Maverick Mark Cuban - One Week at a Time

This October, I was fortunate to spend an hour with Dallas Maverick’s owner and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban, before a Maverick’s game in the American Airlines Center.

From the many interesting things he talked about, my ears perked up when someone asked him how he stays on top of all the companies he’s invested in: 70 alone on Shark Tank, and another 75 he’s no longer as active in – plus all his direct reports in the Mavericks.

“It’s very easy,” he answered. “Everybody sends me a weekly report. It needs to be weekly, and you need to tell me the bad news first. If you don’t tell me the bad news, you’re fired.”

He said he needs to know where the risks are - where to pay attention - and where to help out.

Andrew Grove, the founder of Intel, also talks about the power of weekly reports in his book High Output Management.

I used to feel bad about asking people for weekly reports because I read them very quickly - and I know they took a lot of energy to write. Now I get it.

The report benefits the writer most: to organize their thoughts, to contemplate their week, and to think about how they can be better next week. Weekly reports are the ultimate self-management tool - and a great motivator because people want to make sure they’ve made progress.

And the reader gets perspective on where the person is at, and to see how they can help.

Coach Kevin’s Challenge

Test this out with one of two of your people at work, and talk to them about it.

How would it help you if they sent you a 1-page report every week? What do you want to know?

• Good news, bad news
• Update on KPIs for which they are accountable
• How they are doing on key goals for the Quarter
• How they are doing on goals last week, and other thinks to be aware of
• How they did on goals this week and/or where they are stuck and need help.

Let me know how you do.