The People Around the Table

The older I get, the more I think about how much of a company is really a collection of people and their judgment. Strategies change. Products change. Markets change. But the people making decisions every day have an enormous influence on what the company becomes. I have learned to pay attention to how people think, not just what they know. Curiosity matters. The ability to disagree matters. Knowing when to speak and when to listen matters. So does having people who are willing to tell you something you don’t want to hear. The best conversations I have had at work are rarely the ones where everyone agrees. They are the ones where someone asks a question that changes the way everyone else is looking at the problem. I think the right people don’t just help you execute a vision. They make the vision better.