2. CEOFlow Is For You If You Want To… Inspire your employees to care as much about your business as you do Create an environment where you employees always do a great job without you having to push them Make sure you have the right systems in place for your employees to generate predictable sales time and time again Ensure that your employees give your customers the level of service and care that your business promises Get as much free time as you desire to have fun with your family, travel, or just get away for an adventure
5. The Transformation Of Business “Push” Management Employees pushed to do work as an obligation Hard-ass CEO Employees difficult to motivate “Do as I say, not as I do” Internal competition Decisions pushed up to highest levels Employees sink-or-swim “Pull” Management Employees “pulled” by the opportunity to contribute Authentic CEO Inspired employees self-motivate Everyone in the same boat Internal collaboration Decisions made at the lowest level possible Nurturing people
6. Problems You feel like you’re working for your business, rather than having a business that works for you You feel like the business needs a lot of pushing and effort to make it work, it doesn’t flow easily More loneliness and stress at the top Grudgingly motivated employees High turnover Sales and services challenges Uncertainty about next steps, direction
7. My Story: Part 1 Stanford Undergrad + GSB dropout CEO of LeaseExchange: -$5 Million Ironman Triathlon (+ a 3-day coma) 28-day Boulder Outdoor Survival School field course Aka “The bug eating trip” Four years at Salesforce.com in sales & acquisitions Created a sales lead generation process & self-managing team that sourced $100 Million in recurring revenue for salesforce.com Sales book deal with Wiley (#1 business publisher)
8. My $100M Self-Managing Sales System I created a highly predictable sales lead generation process Structure: 1 team lead for every 5 direct reports Sub-teams managed their own: Quality control of sales processes (audit process) Small incentive/marketing budgets Hiring, training Peer reviews Rotating responsibility for who managed the weekly “Salesforce University” team meeting Whole sales team involved in creating the team vision, comp plan & reporting and reconciling (transparent compensation) Team continued growing after I was promoted to acquisitions
9. A Day In My Salesforce.com Life I never had fires to fight! I could spend my time investing in the long-term success of my people and my own contribution to salesforce.com 7a: Wake up, workout, motorcycle to work 9a: Get to work 9a-10a: Email 10a-12a: “Important, urgent” Walk around and do troubleshooting coaching (such as sitting on sales calls) Lunch 1p-5p: “Important, not urgent” 1-1 coaching, walking around and talking with team Work on a project for next month (such as a new lead generation experiment) Win/loss studies on how to improve results End-of-the-month reporting up
10. My Story: After Salesforce.com ‘Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ at Alloy Ventures ($1B) On 10 advisory boards + investor in six companies Founded PebbleStorm, for clients who want to love their work and its rewards: Aspiring entrepreneurs looking to grow a business around their Unique Genius (who then hire people and turn into…) CEOs who want to turn employees into mini-CEOs
11. My ‘Big Wave’: Project 2057 Help 100 million people make money through enjoyment Help them create $1 trillion in new wealth Find ways to measure & increase their happiness with work
12. Still Adventuring ‘07-’09 A month in Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet A month in Bali A month in Buenos Aires A month in China/Japan PebbleStorm Retreat in Kauai 10-day Silent Vipassana Meditation Retreat Burning Man Hoffman Institute Motorcycling
17. Example: Zappos! Ranked #23 on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For Zappos’ revenue was more than $1 Billion in 2008 “Zappos avoids serious titles & uses parties, parades and decorations to open up trust and communication between depts…and to bring customers in on the fun.”
19. Proven CEOFlow Track Records Gore & Associates Semco Zappos IDEO 1-800-Got Junk Patagonia USAA Nearsoft Sea Smoke Cellars AES / Dennis Bakke Joie de Vivre Hotels MindValley Menlo Innovations Axiom News
20. Extreme CEOFlow: Semco & “The Seven Day Weekend” Semco is a $300 million+ company, growing 25% per year. Semco has no organizational chart. No one approves reports or expense accounts. There's no business plan or company strategy, no two year or five-year plan, no goal or mission statement. There’s no long-term budget. The company often does not have a fixed CEO. There are no vice presidents or CIOs. There are no standards or practices. There's no human resources department. There are no job descriptions or employee contracts.
