Frank Slootman: Doing Less, Doing Better

1. Leaders Set High Standards

Leaders must set and reinforce very high standards, creating an environment of urgency and high performance that attracts and energizes the right people, while acknowledging that those who don’t fit are not necessarily ‘bad,’ just different.

2. Actively Drive Company Culture

Actively drive and define company culture, because if you don’t, others will fill the void, leading to undesirable subcultures and a lack of clear identity.

3. Address Bad Behavior Immediately

Address egregious behavioral and cultural issues immediately by separating with individuals, as behavior is a choice and not a skill set, while giving more time for performance improvement.

4. Apply “Insanely Great” Standard

Apply an “insanely great” standard to all endeavors, eliminating anything that doesn’t meet this high bar, as this inspires awe, creates focus, urgency, and a sense of mission.

5. Prioritize Relentlessly, Revisit Constantly

Constantly engage in prioritization conversations, asking “if you can only do one thing, which would you pick and why?” and considering consequences of not doing others, to avoid compromising everything by not choosing.

6. Fight Bureaucracy with Meritocracy

Fight bureaucracy by fostering an “extreme meritocracy” where ideas are judged on their merit, not hierarchy, and by maintaining a youthful, audacious, and daring attitude, ensuring work remains inspiring.

7. Treat Business as Sports Franchise

View a business as a professional sports franchise, not a family, where relationships are based on shared mission and demanding contributions to that mission, allowing for the assembly of the best players.

8. Fail Fast, Course Correct

Treat mistakes as cultural and teaching moments, openly admitting when you “screwed up” and encouraging “fail fast” correction, as defending bad decisions is devastating, but fast course correction fosters a healthy culture.

9. Great Product Sells Itself

Recognize that sales problems are often product problems; focus on creating a great product that even average salespeople can sell, rather than blaming sales or seeking quick fixes like hiring new sales leadership.

10. Product Owns Sales Reality

Foster a product organization that views sales’ marketplace realities as their problem, ensuring product development is deeply aligned with and responsive to sales’ needs, rather than dismissing them.

11. Align Company to Support Sales

Achieve a great sales organization by ensuring full company alignment where everyone works to support sales, treating them as the “tip of the spear” and the rest of the company as the “wood behind the arrow,” making sales feel fully supported.

12. Demand Consistent Sales Execution

Demand consistent execution from the sales organization, expecting every individual, line of business, channel, and geography to “show up” and deliver every single period, rather than tolerating inconsistent performance.

13. Anticipate Inevitable Transformation

Anticipate the inevitable need for organizational transformation, and focus on developing the ability to recognize it in time and execute successfully, as this is a critical challenge for all leaders.

14. CEO: Stay Open-Minded, Head Up

As a CEO, maintain extreme open-mindedness and avoid assuming business linearity, keeping your “head up” to observe disruptive changes while the rest of the organization focuses on execution.

15. Implement Performance-Based Bonuses

Implement a quarterly bonus system where the company first earns the bonus pool, then managers allocate it across a bell curve to differentiate rewards, ensuring high performers feel recognized and not treated the same as underperformers.

16. Celebrate Great Work & People

Beyond financial incentives, actively recognize and celebrate great work and high-performing individuals in every possible way to foster a merit-based culture and encourage people to become their best selves.

17. Thoroughly Vet Candidates’ Past

For hiring, especially in roles where interviews are less effective, “fully surround” the candidate’s past by seeking internal references from those who worked with them, then external references, to gather consistent, detailed insights beyond the interview “sniff test.”

18. Hire Slowly, Hire Better

Prioritize hiring slowly and thoroughly over rushing to meet targets, as “probably okay” is not the standard; take the time to develop conviction about candidates, especially where separation is difficult and costly.

19. Leaders: Engage Front Lines

Leaders should regularly engage in customer and prospect calls to experience market reality firsthand, avoiding reliance on secondhand information that can obscure true issues or the fortitude of the sales team.

20. Leaders Lead Sales by Example

Leaders should lead by example in sales, actively engaging with customers and getting their “nose bloodied” to understand market realities and set a credible standard for the sales team.

