.
Andre Agassi of Agassi Graf Development - Understand who you are and find a way to communicate it. It's about what pump blood through your veins, what makes you excited, what pushes your buttons.
Chad Hurley of YouTube - Have something people can use and go from there. Listen to the community and adjust. Give business partners what they want.
Ram Shriram of Google - Hire smart. Don't compromise. Define the market problem. Break it down into small pieces so you can understand yourself. Be flexible and open to change.
Pamela Thomas-Graham of Liz Clairborne - From Jack Welch - people need to see the urgency and passion of their leader if they're going to fully engage.
Jeff Hicks of Crispin Porter & Bogusky - Produce content that is relevant, entertaining, interesting and involving. Begin with the product. Customers own your brand, you don't.
Carly Fiorina - Learn from your mistakes. Pick yourself up and move on.
Donald Trump of Trump Organization - Focus on solutions not problems.
Craig Newmark of Craig's List - Trust your customers. Give them power to do things right. Embrace customer service.
Chris Albrecht of HBO - Use instinct, intuition and intelligence. Trust your gut.
Bruce Chizin of Adobe Systems - Emphasize innovation. Encourage employees to question status-quo.
Stewart Butterfield of Flickr - Have a reason and care about what you are doing. Interestingly, CNNMoney.com, the Website of Business 2.0, Fortune and Money, where the Web based version of this interview sits, prints the F-word which is spoken by Stewart in his piece. While I do not particularly care for swearing, it demonstrates a refreshingly loose attitude from uptight, corporate conglomerate Time Warner.
Alan Hassenfeld of Hasbro - Brands: keep the old new but don't sacrifice their core essence as you udpate them.
Brad Garlinghouse of Yahoo - Understand what your mainstream users care about.
Malcolm Gladwell - Build coalitions and compromise. Build teamwork.
Mike Eskew of UPS - Always strive to do better. Transform, evolve and execute.
Brad Anderson of Best Buy - Utilize the perspectives of those employees who are dying to be heard from to make your business better.
Mark Benioff of Salesforce.com - Build a great product. Build demand. Create distribution to fulfill demand. Make sure customers are happy.
Andrea Jung of Avon Products - Continuously reinvent yourself and your company.
Ron Sargent of Staples - Differentiate. Figure out why your customer would drive by a competitor to come to you.
Mireille Guiliano - Respect your efforts and the product you create. Protect the brand called you.
Karen Francis of Publicis & Hal Riney - Develop your own skills for success. Develop and use a personal network. Following a Google search for Karen's company a message instructed me to update my Flash or something. Not good Karen.
Brian McAndrews of aQuantive - To marketers: Personalize your message. Be relevant. Use new media.
Gary Hamel author of Leading the Revolution - Evolve. Do not cling to precedent. To learn; unlearn.
John Chambers of Cisco - Technology will enable all business strategies and human interaction. It is important of the non-technical person to understand and identify market transitions and position company accordingly.
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