A VC - Latest Comments in Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Emeri Gent [Em] — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:11:33 -0000

Deep apologizoments Josh, I did not pick up on your comment until now, and just like Rambo, I am still in the thick of my verbal forest while everyone else has returned to a different channel or thread of civilization to carry on in the chattering city. I do not know what my "pp of pp" comment means either, other than it is poetic and that it is probably an extremely good thing not to be encased in a box called logical parameters.

I always find the best response by far is to be left speechless by a comment. There is no emoticon that can substitute the singular act of jaw dropping and wide eyed silence. The single most valuable act of community isn't to occupy our time in responding, but occupy our time in thinking.

I remember once reading Taiichi Ohno just becoming speechless in the way he tackled Toyota as a system and like you, he put the customer first, in reading him, he directed me to "Today and and Tomorrow" a 1926 book by Henry Ford. For many Ford is deemed an ignorant man, but one isn't made speechless by judgments, but by the things that surprise us. Henry Ford sure surprised me and the emoticon for that kind of surprise I guess, is just pure "white space". It is after all in that "white space" that thinking can occur (I mean here the single K of dynamic knowledge and certainly not the triple K of highly programmed or conditioned linear mindsets).

Pax Tecum
[Em]
GoAL #04

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Emeri Gent [Em] — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:24:44 -0000

Dear "Name", I must say that I remain somewhat confused about your distinction between great Companies and Organizations. I am never afraid to indulge in accepting what does not make visceral sense to me because I always assume that the other person see's something that I do not. Therein lies the opportunity to learn and transform oneself in the light of another view.

I did learn from your comment at least one big thing. That I had never considered the distinction between the word "company" and the word "organization". I recognize that a simple visit to a dictionary would have sufficed but I struggled with your distinction for a week only to end this struggle by doing precisely this, to head for the simplest explanation (this is way more than just dabbling my intellectual whatsits by citing grandly "Occam's Razor" - but I did find the dictionary definitions very helpful)

COMPANY: an organization which sells goods or services in order to make money
ORGANIZATION: a group of people who work together in a structured way for a shared purpose

Wait a company is an organization WHOAAA! Man, this sushi is beginning to taste like real cold fish. Now I am trying to figure out (I would use the word distillate but I don't want to set off more fire alarms) what it is that you meant when you said "this article is written in best light about great Companies not Organizations", because though I always manage to learn something or another from my own verbose nonsense, I always like to give others the benefit of the doubt. Moreover I am still learning the art of engaging a conversation, otherwise it really is more of a case of "hit and run" isn't it mate?

I always thought that greatness is a comparison. If the above definition serves me right, then great people create great organizations which become great companies. I also recognize that within an individual itself, there is never a case of 100% greatness. Take Paul from the New Testament for example. His greatness lies in the fact that his transformation was from Saul, that the extent of Saul's evil was also the possibility of Paul's good.

So let me then come back to "Great Companies". Companies therefore are organizations unless there is some magical thinking involved and people are devoid from this equation. Moreover we have heard about those who focus on not so great companies. Among these people are Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Micheal Moore. Grant it that these people also make their livelihood from the very commercial system that they deem to criticize, I certainly do not need to give them any more publicity than they have already attained, but I cannot see how one can talk about great companies (The Paul Corporations), without addressing the awful ones (The Saul Corporations) and the only point in doing so (as far as I note it) is that we believe in our heart of hearts, that a conversion is possible.

Otherwise why seek the unattainable, why commit a horrible form of organizational idolatry, by placing "great companies" on some higher plane or mantle or pedestal and worship them thus. Unless this comparison affords a future shift, a transformation or (as I prefer a metanoia) then any other way of looking at this is simply a pointless list.

I am sure that what you meant with your distinction has a basis of profound virtue for me, but I cannot find it my friend, for I have been thinking about this one for days now and there is no personal payback. I found the distinction interesting when you raised it but I can't see what it is you see here. This is not a case of agree or disagree, or put up or put down, this is just simple 101 learning, that I am capable of learning from my mistakes, I am not afraid of exploration (nonsense) and I should speak less to say more (the Bible also a thing about how one wags their tongue and how a tiny rudder can steer a great ship).

Treat this response not as a rebuttal or an argument but merely serving my tendency to think out aloud. I am very sure that this tendency often gets me into more trouble than it appears to be worth, but if I come out the other end, an ounce or an inch wiser than I came in, that is called personal profit - the kind that people in organizations must make, for without that sense of personal profit, there is no opportunity to expand company profit.

Since our collective mission here is hopefully to know how to create, form and lead great companies, I still thank you my friend your interjection, but alas, as much as I have learned from this interaction, I cannot see separate greatness by separating company and organization.

Pax Tecum
[Em]
GoAL #04

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Emeri Gent [Em] — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:19:13 -0000

Do agree with both of your posted comments. When Fred Wilson replied "I hadn't thought of it that way", that did give me pause for thought why I should have personally read the negative into this.

If I walk away with one learning point from this thread, it is what you have stated in your first response "this article is written in best light about great Companies (I stand corrected on Not Organizations)".

The last thing I want to do is come online with pretensions and declarations, for thoughtfulness I guess is a way of connecting our prefontal cortex with our basal ganglia. I think your interjection yesterday was poignant and I learned from it.

Thank You for your considered response. What I agree about most in your comment is that we do not need to expand on what good means, for it is difficult and personally challenging enough simply trying to find the good in our own selves and let that guide our integrity and personal awareness.

