Enquirer Digest #0014 Leadership in action
Enquirer Digest #0014 Leadership in action
Hello Enquirers
This edition of enquirer digest is about Leadership and management. As you know each edition is about a podcast and article with a quote. This edition is by Frank Slootman. Frank Slootman currently serves as Chairman and CEO at Snowflake. He was the guest on the Knowledge project podcast.
In relation to this week’s subject the podcasts to listen to is:
So, who is Frank Slootman ? According to the website of his current company his bio is as follows:
Frank Slootman currently serves as Chairman and CEO at Snowflake. Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. Mr. Slootman served as CEO and President of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from around $100M in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4B. Prior to that, Frank served as President of the Backup Recovery Systems Division at EMC following an acquisition of Data Domain Corporation/Data Domain, Inc., where he served as the Chief Executive Officer and President, leading the company through an IPO to its acquisition by EMC for $2.4B. Slootman holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from the Netherlands School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
It is a long interview. I won't be going over all of it. I will comment on what I liked and what I raised an eyebrow to.
You may find all my insights, notes in the Podcast Notes and Takeaways Section. If y
Enquirer Digest #0014 Leadership in action
What caught my attention:
Behavior as a choice.
Mr. Slootman defines behavior as a choice. He underlines behavior very clearly with the following "behavior you know performance is something that we will give more time behavior we won't. And that's because behavior is a choice, not a skill set" Which is an interesting approach and to which I agree to a certain extent. If you are self-aware your behavior may be based on your choices but most behavior tend to come as a learned behavior. I do understand what he is saying as " you can choose to behave differently" which is in essence true. The part where he summed it up for me was when he said
".... you want to get bad behavior you know out of an organization fast because that is your leadership brand..."
Trust Building
Trust is very fundamental to organizations and teams alike. As we all can agree trust is formed through action and not words. I was happy to see that this was underlined again with a behavior basis to it.
"...it has to do with, you know, how do we come together, how do we behave as a group."
Performance and Recognition
It’s clear that Frank Slootman is indeed a results-oriented individual, displaying a high level of dedication and drive. Understandably, his perspective on performance and rewards-recognition is largely influenced by quantitative measures and financial incentives. While recognition and celebration are acknowledged, the primary emphasis appears to be on tangible outcomes and measurable achievements. This perspective naturally invites discussion on merit-based performance. From the interview, which is available on YouTube for viewing, it could be inferred, (albeit subtly), that he leans slightly more towards a numbers-first approach rather than a people-first one.
Today's Article
Todays article is from Gallup. The article discusses recognition and reward in the work place. I think this article complements the interview well in terms of the performance discussion in the interview.
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236441/people-numbers-focus-gets-results.aspx
Main points from the article are:
Employee recognition is a strategy that organizations often overlook in their efforts to attract and retain top performers.
According to Gallup, only one-third of workers in the US strongly agree that they have received recognition for their good work in the past seven days.
Lack of recognition can lead to decreased employee engagement and increased likelihood of quitting.
Meaningful and memorable recognition comes most often from employees’ managers or high-level leaders, followed by peers and customers.
Recognition should be honest, authentic, and individualized to be effective. It is important for recognition to come from all sides, including managers, peers, and customers, to create a recognition-rich environment.
Today’s Quote
“Recognition is the greatest motivator of employees. It beats money, benefits, or perks.”
- Shiv Khera