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"Thrash your Excel lists, but never your people"
: The founders and investors
Johannes Kliesch
and
Marcus Diekmann
Photo:
Private
No time? Here is the executive summary:
Operational excellence is grossly overrated when it comes to evaluating executives.
What is much more important: the ability to inspire people.
The myth of the business genius, which is an interpersonal catastrophe, is just that: a myth.
You can learn to motivate people.
And one of the best investments to increase the fun factor in the team: buying a games console.
Provided you play along yourself.
As investors, we often ask ourselves: What are actually the factors for the success of a start-up?
Or transferred to the world of corporations: How can you determine as early as possible whether a team will achieve its goals or not?
In the first episode of our column, we explained that the wrong parameters are often created.
It therefore seemed fitting to address the most underestimated factor in team success: the inspirational ability of the leaders.
What do we mean by that?
The talent to inspire.
Making people feel important and valuable.
The ability to charge everyday situations with a bit of spring, to be able to smile, to spread fun.
In short: to carry a team along.
Of course, apart from some troglodyte bosses out there, few would dispute the importance of leadership skills.
But leadership and the ability to inspire – they are not quite the same thing.
Most people aren't jerks either, and yet they don't have what it takes to get on the podium.
Why?
Because they don't make those around them feel special.
They don't glow.
There are no statistics on this, but for us it is one of the main factors as to whether entrepreneurial ambitions are realized in start-ups or, dear salaried employees, corporate careers or whether they move in the direction of the second subjunctive.
Forget your business details
Pay attention: It's the people in the first row, the board members, the triple A's of the German economy, who are usually extremely charismatic phenomena.
They can small talk, are attentive and cordial.
When they talk, the room listens to them.
And it is in the second, third, eighth management circles that the gray men and women trample their feet.
We've seen it so many times: You're talking to someone who's charming and affable and whatnot - and the moment you're dealing with the operational level, the room temperature drops to energy crisis levels.
This is no coincidence.
That's the difference between those who have it and those who would like to have it.
While this may apply to bosses in general, it applies all the more to founders: It is not just any other company that they cost a few percentage points of EBIT as a motivational plug.
It's their own, and their inability to pull people along may cost them their existence.
One of us, Johannes, once met a Bundesliga coach in the stadium right before an important game.
"Are you excited?" he asked him.
The answer was: "Nope, not at all. My assistant coaches take care of the line-up and everything else. I just have to make sure that people are in a good mood."
What a great, clever sentence!
The operative is completely overrated in the selection and evaluation of executives.
Processes, KPIs, structures, article numbers, everything is important.
But to be honest: which start-up has really excellent processes?
And what use are they when the team is in such a mood as the disciples were on Holy Saturday?
High performance comes from high spirits, that applies to every company, large or small.
Thresh your Excel spreadsheets as much as you like and need.
But never your people.
The Myth of the Jerk Genius
Those who inspire, motivate - and those who motivate can be a real coach for their own people.
Not in their areas of specialization: As I said, don't get bogged down in operational details - hopefully there are experts in the team who are much better at it.
But the person at the front can help the individual to function better in a team, can develop them, empower them, and – to put it quite selfishly – let them perform better for themselves.
Yes, we can practically hear him, the objection: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Travis Kallanick and so on - Silicon Valley is full of billionaires who are said to pass even the toughest assi test with ease would.
And elbow-mind and alpha maleness are more commonly associated with the top rungs of the corporate ladder than a penchant for group cuddling.
So what?
It may well be part of the nimbus of these "tech geniuses" (completely intentional in quotation marks) that their jerk-tum is somehow connected to their superhuman creative power or even makes it possible in the first place.
But even if that were true, who among us is a Steve Jobs?
And who really wants to be like Elon Musk?
In 2023?
As long as the leadership skills have not yet reached a demigod level, it can be assumed that jerkiness is in reciprocal correlation with team success.
And anyone who compares all their former and current bosses and supervisors to this formula: Of course, there are a few team fenders and motz-lurche underneath, we all know it.
And maybe those departmental Scrooges are very good at what they do.
But they would be better bosses if they were fun to work with.
Or?
The next time you have to fill a management position: Don't take the best professional - take the one who can inspire the most.
If you have to make a career decision, move to the company or team where you feel the most fire.
The ability to inspire can be learned
Now what about those of us who weren't born charm studs?
Who don't wake up in the morning with a toothpaste advertising smile?
Or maybe you're more of an introvert?
Are they forever damned in the second row?
Not necessarily.
As with so many things in life, the same applies to the ability to inspire: It can be learned.
It's difficult, but nobody said that founding or leading is easy.
At this point, we don't want to recommend any of the myriad of guides that exist on this subject;
Anyone can read Amazon reviews for themselves.
We'd rather give you some food for thought.
If you haven't already, say hello to the people at the reception you walk past every morning.
Not just with a nod, but with a smile.
Bring cake to your team.
Ask your employees what they could need from you.
And eat with them - regularly.
What does all this have to do with inspiration?
Quite simply: only those who are present can also inspire.
A team does not need the one chakka speech at the Christmas party.
But constant, real, lived closeness.
You can inspire your people in about 1000 ways.
And every single one requires that you take care of the people.
You don't have to be a stage pig for that.
Just listen carefully and convey that you trust them.
The best business hack?
Mario Kart
Our not-so-secret insider tip: Buy your team a Switch – and, most importantly: play along yourself.
If you just put the thing in the break room, it makes as much sense as the thousands of glorious foosball tables that quietly weep to themselves in German company corridors.
There is no way around it: Play "Mario Kart" with your team.
If possible: daily.
This not only welds together, it is lived employee appreciation and makes you human, approachable - no, it's actually even fun.
And that brings us back to the beginning.
Remember?
I just have to keep people happy!
One of us, Johannes again, did exactly that two years ago (he plays about three times a week).
The Switch was the best business investment he's ever made for his company.
We just checked: The games console is available for 339 euros, Mario Kart 8 for around 60 euros and the booster route pass (more routes, more fun!) for 25 euros.
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You're probably on your phone, probably also logged into your Amazon account.
So what are you waiting for?
PS: We have provided the switch with an affiliate link, not so that Manager Magazin gets a few euros extra. But because we want to know how many of our readers actually make the purchase.
PPS: And if you go through with it, please write to us at chefredaktion@manager-magazin.de how the mood in the team is changing.
PPPS: And if you know even better hacks, please write to us. We're excited – and we'd love to learn more.
