The secrets of really, really lucky companies

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/04/12/luck_inc/?page=full

by robg • 17 years ago

32 5 17 years ago

jmtame2• 17 years ago

Here's the secret: there is no secret ("There is no spoon, Neo.")

GE's hiring practices, although touted quite a lot in Topgrading (which was recommended to me by Mint.com's CEO), may not necessarily work in your case. But the underlying principle of "hire the smartest people" is a theme throughout the book that ties into a bunch of general themes I've seen from many start up success stories.

I don't actually like to read books on this stuff, I'd rather study the people who started the company and hear it directly from them. Across the board, I've heard a pattern of things. I'll grab a few from this: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

1. Hire smart people (#6)

2. Launch fast, iterate a lot (#8)

3. Be frugal (#12)

4. Hustle like crazy (#18)

5. Don't be afraid to take risks (#16)

* This is not a deal breaker.

Use anecdotes for inspiration, nothing else. There are way too many variables that you aren't seeing or accounting for.

jmtame2• 17 years ago

Oops. I deleted my old #1 (have multiple founders) and forgot to delete the footnote "this is not a dealbreaker." too late to edit

alfredb• 17 years ago

Luck ?

lsc• 17 years ago

books targeted at useless middle managers are useless. news at 11.

ZeroGravitas• 17 years ago

Despite the glib headline this is actually important and deeply interesting. It's fundamentally about a complete lack of the scientific method being applied in the business world. Instead we've got witchdoctors, quacks and gurus guiding a vital part of our society.

Try translating some of the stuff in the article to medicine or science. What makes you healthy or ill? Well we asked around the office and found some people we thought looked healthy, then interviewed them to find out what they do. Okay, some of them died horrible deaths shortly afterwards, and may not even have been healthy at the time. Perhaps they died due to the stuff they were doing "for the good of their health" or maybe just because good luck turned to bad but that's not important as long as our initial conclusions makes a plausible story. After all, no-one likes it when science is counter-intuitive and doesn't fit their preconceived ideas, and they'll actively resist such conclusions.

Derren Brown did an excellent program on this theme called The System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown#The_System spoiler warning!) where you got to follow an individual as they won bets again and again on horse races and you got to see the confidence and belief building in them. It really humanized the cognitive biases that lead to the sloppy thinking in areas like this article highlights.

The secrets of really, really lucky companies

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