Alternatively, you can go listen in real time to your customer's customer, which is how Linda Lichtman, president of Columbus Window Co., in Columbus, Ohio, rests easy knowing that she's got the best feedback going. Lichtman travels with one of her customer's salespeople once a week and sits in a real estate development's model home for an afternoon to hear the sales staffer's clients' comments.
It doesn't have to be weekly, and it doesn't have to take long, but touching base with customers regularly is all but mandatory if you're serious about this peace-of-mind thing.
IS YOUR BALANCING ACT JUST THAT: AN ACT?
Think you're a well-rounded CEO? Take our quiz and find out.
1. Have you had dinner with your family more than once in the past working week? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
2. Have you read more than five nonbusiness books in the last year? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
3. Do you have more than two friends who aren't family members or business associates? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
4. How many of the following public figures can you identify? (1 point for each) David Lynch John Major Kenneth Branagh Robert James WallerMaya Angelou Ruth Bader Ginsberg
5. In the last calendar year did you take more than one week of vacation? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
6. Do you know your cholesterol level? (If yes, 5 points) Is it where it should be? (If no, -4 points) Yes No
7. What did you have for lunch today? Lunch? What lunch? (-5 points) Takeout from the local Grab 'n' Growl (0 points) Food your spouse made (3 points) Food you made (5 points) Food you grew (10 points)
8. How do you handle personal wealth management? I keep my money in an old Crisco can (-5 points) All my money is tied up in the business (0 points) I wish I could save more (3 points) I'll be the most-spoiled 65-year-old on the block (5 points)
9. Do you know the name of the spouse of the CEO of your second-biggest customer? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
10. It has been more than six months since you had lunch with a nonmanagerial employee (-1 point) talked to a nonmanagerial employee (-5 points) saw a nonmanagerial employee (-10 points)
11. Think of this past office holiday party. Did you have to struggle to remember the name of an employee? (If yes, -3 points) mistake any spouses for employees? (If yes, -5 points) get mistaken for a spouse? (If yes, -10 points)
12. Do you know who would succeed you if you were run over by a truck tomorrow? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
13. In the past six months have you asked for and received advice from someone who didn't get paid for it and who wasn't related to you? (If yes, 5 points) Yes No
-- Christopher Caggiano
If you scored --
15 points or below: Typical entrepreneur! You're so busy making payroll, you can't begin to think about having a life.
15 to 45 points: Balanced ... pretty much.
45 points or above: You're lying. But if you're not, give us a call at the magazine -- we could use a few lessons.
10. The harmonious workplace
Assets Who Leave at 5 (or Work Till 10)
Run through the list of any company builder's worries, and immediately you'll see people come up. In theory, you should be able to leave your people peeves at the office. In fact, they follow you home. In theory, your staffing hassles shouldn't be addressed in any article that's all about taking care of you. In practice, they are, because the emotional freight of employee issues makes them harder than anything else to shut out. In short, it's really tough not to take that stuff personally.
The issues are all the more acute as a new economy gains momentum -- an economy that relies less on brawn and directives and more on flexibility and individual initiative. They're amplified when there's no corporate human-resources department to fall back on. You're it.
We're not going to set out to rival the many worthy books written on the topic of managing people. (We have a fine monthly column that does just that.) We'll content ourselves with an eight-point checklist of maxims whose application guarantees you'll spend less leisure time fretting about your sub-utopian workplace:
Hire slowly and fire quickly. Lori Sweningson, CEO of Job Boss Software Inc., in Minneapolis, is just one company builder who uses psychological tests to determine the fit of prospective hires.
Hire people who are better or smarter than you. The unwritten Law of Staff Degradation says that people who are a 7 on a scale of zero to 10 (10 is best) usually hire 5's and 6's. Break that rule.
Have a plan for identifying and easing out "toxic" employees. Not the people who rock the boat -- the ones who threaten to sink the boat, and on whom you spend 30% of your time.
Communicate clearly, consistently, and often. Newsletters, bulletins, memos, public-address systems -- whatever works for you. Make everything crystal clear to all, from job descriptions to task outlines to your company's mission.
Meet the people. Phyllis Apelbaum does. The founder of Arrow Messenger Service, in Chicago, regularly rides with her couriers (it's quicker and cheaper than taking cabs, she finds) and gets to hear "the kind of things you just don't hear in the office."
Listen. Ask. Poll your employees twice a year. Learn what's on their minds, and what they'd do about it if they ran the zoo. Wild Oats Markets, in Boulder, Colo., has one of the best employee surveys going. (See "The Motivational Employee-Satisfaction Questionnaire," February, [Article link].)
