If you are familiar with the term “running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” you’ll understand what I mean when I say companies aren’t like chickens. Without a head, companies don’t do anything. Chickens can run around for minutes without their heads on, companies don’t last seconds without their head in place. And if they were to do anything, it wouldn’t be running around. Maybe grabbing some free sodas before they leave but that’s it.
I realize that I am tipping on the edge of absurdity so I want to bring this down a bit.
Jason Goldberg and Jobster seem to have what amounts to a major problem. A few people (I don’t know how many) are questioning not only the direction and business model of Jobster (which wouldn’t be a major problem in and of itself) but is casting out their head cheese as a major bully, jerk, and a person of poor business acumen. And even that wouldn’t be a major problem in and of itself (people do business with jerks, bullies and people with poor business acumen all the time). That is, of course, if Jobster wasn’t trying to grow and penetrate into an extremely competitive and cut-throat market. Not to mention they might want to try and hire some people.
The whole issue of whether or not how Goldberg is portrayed is accurate (or portrays himself for that matter) is for people with a bit more time than me. But I wanted to use this opportunity to reach out to people still holding the belief that “A company is the sum of all of its parts. Let’s all hold hands and sing kum-ba-ya. Everyone is important at our company.”
You’re wrong.
A company doesn’t run itself without a head. And while you may make an argument that it becomes less important as the companies get bigger (though where would these large companies be without their screaming (Balmer), hyping (Jobs) and jetting (Branson) CEO’s?), any sub 500 employee company is made or broken by their top dawg.
That may play to the ego but it also plays to the ego drop. Jobster’s biggest successes are a direct reflection of Jason Goldberg’s work and hires and their biggest failures…well, it isn’t that sexy whenever you attribute them to Goldberg’s work and hires too.
I don’t feel sorry for Jason Goldberg (I don’t know him, personally or professionally) but I don’t envy his position either. The importance of the leader, the head, is always going to be the most important (hence why CEO searches are often expensive, lengthy and failure prone). And that should give some hope to Jobster faithful since the company, as of this posting, seems to still be going. If Goldberg was gone (either physically or just sitting in his office staring at his slinky wondering what now), they’d be collapsing and in this era of transparency, we’d know. Why?
Because companies aren’t chickens. They need a head to move in any direction besides collapsing.
{ 0 comments… add one now }