Leadership Lessons - Poles and Corks
Jennifer Haas
2X Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) | $350M+ Exit | Board Member | P&L | PE VC Exec Operator | GTM Executive | Vertical SaaS | AI | Tech Infrastructure | Healthcare | GE HPE Oracle Cisco Alumni
In building an executive team in a startup, there are two kinds of people….POLES and CORKS.
Poles are anchored to the substrate.?They rise to a certain level with the organization and cannot or choose not to go further.? It might be that these people do not have the skillset to advance further or it might be that they prefer to work in certain size organization, or with a broader more generalist skill set.?Younger organizations tend to need more generalists who can wear many hats, but don't need expert knowledge in every area.?As an organization matures, roles become more defined and skillset needs tend to get deeper as roles get more specialized.
Corks can rise and grow within an organization.?They are not tethered to the substrate. They tend to have a growth mindset and an evolving skill set.?These folks are rare and have the aptitude and the will to grow and advance with the company through multiple stages.??These will be your long term executive leaders.
It is important as you build out your executive team to build with this in mind.?Know there is an evolution to your business $0-1M, $1-5M, $5-$20M, $20-$50M, $50-$100M, $100-$250M, $250M-$1B all require different skill sets of leaders and employees.?Having a mix of poles and corks in an organization can help keep consistency despite rapid growth.?
#csuitementor #csuite #ceoadvisor #leadership #boarddirector #executiveteam #venturecapital #privateequity
Tagging some of my favorite corks: Randy Seidl , David Nour , Bill Swales , Maureen Perrelli , Luann Abrams , Matt Perron , Shawn Green , Kelly Soljacich , Robert Vrij , Eric Koach , Woody Stone , Gregory Mark , Adam Coffey , Michael Rapp , Elizabeth Funk , Meghan FitzGerald , Manish Goel , Dain Hansen , Josh Berezin , Hamidou Dia , Kevin Kerby , Todd M. , Mike Parrottino , Brad Bullington , Sue Barsamian , Hope Cochran , Stephen Silva , Forbes Business Development Council
Relationship Economics? AI Startup Founder & CEO, Thinkers50 Radar, Author of 12 Books on Business Relationships.
2 年I've been called a lot of things over the years; Cork has never been one! Thank you for the compliment (?) ;-) Joking aside, great observation on the evolution of every leader, team, and organization. Keep going - I like pithy examples of your practice leadership. ??
Founder | Investor | Engineer | Speaker | Authentic, Trusted & Fierce Advocate for Women in Leadership
2 年Love the new way of thinking about roles and am proud to know you think I'm a cork!
Strategic Transformation Leader | Expert in Driving Results across Industries | SaaS and Agile Methodology Champion | Driving Operational Growth, Innovation, & Customer Success in Technology & Consulting
2 年Organizations need both kinds of people, as they (orgs) evolve people may grow or change into one or the other based on need. If someone is a generalist are they not both a cork and a pole?
Chief Revenue Officer EVP GTM Carbon6 & ex-industry leaders NetSuite, BlackLine & Mavenlink | PE Advisor | LP VC | Startup/VC (Series A/B/C)
2 年Awesome read… thanks ????
Love this analogy - perfect! Be a Cork and rise with the tide!