The Stress of Leveling & Losing Talent: A Lesson for Success

Name: The Stress of Leveling & Losing Talent: A Lesson for Success
Uploaded: 2023-07-29T18:00:08+00:00
Duration: 56 s
Channel: Jason M. Lemkin
Description: In this talk, Jason M. Lemkin addresses the difficult decision of "leveling" or promoting existing leaders as a company scales from $10 million to $30…

29 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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In this talk, Jason M. Lemkin addresses the difficult decision of "leveling" or promoting existing leaders as a company scales from $10 million to $30 million in revenue. He explains the stress of wondering whether current executives can handle the next level and warns against half‑hearted or stealthy searches for replacements. Lemkin shares two recent experiences at a $30 million‑revenue company where attempts to top employees led to a key hire quitting—one person wanted a CMO role and left immediately—resulting in short‑term performance setbacks. The core lesson is to be transparent, conduct thorough searches, and recognize when a leader is unwilling or unable to advance.

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The second point is about leveling or topping someone. Look, it's really stressful and we all go through it. You know, I'm hitting $10 million, $20 million, $30 million, I'm not sure Bob can still do it or Jane can still do it, and I'm worried they'll quit if they do it, right? Don't hide the ball, don't try to do a stealth search unless you magically find someone. Like if you bump into someone here and they're your new VP of sales and they're clearly better, you did a stealth search, congratulations. Walk her into work on Monday and things will be good. but you can't do a half-assed search. You can't do something, and I've recently gone through two of these toppings or levelings with a company at about $30 million in revenue. Went through it with one, and the person wanted to be a CMO and immediately quit. Immediately quit. Did a lot of, did, and things are worse without him now. They're not bad, but they're clearly worse, and it stinks that they left, and it took a few months to hire the person, but this person was unwilling and unable to get to the next level.