Comments on: Take guidance from VCs, not orders

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:23:25 +0000

I read a corresponding post some time ago.

It stuck with me, as the analogy was John Lennon listening to his Manager while the Beatles were trying to ‘make it’ and then telling him to bugger off once they started making and selling music.

After some searching, I found the post: http://bit.ly/7qGhJ8

Keep up the great work!

By: actroll

actroll — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:50:07 +0000

Nature abhors the pathetic fallacy. No wait; that's me.

By: Nivi

Nivi — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:48:36 +0000

Can you elaborate?

By: AG

AG — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:33:14 +0000

Is it me or has the quality of this blog gone way up recently? Maybe I’m just now noticing, but the last handful of posts have been excellent.

Maybe it’s just that now our company is at a stage where this stuff is starting to become relevant.

Either way, cheers to great stuff!

By: Fred Destin

Fred Destin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:03:56 +0000

Oh, pardon my English, but bollocks to that. That is not how the West was won.

By: Nivi

Nivi — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:10:15 +0000

This post reminds me of a great quote from Bill Watkins, the CEO of Seagate:

“You never ask board members what they think. You tell them what you’re going to do.”

From http://j.mp/6K6HsS.

By: Dan Cornish

Dan Cornish — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:53:35 +0000

This assumes that the VCs on the board do not have an alternative agenda like firing the CEO. If a VC tells a CEO “The board wants…” then the point of this article is moot even if they do not have a majority on the board. If the CEO stands up then tells the board what he/she will do, then they have stepped into the trap set by the VC. It will make it much easier to fire the CEO.

The most important thing to remember for a CEO is to pick the right VC and then this is a scenario they will never have to worry about.