Make your own way
31st October 2009
I know a rich man who runs a company like a bastard.
At his company - let's call them Bastard Inc. - you're timed when you go to the bathroom. If you drop a company mug, they'll send you a bill. Their dress code stipulates, among other things, that you must wear underwear.
Their car park is only big enough for 80% of their staff, but if you clock in one minute late it'll come out of your pay, so the days begins early with red-faced colleagues fighting over what poor chumps have to park in town and walk. Oh, the bosses have their own car park of course, right by the entrance. It's usually half full.
Their offices are a scrappy, cheap, busy place - papers piled so high on the floor they almost block the glimmers of sunlight that dare to make it past the windows. Staff balance awkwardly in their plastic seats over their wheezing beige computers, and type so quickly they barely notice the matted black crud coating the keys.
But everyone is busy, working. The chorus of phones and keyboards never stops. And sure enough, the money pours in. Millions upon millions every month.
Meanwhile, somewhere near San Jose, Juan is resting on a plush, elephant sized beanbag. He pulls out a pair of white earphones, sets his iPod to Britney Spears, and gets up to work.
Juan was technically 'late' this morning, but of course that doesn't really mean anything here. For a moment his unconscious mind can't decide whether to adjust his $1,000 Aeron chair or the dual-widescreen 24" monitors first, but he's comfortable now.
For lunch - which is free of course - Juan has a choice that could shame a king's banquet. To make sure the food is especially well liked, his company has potential new chefs audition for the staff - the most popular chef gets the job. Like everyone else here, they're expected to be the best, and they're well paid for it.
On his way back to his desk - Juan decides to ride scooter down the corridors - he stops by a monitor mounted on the wall. They're everywhere, and this one is showing the stock price of his company, of which Juan owns a share. And sure enough, the money pours in. Millions upon millions every month.
Both companies could not be more different, and both are fantastically successful.
Bastard Inc is extremely good at keeping costs low and getting stuff done. Punishment is swift but understood, motivation is clear. At a company like Google, staff are happier and they attract the best people, but they expect to be treated well, and are more expensive.
The ideologies behind both companies are completely opposite, but they both work. Unless you try to mix them, which would be like combining sirloin steak with chocolate ice cream: all you get is a brown sticky mess.
You'll see this with everything in life, because there are an infinite number of routes to success. Study enough biographies and you'll learn winners can be cautious or reckless, pragmatic or idealistic, cut-through or altruistic - the variations are endless. What they never are is inconsistent.
So choose your own path. Remember advice from others came from their own route, and may not work for you. It may be what you're doing has never been done before. Just decide on your way, and keep at it.
