Below is some pretty delicious advice from Jim Buckmaster (CEO of Craiglist), courtesy of Lucy Kellaway, via AdPulp, from an Orange Yeti link. (whew.)

Listen to what users want. Try to make the site faster and better.

Hire good people. "We work hard trying to get the right kind of folks." It pays off: they hardly ever leave.

No meetings, ever. "I find them stupefying and useless."

No management programmes and no MBAs. "I've always thought that sort of thing was baloney."

Forget the figures. "We are consistently in the black, so if we do better or worse in any given quarter it is absolutely irrelevant."

Occasionally, give people "a very gentle nudge". This can be done over lunch or on the instant messaging boards.

He doesn't reply to any of his 100 daily messages, most of which beg Craigslist to do a deal. "I'm not real chatty on e-mail."

Put speed over perfection: "Get something out there. Do it, even if it isn't perfect."

"Don't screw it up by doing things that make people feel worse about their work."

The speed over perfection thing is a bit iffy in my little world, but I can respect the spirit behind the momentum Jim is after with this philosophy: Sometimes, speed is a whole lot more important than perfection. (You can always upgrade your product later if needed.)

Have a great Wednesday, everyone. ;)

Labels: leadership, management, mba, vision, wisdom