Wednesday, July 21, 2004

It's The People, Stupid!

Finally, somone else who agrees with me! It was a pleasure reading VentureBlog this morning. It had been ages since I was there last and they have their typical, high-quality, writing about start-ups, funding of the same, and basically good business prcatices. (But since I said they agreed with me, how could I not call them high quality, no?)

Most companies don't get it. In the race of business, in the effort to get ahead and usually just to stay where you are, the first component you need to address is the one of personnel. To build a great team, department, division, or company, you need outstanding people. Yes, you need to have a product/service and fill a compelling need (marketplace) and have a business plan that shows both cash flow and a profit, but even if you have these things, people are the key. People are the key to getting work done right, people are the key to solving customer problems, people are the key to establishing developing good practices, people are the key.

Some of the most popular business books over the last few years, Good to Great and First, Break All the Rules, have talked about how important the right (best) staff is, but I have yet to see small and medium sized businesses really embrace the practice.

And someday, we'll have to talk about what to do with an existing staff that doesn't measure up.

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