Eight Tenets of Success

I used to work at Remedy Corporation. In its rampant heydey. I was fortunate enough to be successful during my tenure there. In fact I'd be bold enough to say I've been lucky enough to have been very successful in my career in general, but I think I learned more in that early company than any since. It was like a family and I had a wonderful three and a half years as part of the sales team. We had some great leaders and some of my best ever friendships and networks were forged in that company.

They had a set of tenets that they regularly published and discussed at company forums. I never really paid much attention at the time. I was in my early twenties, making awesome money and having great fun travelling around EMEA selling the heck out of the solutions. I just thought the tenets were some corporate "mission" stuff and nodded respectfully when the subject of the "8 Remedy Corporate tenets" came up. Now though, almost twenty years on I often find myself looking back at these tenets - having realised their immense worth. It's because I have rarely seen such great execution as I saw in that company. Don't get me wrong I've seen great execution since and I'd like to think, without being arrogant, that I have helped steer towards and produce some great execution, but I've rarely seen such CONSISTENT company-wide great execution.

The tenets were known internally, and I quote, as the "underpinning of the culture and atmosphere of Remedy. They establish a set of principles and characteristics that describe how we do business. They incorporate everything from how we work, to how we treat our customers, to how we treat each other."

Here they are/were:

• We own the Company; we understand the business
• Hire the best and trust them
• Do the impossible with small teams
• We are the customer's advocate
• A bias for action
• Change the rules
• We are all sales and support people
• Exceed expectations

I won't cover each tenet (at least not today) but there are three in particular that I often refer to and have formed the hallmark of my professional career. I have nothing to gain from this post other than wanting to share my experience in the hope that these might benefit someone else like they've benefitted me.

Hire the best and trust them: Never settle. I've learned from this mistake. I've hired people that I thought were 90% there in terms of what we needed and then paid dearly for it. If they look good on paper and interview well but the gut feel just isn't there then trust your gut. Don't do it. I know. However, when you are confident you've hired the right person, TRUST them. Let them get on with it. Everyone has different styles but when you have good people, you can trust them to do the right thing and they will deliver for you. I've had employees come to me and say "Let me do this. Trust me." You know what, 95% of the time I do, even if we haven't done it before. This is because I hired a professional who knows their business. If they make a mistake they will learn from it. If they do it well and it wasn't something we had done before then I will learn from it. The point is someone will learn something from the experience that will ultimately benefit their company and their career.

A bias for action: If there is a decision to be made, then bloody well make it and move on. Think on it and debate it, sure, but assume your competition has a strong bias for action. Strategic thinking is important but you cant beat the good old horsepower of "action". I've seen awesome sales reps that seem serene, calculated, measured and indeed run a great process. That's great. I've also seen mediocre sales reps that have just as good results, and sometimes better, because of their consistent bias for action. Watching someone with real heart, someone that is dynamic and has a real bias for action can lift morale, spur on others and just "get sh** done". Here is my thinking: I like to allow aggresive mistakes. In other words I'd rather have someone spinning (figuratively) 10 plates and find that one crashes to the floor and breaks horribly then just have someome spin 3 or 4 and do it well. Of course the combination of strategic thinking with a bias for action is the panacea but given the choice of one or the other I know where I'd put my money.

We are all sales and support people: I literally want to kill people when I hear "it isn't my job". Let's be clear. Everyone from the janitor to the CEO gets paid their salary and feeds their family because the company they work for sells something. And the only way you keep selling stuff is if you look after your customers. Lets also be clear that if you say any of this in a forum everyone will nod sagely and agree. But saying and doing are very different things. Everyone in the company should know what we do. Everyone should be able to provide an elevator pitch. Everyone should listen to customers and escalate appropriate issues. Everyone needs to be professional and represent the company professionally at all times. If it comes to client sat or supporting a deal then it IS your job, regardless of your Job Title or your Department. This all sounds so obvious it's almost embarrassing. But guess what? I've heard this saying ("It's not my job") or ones like it too many times. Especially in larger companies. This is one of the reasons I love startups, but that's another story. A few years ago I once worked for another company (ie not Remedy) with a guy who was in corporate facilities management. He happened to be at a party at the weekend and heard from some guy over a beer that his company had bought our product and he had heard the view was that it "sucked". He noted the guys name and company and told me on the Monday. I called the Head of Support. Later that day the customer got a call from him directly, he understood why they were unhappy and took steps to fix the problem. The guy from the customer bumped into the guy from my company a few months later and it was a completely different story. He said they were really happy at our support and service.

Having a set of tenets, they dont need to be these specific ones, by which you measure your professional career and work ethic has been invaluable for me in my business life. A few years ago I found the old Remedy tenets on the web, printed them off and stuck them up on the wall of my study. I look at them often and they have guided me well.

Thanks Remedy!