Pax Tecum
[Em]
GoAL #04

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Name — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:58:28 -0000

Great companies don't get involved in damaging politics that contributes to the harm of humanity and the planet

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Name — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:54:42 -0000

obviously change is for the better.
The mere mention of Terrorists has no place in this article. Then we will also need not talk about Politics and Democratic Terrorist Governments
this article is written in best light about great Companies not Organisations. Change for the better good of all. Do we need to expand on what good means

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

fredwilson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:32:02 -0000

Have you noticed any change in the past six months?

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Carol Bradley — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:24:28 -0000

I hope Etsy staff listened. They often put the engineers' ideas first and customers (sellers) last.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

WaterWise Inc. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:47:11 -0000

Well put. I shall pass this on! Mary

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Senia — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:44:51 -0000

LOVE IT! Just sent this as a note to our main staff to see how we can be even more of these.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

TimWalker — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:50:43 -0000

Doug -- I think you're right. Many companies wonder why they're bad at innovation, but what this really means is that they're blind to all the ways they stifle it. Great companies *welcome* beneficial change.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

RJ — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:07:37 -0000

Do you think manufacturers and distributors are utilizing technology to improve their business processes effectively? Or is there a generation chasm that needs to get crossed that holds them back?

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Jeff Slobotski — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:31:06 -0000

Great post! Fred, you constantly amaze me...keep up the great work and congrats on Foursquare!

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

willgoldberg — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:02:46 -0000

Unfortunately, I think they are having major problems from a human capital perspective, marketing, and sales. I think they grew too quickly and did not have the infrastructure in place to handle the massive expansion

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

fredwilson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:39:04 -0000

I love it

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

ShanaC — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:22:40 -0000

Not the conversation I had. Was more about Brand management in Chicago and "neighborhoodness" as a concept that did not translate well from NY.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Mike O'Horo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:14:30 -0000

Mario Morino is the retired founder of what became Legent. After selling to CA, he led the DC-based "netpreneurs" (www.netpreneur.org) community through the first dot-boom in the late '90s. Since then, he's been committed to the problems of urban youth, and is engaged in what he calls "venture philanthropy," which refers to using VC principles to help disadvantaged groups create sustainable sources of income, value and wealth. This is his alternative to simply bestowing grants. You can find him on Facebook. He's a great and warm man; I'm sure he would be happy to share his concepts with those of you in the philanthropic world.

Entrepreneurs, please don't contact him for investment in commercial ventures. That's not where his head is now.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Mike O'Horo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:53:24 -0000

At the risk of sounding like the crusty old dude here among all the young mountain-climbers, I'll suggest that motivation (appropriately) evolves with age. In our 20s, many Boomers wanted to (and arguably, did) change much about the world we perceived then. Our social/political activism was the zeitgeist of the '60s and early '70s. It may be that those now in their 20s perceive the way to improve the world is to create great companies that make work/life so much better than what most of us experienced throughout our careers. That would be a huge contribution to the world. I would put it on par with our having gotten 18-yr-olds the right to vote and changing the civil rights/race relations picture in the US.

Many of us now in our late 50s have climbed various business mountains and, having fallen off some of them or, more recently, learning some harsh truths about the financial instruments in which we misplaced our faith, find the desire to make some money to assure a dignified retirement sufficiently noble, indeed. What we feel no need to add is that the same values that drove us 40 years ago are now long baked into our business philosophies and need not be part of our rhetoric.

So, we'll do things the right way, and be fair and equitable to those who help us. However, we'd be supremely disingenuous if we posed like we weren't doing this for money.

Pursuit of financial return and making a meaningful difference need not be mutually exclusive. It all depends on what you're already made of.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Mike O'Horo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:34:28 -0000

According to all the recent Gallup Mgmt stuff, the key is, as scottmag says, finding great people, but if you align their jobs with their strengths, you no longer have to motivate them, train them or manage them because they bring all that with them. "Guide"? Yes.

I would also encourage all to read "Pyramids Are Tombs," by Joe Phelps, who owns a creative shop in L.A. that is 100% operated by self-directed, self-managing teams. Joe has proven that this is not mere theory, but a reliable strategy. I met him by chance when we were both dining solo in NY. He's an interesting guy and worth looking up if you go to L.A.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Mike O'Horo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:24:58 -0000

Embracing, applying and adapting others' ideas is true of every entity, whether company, government, school, group, etc. An it's not always voluntary. One baseline reason for this is that a good idea, once exposed, rapidly becomes an expectation. For example, way back in the early days of what was then called "e-commerce," when Amazon made it so noticeably easy to buy from them online, that became the expectation of every online shopper. One could argue that "free" has followed a similar arc, i.e., once someone began publishing worthwhile content for free, it became the expected norm. Today's innovation is tomorrow's norm.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

billbliss — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:50:12 -0000

Great companies also have great leaders who know they must grow and develop more great leaders for the company to continue to grow and prosper - so that the cycle of all you spoke about can continue.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Paul — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:23:44 -0000

Good post. Gives a lot to think about.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

Anthony Bynoe — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:38:33 -0000

Couldn't have listed it any better. Great post.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

fredwilson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:29:03 -0000

me too

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

hoongyee — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:22:02 -0000

I don't see any difference at all. Greatness is its own gene pool. I look forward to philanthropy becoming synonymous with venture capital and vice versa.

Re: Ten Characteristics of Great Companies

fredwilson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:47:02 -0000

That's a great list. But why should we differentiate between for profits and non profits?