Stefano Bellasio asks Hey Martin! I am hiring our first Head of Sales and even if there are a lot of articles suggesting the best compensation structure, I still have a few doubts on what’s the best approach. Besides the OTE, I would try to understand better what are the goals involved for him and […]

Steven asks How do you manage one person in your executive team that is aggressive with their direct reports? He does a great job, produce results, but use wrong tones with direct reports and other depts. How can you communicate it right to him? Thanks Marten MickosThis is a difficult situation to handle. On the […]

Tuomas asks Hi. Please give me advice. I got fired from from my job just recently . In a matter of fact all the operations within Nordic countries were shut down. How to make best out of this? What are the most important steps to take when leading myself to next job? Marten MickosThanks for […]

Per asks Hi, I would like to hear your views on focusing on just one product or spreading the risk between different products or even ideas. Where goes the line between too much risk and spreading to thin? Marten MickosThere are situations where two or more products are justified, and there are situations and companies […]

Soon to be fired ex-manager??? asks How can you best protect yourself as a leader when you experience intense workload, key members from your team are missing, your direct reports start complaing about you and your leadership style, and issues start escalating? How to best play the ‘blame game’ or avoid it completely? Marten MickosGreat […]

Anu asks What do you think are the leader’s most important things to do, when she/he’ll meet his/her new team for first time? Marten MickosWhen a team gets a new leader, there is always an amount of anxiety in the air. What is the new leader like? Will this change be good for me, or […]

Timo asks My workteam has had BAD numbers in work satisfaction ranking. The problem mainly lies in the head (and abilities/skills) of the team leader = little boss. Now he asks the team by e-mail to help him become a better leader. What to answer to this uncertain boss to help him grow to his […]

Paul Kovo asks I’ve read books such as “Mastering the VC Game” and “Venture Deals” and they are an excellent introduction to the VC world. I would like to know if there are other books or articles I can read which contain more facts, less opinion and are overall accurate resources for the title topics. […]

Lisa asks How are team decisions made? Marten MickosEquality is great principle for teamwork, and teamwork is present in nearly all professional organizations. But with full equality, there is no chairperson or leader who has the ultimate decision-making power. So how do you then arrive at decisions? The answer is complicated. In some teams, decision-making […]

Worrier asks How does a CEO cope with the constant worry of how to keep the job? What are the main points to consider? Marten MickosA CEO’s job is to produce results. The desired results, defined by the board of directors, can be revenue and market share growth, profitability and cash flow, long-term sustainable advantage, and so […]

Kristofer asks Is the only true path to becoming a CEO to first create a sustainable business of your own (investing money) or can you be employed as a CEO because of other experiences? Are there any good examples of this? Marten MickosThere are many paths to becoming a CEO. Investing your own money and […]

Anonymous asks Let say your product was once top of the line, but then market shifted. Although the product still is very good at different things it’s now unclear if your product is the /best/ at anything. Should you hire better sales people? Should you hire better engineers? Should you allocate more resources to pure […]

Anonymous asks How important is it for a first time CEO to have an outside coach or a mentor? Marten MickosCoaches and mentors can have a dramatic positive influence on CEOs. It’s a pity that we don’t have enough of them for everyone. I, for one, have benefited enormously from mentorship. Top athletes have their […]

Anonymous asks In the beginning when your company is small it is easy to distribute core company information to everyone relating to finances, recruitment decisions, trade secrets. When you grow you face challenges. You want everyone to feel committed and empowered but simultaneously sharing too much information will create friction and harm the team spirit. […]

Anonymous asks How strongly should you adhere to your business focus and just concentrate on the one core thing extremely well? Is focus worth loosing prospective customers for (especially major companies which say that they only want to deal with one point of contact so they want you to handle a, b, c and if […]