Time is Finite- Meritocracy’s Rule

WYNTK

Would professional sports teams win World Championship’s if they selected players based on seniority or energy level? Hell no! Successful teams insert players on the field of battle, who give them the greatest chance of winning- 100%. I know a gangster thought, right!

Knowing what makes business successful -As soon as a player can’t perform at a high level anymore, they’re gone. Life’s tough and your company should be too. Sex, race, religion, age etc. don’t matter as long as one can perform at a high level and continue to add consistent value to your enterprise. I have seen start-ups hire only young people because they have a ton of energy, yet they couldn’t focus on a task and thus couldn’t perform at any level, much less a high one. Then there are the companies which let older employees linger due to seniority instead of phasing them out as their performance drops. Besides being illegal, hiring based solely on age or sex or any one trait is thoughtless and disturbing. There must be no doubt in anyone’s mind that performance is what is valued throughout the organization.

If you’re the GM or CEO, this cultural message needs to continually be broadcast over the loudspeaker to all employees through your conversations, actions and promotions. People are paid on the value of their performance, nothing else-full stop. This also means that there will be a large discrepancy in salaries, bonuses, options and rewards. This attitude and culture of value will be a part of how the organization is shaped and who is promoted and if continually communicated correctly it will promote even higher achievement, as well as, better potential new hires. Elite performance wants to work with elite performers as a rapidly rising tide raises all boats.

As for you, no one should care if you’re the biggest asshole on the planet. Your superiors should only care about one thing: are you adding more value to the organization than others? This sometimes requires hard decisions, like putting down a once-prized stallion that can no longer stud. If you can’t make the hard decisions, hire someone who can- before you become your own worst enemy and all your employees are in the bread line. Being a lousy person for doing what’s best for the company is not easy, but over time you will grow to understand that this culture helps all who you employ.

Don’t believe me, implement a stack rank and tell me what happens?

You are blessed to be a blessing!

Mattox