Category Archives: Leadership

The First Sign of Great Leadership

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A great leader can make decisions quickly. Better than most, he or she can efficiently break a complicated problem down into its component parts and take action. Without hesitation. Without fear of being wrong.

Do not be afraid of being wrong. While leaders can only build great things with higher batting averages, it takes practice to hit the ball. With enough experience and mistakes, you should have better chances at making good choices. Over time, two wrongs can make a right.

Opportunities for decision making start small. If you cannot decide where your indecisive group of friends should dine together, then you probably cannot make important product, market, or life decisions.

The Self-Correcting Company

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Give your team ownership and authority enough to solve problems they discover without having to ask your permission first. If you are worried they will correct errors in a manner you do not agree with (or worried they will try to fix things you do not feel are broken), replace those people with others you trust – or learn to open your mind and have faith.

As team leader, you cannot act on everything yourself and are too far removed to supervise every detail of your organization. Therefore, you must either create a system of reporting and permissions to channel all information to you OR give your people the freedom to take care of it. For leaders who want control, the channel system sounds utopian – in practice, it is a staggeringly inefficient and damaging bureaucratic architecture. You simply have too few hours in the day to make decisions for everyone, and your organization will spite you for it.

To keep your company afloat and moving forward, empower your team to use their skills as they see fit. Trust me, it will be more stress off your back, and your company will be better for it.

Cooks and Trees

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Too many cooks in the kitchen. I hear that phrase a lot. Companies or groups with many people putting their hands on it, diluting it, confusing it, and sending it off course run the risk of destroying or burying beautiful things. Understandably, too many people pissing on the same tree does not help the tree grow. Be wary of committee projects, even democratic projects. Too many people with too many opinions can result in too many compromises. And if I’ve learned anything, compromised products are seldom successful.

That said, be careful blaming the opinions or the people involved. It’s not necessarily the cooks’ faults for having opinions; it may very well be the kitchen’s fault for having room enough for too many cooks. If you open the door to that level of collaboration, it must be organized. Fortunately, there are such things as hyper-collaborative companies and organized brain trusts (Pixar is my favorite). With strategy and structure, an over-staffed kitchen could be a very great thing. Do not blame the people; blame structure.

Most Humans Do Not Like Cages

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So don’t put them in one. Avoid boxing people in, limiting their freedoms, or denying opportunities. Job descriptions, risk aversion, regulations, and bureaucracy are all cages in disguise. As a leader, expect people to outgrow the cages you put them in. Be prepared with a bigger cage or let them run free. As a subject or follower, never settle until you find a comfortable cage – or until you break free.

You Cannot Be Proud or Stubborn to Run a Business

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Risk Aversion and Ego are major obstacles to moving small companies forward. If you are afraid to take chances, your company will idle in a nasty spot, and your resources may slip out from under you. If you are too confident in your own vision, your company may miss out on necessary opportunities for collaborative iteration. Simply put, you must be open-minded and accepting of change as a small business leader. Being small affords you the intimacy to avoid the scope and communication issues large companies have. Embrace your size. Keep your ears open. Be flexible. Move forward.

The Back-Up Man

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If your project or company depends on you alone (or one single person) to keep the system running, we have a problem. What if you get sick or quit? How does the company survive if you go on vacation or maternity leave? Who will pick up the pieces and keep your projects alive?

It is unwise to have only one person on staff with a set of specific skills, qualified approvals, or niche knowledge. It is equally unwise to let multiple individuals of similar talent fall out of touch with each other’s responsibilities. Network your team so that each individual has at least one other person’s shoulder to lean on. And make sure all the important pieces are covered should anything fall apart.

Have a back-up man (or woman) as a part of your back-up plan. The United States of America has a Vice President for a reason. You should, too.

Running a Studio vs. Production Company [Film Friday]

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Most businessmen and women in Hollywood think they have what it takes to build the next big label. Most producers think they know better than the studios and can do one better. But there are fundamental differences between building a studio and building a production company.

Production companies see life picture to picture and rarely lock their future in place. Some production company heads have long-term goals, but most are contingent on the success of the company’s material slate. That’s true for all content creators, but production companies fall short by investing all eggs in the movie basket.

Studios take a bigger piece of the pie. The difference between production companies and studios? Studios have assets and scope. Successful studios operate more like landlords and parents than artists or producers. They own backlots, prop houses, sound stages, post production facilities, restaurants, libraries, other companies, equipment, hardware, software, websites, networks, satellites, and more. A sizable portion of the sustainable revenue comes from operating and renting out these assets. Furthermore, most studio executives speak in slates and four year periods. They work hard to see into the future and see past the big fat movie release in front of them. Strong studios invest in things other artists use to tell stories, and they also invest in long-term strategy.

Are you in it for the movie game alone? Or are you in it for the big picture? The long haul? Decide what you want to build. Do not lie to yourself about what you care about.

Drive + Joy = Productivity

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Sure, hard work gets things done. It takes drive, inspiration, and commitment to fuel hard work. But hard work alone cannot generate continuous, sustainable results. It takes a magic ingredient and one far too many large corporations fail to mix into the recipe: joy. Employees need to be happy, and you need to be happy to succeed. If a job is a constant influx of hell and bad tempers, people will burn out and crash.

It is not the employee’s responsibility to find or build that joy. In fact, most workers are too afraid to have fun in the office – like children kicking a ball around indoors, they are afraid they’ll get in trouble. It is the responsibility of the boss and the managers to enable an environment of fun and happiness. Not scheduled, forced happiness like luncheons or copy-room birthday parties. I’m talking arbitrary, unrestrained fun. Random field trips, marshmallow fights, grill days, action figure theft, whatever.

We purchased nerf guns for the office. Random shootouts happen daily now. I see endorphins flowing and smiles forming again. You’ll never know when you’ll get four inches of cold styrofoam to the skull. And I’ve gotten more done on one war day this week than all of the truce days combined.

Shape a culture in your office that enables and promotes joy. You can measure the results.

Good Leaders Decide Quickly

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If you want control, take control. If you want the final say, speak. Do NOT make people wait for your opinion, orders, or perspective. Why? They will lose your respect if you waste their time.

If you think you deserve leadership, then lead as promptly and efficiently as possible.

Inspiring Your Team to Do Well [Film Friday]

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Leading a film is a lot like leading an army, except without the discipline. Hollywood is loaded with egos, agendas, and hard drugs. Everyone wants to make their rate, see his or her name in lights, eat well, and live the good life. It is extremely difficult to wrangle all the different personalities and angles. Getting everyone on board is very difficult most of the time, especially in low budget or strenuous circumstances. Even with genuine people, it is challenging to arrest their full attention.

There is one tried and true tactic for getting everyone on the same page. The same tactic will inspire people to work day and night to get the job done. The same tactic may even convince your team to cut, defer, or waive their rate entirely. Very straightforward: tell a great story.

If your team believes in the project, they will fight to the ends of the earth for it. A great story helps make a 20-hour day okay. A great story helps you accept the low pay or terrible catering. Of course, telling a great story is easier said than done. The best way to tell a story is to believe in it first. If you do not believe in it, no one else will. When you do, find a way to communicate to everyone why and convince them to believe in it, too. With enough love and passion, you can inspire others to help you bring the story to life. Perhaps they will fall in love with it, too.