Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building
In addition to my new role at Crowdbotics, I've also started reading a recently published book on scaling people management. It was written by Claire Hughes Johnson - former COO of Google and Stripe. I'm excited because it purports to be a pragmatic take on management, complete with templates and workbook material.
Update: I've read this book, and it would have been a lot more eye-opening to me when I started my leadership journey. Although I appreciated the articulation and writing style, I had already come to many of the insights on my own. I will recommend this book to new managers or folks leaning in that direction.
Notes from the introduction:
- You need process, and you need it sooner than you realize
- A company will not get far without "core processes": strong management and sound operating systems.
- Companies and teams must establish a playing field where everyone participates and marks progress.
You know why playing a game is fun? Because it has rules, and you have a way to win. Picture a bunch of people showing up at an athletic field with random equipmnt and no rules. Someone is going to get hurt. You don't know how to play, you don't know how to score, and you don't know how to win.
- Research has found that people who outperform in their fields employ strategies that move them past the autonomous stage of learning, like athletes who use speed workouts to improve their performance.
- A combination of core frameworks, such as hiring and planning practices and underlying leadership principles, can help scale an organization.
Workbooks: http://press.stripe.com/scaling-people/workbooks
Consider reading: https://www.amazon.ca/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets
Two more books on Stripe Press that I can thoroughly recommend: