company culture Archives - The Grassy Road

The choice we make to be loyal, or not

Is loyalty a good thing – or is it a dirty word? Depends on the context – politics, business, your family? But when talking about professional loyalty it can be a double-edged sword. Fundamentally to be loyal to another person is a choice you make. You may have several different reasons to choose to be loyal. You may admire the person – their intellect, their effectiveness, their values. You may be grateful to them for helping you through a tough situation. Maybe they made you money, or promoted you and [...]

By Penny Herscher|2021-09-15T05:56:09-07:00September 14, 2021|Career Advice|Comments Off

Managing the switchbacks of your career

A successful career is rarely a straight line up the slope. It is so often a weaving up through experiences and it's important to recognize how and when to weave. I did a coaching session yesterday where just this question came up. This time the individual had years of engineering, both as a stellar software engineer and also as a manager and can feel he wants to do more - can do more - and knows he needs to broaden his skillset. I have a handful of principles which can [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-01-04T10:01:14-08:00July 18, 2018|Career Advice|Comments Off

When to tell your employees to take a hike

Small companies are like families. They are full of tension, tight relationships, dreams and disappointments and they form a culture all of their own. And when they are small how each and every employee behaves affects the culture of the company. What it is like to come to work every day, how people solve problems, how they interact and help each other, or don't. In every group of employees you hire you are bound to hire a few non performers, and it's management 101 that you know you have to [...]

By Penny Herscher|2020-01-09T11:23:39-08:00May 13, 2017|Leadership|0 Comments

5 Pros and Cons of Being CEO of Your Company

Being in the role of CEO can be terrific. You're it. You've gained the power to put your brilliant idea into practice. You're synonymous with the company for your customers, your employees and your investors. Your family is proud of you. You feel like the sky's the limit. And yet, the role is a double-edged sword. If your company is a big public company, you can possibly be looking at $10, $20, $30M+ a year. Or very easily get fired. If it's one of the handful of $1B unicorns coming out of Silicon Valley, then this time [...]

By Penny Herscher|2018-02-26T08:48:07-08:00January 27, 2015|Leadership|0 Comments

Forced ranking is about the top, not the bottom

How do you rank against the guy next to you—better, worse, the same? And do you think the process of your managers discussing you relative to your peers is a good thing, or a bad one? The practice of forced ranking—or the euphemistically named "vitality curve"—was developed by Jack Welch and GE in the 1980's as a way to identify non-performers and so improve the financial results of the company. It was quickly picked up by companies in Silicon Valley with more aggressive cultures, like Intel, and used as a [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:27-08:00December 2, 2013|Leadership|0 Comments

Stop Sh****ing on me!

There's a word in the English language that, when you hear it, is likely to either make you feel guilty, or make you turn off. Do you say it? What do you do when you hear it? What's your reaction when someone says "you should" to you? It's a turnoff, isn't it? And yet it's pervasive in the way many people speak in business. There's the person who thinks they're a coach and you can benefit from their wisdom. Instead of listening and carefully reflecting ideas for you to figure [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:51:27-08:00November 8, 2013|Career Advice|0 Comments

Sales is a Team Sport

Sometimes sales culture glorifies the lone sales rep: the road warrior who goes out and hunts, slays the order and throws it, still bleeding, on your desk, seeking your praise like a big game hunter standing over his kill's rapidly cooling dead body. Is this how your best guys—your top performers—sell? Or do they view sales as a sport that's won as a team? Now, I'm the girl who hates sports on TV, who reads a book during Super Bowl parties (except during the ads of course) and has never [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:27-08:00October 31, 2013|Leadership|0 Comments

Ask the provocative question in a job interview: Do you have kids?

I love to ask the question "do you have children?" in a job interview. What!? you think to yourself - didn't she go to training on what questions not to ask??? Well there's a method to my madness... If you've been through interview training then you know there are a set of questions you are told not to ask like are you married? do you have children? are you thinking of having children? how old are you? etc. You may have been told that it is illegal to ask these [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:51:48-08:00October 14, 2013|Career Advice|0 Comments

It takes guts to make imperfect decisions

Every day we make decisions that impact our future. Every day we decide on pricing, product, sales strategy, hiring and because it's an imperfect world we never have enough information. When you're building a company you have to get very comfortable with making decisions on partial information. There is never enough time to assemble all the facts, and if you wait for them you'll fail anyway because the opportunity will pass you by. Think about product design. When you're creating a new market and growing fast you can't take the [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:27-08:00August 9, 2013|Leadership|0 Comments

Triathlon teambuilding

Over the years I've found that real teams form when you have an intense experience together, or repeated intense experiences that force you to be authentic and completely present - and so your true self - because you are reacting to the intensity. This happens on deals, it happens on tough product releases, but it's the most fun when it happens outside the office. In a competition for example... Yesterday 16 Rainmakers competed in the Cupertino Splash and Dash with me. This is a 1 mile lake swim followed by [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:27-08:00August 2, 2013|Leadership|0 Comments