Everyone’s a CEO: A company’s biggest assets are its employees.
Traditional companies often rely on strict hierarchies; responsibility is concentrated at the top. But the future of a company depends on the entrepreneurial spirit of all its employees.
Established companies often rely on detailed organizational charts to clarify internal hierarchies. Every level within the corporate structure espouses specific responsibilities - and the higher you rise, the more responsibility you apparently have to shoulder. It’s cold and lonely at the top, where the diagram is topped by the CEO, who towers high above the rest, to whom all arrows point and who directs everyone below.
Clear structures are necessary. The assignment of responsibility is necessary. But within emerging businesses, structures often take time to develop. Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, once told me that Facebook’s business cards initially only included someone’s name, email address, and phone number. Quick growth means that employees have to evolve as well: Job descriptions change, responsibilities increase.
A smart company ensures that its employees nonetheless remain aware of their colleagues’ work. To quote Karl Marx out of context: The workers ought to remain connected to the means of production. They ought to know how their fellow workers are spending their time, what their responsibilities are and what ideas they have for the future development of the product (in our case, a debate magazine).
A company’s biggest assets are its employees.