First, eat your own (...) food

Another great question from LikedIn reads: Do You Taste This Stuff Before You Release It? To which I replied:

I suggest an answer from a slightly different perspective than usual.

In the light of today's (lowered) numbers from Wal-Mart, I was wondering if its executives (the guys responsible for its well-being) ever shop at their own stores. Moreover, while the story about the WMT numbers was told in the background, the images where showing a scene from a store where a Wal-Mart employee, sporting the "how may I help you" message, was passing by shoppers without showing any of the solicitude implied by the message printed on their vests. I wonder if the employees even know that message (in form or meaning) since many a time I find myself lost, without any help at Wal-Mart--in contrast to Costco or Whole Foods.

To take it next to the tech-sector, anybody has any doubts as to where the internet info is coming from for Bill Gates or Steve Balmer, Is it MSN Search or Google?

So, by extrapolation, chances are that (the equivalent of) a product manager at your regular food company shops up-market.

Building a senior management team

A recent question on LinkedIn reads like this: How to build a strong senior management team? To which I responded as follows:

Since there are several answers covering the competency aspects, I only add CHEMISTRY, which is just as important this early on. It's so easy to ignore that what you hire now is what your organization will look like when/if it matures--you are building the organizational DNA.

Myself, I'd look also to further define competency in terms of capability more than (only) expereince. In other words, it's not only people from targeted markets/industries I'd like to hire, but also versatile individuals who've been top achievers along their (professional) lives.