I joined Enverus when they acquired the company I was working for in 2020. Jeff Hughes was the CEO at the time and led the company until middle of last year. His leadership ethos is firmly stamped on the company, much of it captured in 44 principles that he summarized and generously shared.
I have found each to be thought provoking, usually resonating as some sort of “truth”. And like many truths, my understanding grows with time as experience and reflection add details and nuance. In his spirt of sharing, and to preserve them for reference, I have listed them below.
44 Guiding Principles from Jeff:
Link teams to the leading indicators of success. Usage leads CSAT which in turn leads retention. Measure usage. Other include white space and funnel.
In a software company, the assets are the people, not the products.
It's always a leadership problem.
Build platforms not products.
If you want to get something done, give it to a smaller team.
Don't let a crisis go to waste.
Product teams need to bias for speed.
Hard is hard to follow.
The worst of times can be the best for innovation.
The most important measures of a SaaS company are growth and retention.
Product teams should be linked to outcomes.
With products there are value creators and value enablers. There are very few value creators so manage them carefully.
Margin expansion starts with differentiation.
Create an uncontested marketplace where competition is irrelevant (blue ocean strategy).
Leverage (or create) immovable deadlines.
Get the right people into the big jobs.
Don't be afraid to change, the organization is always more resilient than you give it credit for.
Discount to make more money.
You get more output out of someone with either motivation or training. We almost always forget about the latter.
If you want to innovate, spend more time in the field.
The best measure of culture is engagement. Engagement is a leadership problem.
Quota margin, not products.
If you build stuff for big customers, it rarely works for small ones. The reverse can work.
Understand the real available market. It's never the one in the slide.
You must be good at the first mile before you get a chance at the second.
Work can and should be fun.
HR can either be an administrative function or the epicenter for culture.
Relationships are built in person.
First be a great company to work for.
Accelerate what’s going well.
The best people are free. They pay for themselves.
Small teams of high caliber talent beat large teams every time.
Calm is contagious.
Winning teams trust each other.
Plans are useless but planning is essential (Eisenhower quote).
Fresh blood is fresh perspective.
You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.
Think big. Start small. Scale fast.
Get the company running well before you run it fast (Sandy Ogg).
If the answer isn’t “hell yes” its no.
Your customers can’t afford your waste.
It’s not a company, it’s a product line.
Bad gross retention normally means it’s a product problem. Product problems are harder to solve than sales problems.
Scalable companies decentralize decision making.