21. Lead Aggressively in Marketplace

Leaders must aggressively press their case in the marketplace and set an example for their organization, as people learn best by observing leadership’s confidence and fortitude in front of customers.

22. Cultivate High Conviction Standards

Cultivate an organizational culture of high conviction and uncompromising standards, where “when there’s doubt, there’s no doubt,” pushing against the natural tendency to lower the bar or avoid confrontation.

23. Sequence Work, Focus Resources

Combat organizational lethargy by removing initiatives, doing things in sequence rather than parallel, and ensuring critical projects are “appropriately provisioned” with focused resources to achieve lightning-fast execution.

24. Create Focused Product Teams

In larger, multi-mission organizations, create focus by establishing product teams with general managers who own specific targets (e.g., vertical industry, product type, channel) and are measured on their progress, rather than relying on a monolithic functional structure.

25. Prioritize Failing Functions

Prioritize addressing functions that are “barely breathing” and separate quickly with people responsible for them, focusing on what is clearly not working.

26. Rapid Initial Organizational Triage

In a new leadership role, quickly assess if the right people are in place and if functions are working, then prioritize and deal with obvious issues immediately to establish a solid footing.

27. Observe with Fresh Eyes

Avoid a “rinse and repeat” approach; instead, observe new situations with fresh eyes, like a five-year-old, to prevent simplistic thinking that can lead you astray.

28. Build Trust Through Fairness

Establish trust in a performance-based culture by demonstrating fairness and ensuring decisions are based on collective behavior and mission, not personal preference.

29. Offer Behavioral Reboot Opportunity

Offer a “reboot, reset” opportunity for individuals, especially younger ones, whose behavior has drifted due to environmental influences, to help them re-ground to normal principles.

30. Seek Maladjusted, Driven People

Seek out “maladjusted people” who possess a strong drive and ambition stemming from a disparity between their current state and what they want to achieve or prove, as this fuels powerful motivation.

31. Value Driven, Proving Attitude

Value individuals with “attitude” and a “chip on their shoulder” who possess a burning desire to prove something, as this indicates strong internal drive.

32. Avoid Status Quo Complacency

Avoid complacency by never being “proud” or content with the status quo; instead, constantly envision a better future and reinvent what’s going on, asking “if we could do it all over again, what would we do?” to stay competitive.

33. Strategic Quarterly Performance

Define a “good quarter” not just by exceeding current numbers, but also by strategically laying the foundation for future quarters and long-term success, fostering a more strategic business mindset.

34. Aim to “Run the Table”

Aim to “run the table” by consistently setting up for future success, rather than just making individual “shots” or hitting short-term targets.

35. Product Enables Average Sales

Hold product teams to a high standard: their goal is to create products that make “very average salespeople productive in a very predictable manner,” as relying on brilliant salespeople for a difficult product is not a scalable model.

36. Hire Resilient Salespeople

Hire salespeople who have experience in “shit fights” (challenging sales environments) as this breeds resilience, skills, and focus, unlike those accustomed to merely taking orders for an easy-to-sell product.

37. Force Performance Aspiration Conversations

Encourage employees to ask “what do I have to do?” to achieve higher performance and compensation, and actively engage in these conversations to foster aspiration and link effort to tangible consequences.

38. Persist Until It’s Right

When making mistakes, especially repeatedly on the same topic, commit to not stopping until you get it right, demonstrating persistence and an unwavering commitment to achieving the correct outcome.

39. Focus on Enterprise Success

Avoid self-absorbed concepts like “legacy” that can poison thinking; instead, focus on the imperative for your enterprises to succeed as a contract with all stakeholders, including investors and employees.

40. Enable Stakeholder Growth

Define success as enabling employees and partners to achieve significant personal and professional growth, feeling that their experience with you was transformative and made them “better than they ever thought they were.”

41. Act Decisively as Leader

As a new leader, act decisively on visible issues, especially behavioral ones, because inaction will quickly damage your leadership brand and signal tolerance for unacceptable conduct.