PEr Chronicles: Invest time, talent and energy like money

Toryssance was spurred by Tory Burch herself by stepping down from her CEO position in 2019 to focus on designing. That transformed the fashion brand Tory Burch from sensible, preppy classics to edgy designs and successfully boosted revenues, growing to near $2 billion, making 2023 the 20-year-old company’s highest earning year ever.

What are today’s new sources of competitive advantage?

For most companies, the truly scarce resources are time, talent and energy of their people, and the ideas those people generate and implement. A single idea, after all, can put a company on top for many years – think of Apple and the iPhone or even the thumbs -up “like” at Facebook. Lots of smaller, everyday good ideas can enable a company to pull away from competitors.

But ideas don’t just materialize; they are the product of individuals and teams who have the time to work productively, who have the skills they need to make a difference, and who bring creativity and enthusiasm to their jobs.

In this era, what separates the best from the rest is leaders’ ability to manage human capital. The more talented people a company attracts, the more effectively it focuses their time on value-adding, and the more energy those people bring, the higher the quality of their ideas and the quantity of the output they produce.

This task is different from simply hiring good people. Talent matters. But not just any talent. What really makes a difference is people who bring a unique set of skills, and who can learn to work together in teams. I have seen many leaders make up a team from whoever happens to be available and then wonder why it doesn’t accomplish much.

Sometimes the organization gets in the way of getting things done. Not many of us can generate great ideas when we are trapped in thickets of meetings, emails, teams calls and bureaucratic procedures. Some of these are essential. Others are pure time wasters.

Even the best time-management practices are likely to be overwhelmed by demands and practices of the organization. The emails and texts keep coming. So do the meeting invitations. Ignore too many and you risk alienating your colleagues or your boss. And if is how your company gets its work done, you have little choice about the matter: you have to plunge in and try to swim your way to the other side as best you can.

Since no company that I know of has a Chief Time Officer, the responsibility for setting time-investment standards falls to the leader. When Steve Jobs was leading Apple, he took his top executives for a planning retreat, where he pushed them to identify the company’s top ten priorities. Then he crossed out the bottom seven. “We can only do three,” he announced. He was ruthless in setting priorities.

No one ever washes a rental car.

Unless you feel real ownership – real connection – you will never devote the extra energy needed to make something better. Unless your people feel engaged, even inspired, they will not invest their energy in the company, its customers or its success.

Energy is intangible, but we all know it when we see it. Engaged employees bring commitment and enthusiasm to their work every day. And high-energy teams can accomplish amazing things.

What I have learned is this: you have to manage all those resources to produce great results. I’m all about managing time, talent and energy with the same care that I apply to managing financial capital.