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Schedule white space on the calendar
Resource allocation
The Outsiders, a study of eight CEOs who far outperformed their peers, is a book about resource allocation more generally than capital alone. It proposes three frameworks: one for capital allocation, one for human resource and talent management, and one for how a management team spends its time.
People
On people, the framework is decentralization as a key organizational design choice and a way that cultures get built. All eight of those companies also had exceptionally high retention of key employees, much higher than their peers.
Time
On time, the CEOs took a differentiated approach. All eight ran public companies, and they spent a lot less time on investor relations than their peers. They also tended to schedule white space on their calendars very systematically, with time alone to read and think.
Why does autonomy help companies keep talent?
Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan developed self-determination theory, which holds that people are more motivated when they control how they do their work. Decentralized companies push decisions to the people closest to customers and operations. That gives employees real responsibility early in their careers. Deci and Ryan's research identifies autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the three basic psychological needs.
How did Capital Cities run itself?
Capital Cities, led by Tom Murphy and Dan Burke, ran its television and publishing businesses with a very small corporate headquarters. Local managers made the operating decisions at their own stations and papers, while the center set profit targets and handled capital decisions. The company bought ABC in 1985. Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1996.
Why do CEOs schedule time to think?
Bill Gates has described taking Think Weeks, a week alone twice a year spent reading papers and reflecting. Constant interruption fragments attention. Gloria Mark's research at the University of California, Irvine found that workers can take more than 20 minutes to return to a task after an interruption.
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