Thursday, March 31, 2016

Beyond Memories #5 Grove's brutal honesty and humor

Beyond Memories #5


I came to Intel as an individual contributor, but left the ‘proprietor’ of an incredible team of researchers and strategic marketers.  Developing a team is never easy. The hard part starts, but certainly doesn’t end with recruiting.  Sometimes, I was able to find amazing folks within intel (e.g. RD).  Other times, I was able to find external candidates who would prove exceptional contributors, who would build a “home” and  “family” at Intel, for at least some part of their extraordinary careers (e.g. JT, FJ).


One particular attempt comes to mind as I think back to the many times and ways I learned from Andy Grove.  I had a lunch interview scheduled with a candidate from another technology company.  We went down to the cafeteria, chose our food, and stood in line to pay (yes, there was a day and a type of technology company that did not offer free lunch, much less dinner or breakfast). Suddenly, behind me in line at the cashier, stood Andy Grove.  When he asked if I had any lunch plans, I let him know I was interviewing a candidate.   Andy was not dissuaded.  He asked:


“Can I join you?”


“I gguuuesss soo” I replied.


Once outside of Andy’s earshot, I gave the candidate a heads-up and apology for our unexpected lunch guest.  


We hadn’t done more than set our trays on the table before Andy chided me, referring to the candidate: “One more for your minions?”


There were about six entry level market researchers on my team at the time, hardly minions, I argued back.  At this point, in an attempt to argue his point, Andy began reciting the first and last names of the six individuals on my team. Understand, I reported to a first line manager, who reported to the head of a small central marketing group, who reported to a senior vice president, who finally reported to Grove. That made Andy their 5th line manager.  Although I’m not sure who if any he had met or whose work he had seen, Andy knew every market researcher’s name.   


Not one to hold back with anyone, Grove kicked off "my" interview with the candidate with a simple question about the candidate’s current company.  The response could best be described as a rambling and hardly coherent commentary on the company and its business model.   I knew instantaneously that this candidate would not join our “minions”.  We continued our lunch and I headed up stairs. When I ran into my manager some 30 minutes later, he already had a “message” from Andy:  


“Make sure she doesn’t hire the turkey.”


I had to chuckle.  Andy had been decisive and brutally honest, but this time and many other times, his sense of humor softened the blow.  There would not be one more for my “minions” this time around.  


One more learning from the course that Grove and Burgelman taught at Intel

  • Organizations rarely define quantitative objectives for a strategy, making business outcomes the sole basis for refinement

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