21. What Is CEOFlow? The Systematization Of What The Founders Of These Successful Freedom Companies Have Organically Created
22. CEOFlow’s Puzzle Pieces CEOFlow includes: A “CEOFlow System”, delivered through individual and group coaching Including how to create predictable sales & revenue A community of peers Tools, case studies, CEO interviews Fun adventures! (Local and world) Future: a book
23. Aaron’s Golden Rules Of An Employee-Led Business You work for your employees Create a culture of no surprises and no blame Let go of those who don’t belong Allow your employees to stumble Take baby steps Get a coach or mentor Find a community of like-minded CEOs
24. 5 Myths About Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees You must always seem strong, in control and have all the answers Employees don’t need to (and shouldn’t) know everything that’s going on in the business You have to sacrifice a lot of your own enjoyment and fun for your business to succeed Mistakes and failures are bad The more you work, the more successful the business will be
25. The Step-By-Step CEOFlow System CEO Gets Clear Choose Your Next Adventure Create A Shared Vision Set Up Your Rhythms (Your Drumbeat) What kinds of meetings & events, when Share The Journey Share The Results Gratitude, Profit Sharing Help Choose A Next Adventure
26. Example: Set Up Your Rhythms Transparency & regular communication are essential to creating flow & mini-CEOs Morning Team Check-Ins (3 Goals Habit) Weekly Staff Meetings Regular anyone-is-invited “Meeting Of The Minds” sessions – for anyone who has ideas & wants to help solve problems Friday CEO Updates / Q&A Monthly All-Company Update & Conversation Best: share the board slides with the company Quarterly (Inexpensive) Offsites For All Teams Monthly Internal Coaching / Mentoring Sessions Forget annual performance reviews
33. Benefits To CEO, Employees, Investors Inspired mini-CEOs who want to make a difference and contribute like partners More practical revenue-generating ideas More practical cost-saving ideas Lower turnover Attract high-quality new talent Happier customers = more profit & growth Faster, more sustainable sales Reduced support costs and problems Sustainability: a company that is not dependent on the CEO or single employees More revenue: A CEO and executive team that is more creative, strategic and energized
34. One Bundle Idea: Sales + Freedom + Adventure Sign up for a CEOFlow group adventure (motorcycle trek in Europe, Machu Picchu, etc) Now you’re committed to developing your business In preparation for the trip: a 6-month program to a) Turn your employees into mini-CEOs, and b) Systematize sales/results The mini-CEOs get mini-adventures of their own 2Levels of service Gold: Mastermind/Group Platinum: Gold + Private Aaron Sessions Success metric: “The CEO enjoys their adventure and the company performs better in their absence” Start January 2010
35. Another Idea: A La Carte A focused Sales program, or A focused Freedom (“mini-CEOs”) program,or Just sign up for Adventures Two levels: Gold: a 6-month Mastermind (group) program with regular content and Q&A calls, a 2-day live retreat, etc. Platinum: Gold + Private Aaron Sessions
First a CEO has get to get results, before they can create the space they need to tap into their, and their team’s, enjoyment…in order to increase the motivation and inspiration that will improve results…
It is perfect timing for PebbleStorm, because business has changed, and it will never be the same
My focus: reporting to executives, talent (hiring, coaching, culture, fun I infrequently had fires to personally fight (once per two months?)Example: Marc Benioff wants a personal report/audit from me on a sales deal
The fish stinks from the head
First a CEO has get to get results, before they can create the space they need to tap into their, and their team’s, enjoyment…in order to increase the motivation and inspiration that will improve results…
First a CEO has get to get results, before they can create the space they need to tap into their, and their team’s, enjoyment…in order to increase the motivation and inspiration that will improve results…