Latest Commonplace piece is about the difference between exec development and training individual contributors.
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This is one of those essays where I'm not 100% sure of the conclusions — I'll have to put it to practice before I can say for certain.
But there *does* seem to be a tension between 'handholding' ICs, and 'throwing execs into the deep end', and it seems productive to investigate.
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One thing that I'm actively chewing over: perhaps 'throwing people into the deep end' is simply a pedagogical thing, but for high potential hires.
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Oh, before I forget: hat tip to for writing the best deep dive on Barry Diller I've read.
Part one is here: neckar.substack.com/p/barry-diller
Part two, members only, is here:
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The screenshot that matters in that second piece is this one:
(And this isn't even 10% of the content that dug up on Diller. Seriously, subscribe to him. His work is that good).
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I think they’re both useful but for training different types of skills:
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One thing worth thinking about here might be the two error rates. Who could have done the job and drops out? Who "passes" the training but is a bad fit? Throwing in at the deep end has a low rate of the latter but a high rate for the former. Supportive training the opposite
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This might be the right trade offs for execs vs ICs. The wrong exec can do a lot of damage, and is a huge opportunity cost. The wrong IC matters less, so it's worth giving them more of a chance
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Throwing people into the deep end - There are people who swim and those who sink.
Like Diller says, it's impossible to tell who is who until you do it. And it's always VERY painful for those who sink. They think you're mistreating them, and you actually are.
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