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#556October 10, 202352:00

CEO Lessons: Bulls**t Mission Statements, Firing People & Saying…

About This Episode

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri share the management lessons and 'hacks' they've learned from building and selling companies like The Hustle and Native. They discuss the evolution of their philosophies on hiring high-tier talent, conducting rigorous reference checks, and replacing grand mission statements with honest lifestyle goals.

Episode Description

Episode 505: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) talk about their biggest regrets as first-time CEOs and the shortcuts they’ve learned after 15 years of running businesses. (Disclaimer: This is not the type of stuff they teach at Harvard Business School.) Want to see more MFM? Subscribe to our YouTube channel here. Want MFM Merch? Check out our store here. Want to see the best clips from MFM? Subscribe to our clips channel here.

Show Notes

  • 0:00Intro
  • 3:00Doomed Mission Statements
  • 7:00Hiring people you want to be around
  • 12:00Naming, Branding and Trademarks
  • 17:00How to make better hires
  • 26:00Ambitious Goal Setting vs Achievable Goal Setting
  • 31:00Not losing my shit
  • 35:00Firing 101
  • 38:00Focus vs. Saying 'no' too much
  • 46:00Pre- vs. Post-product market fit
  • Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more.

Check Out our store here. Want to see the best clips from MFM? Subscribe to our clips channel here. — Check Out Sam's Stuff

Key Takeaways

1

Use 'anti-goals' alongside performance targets to define specific traps to avoid, such as sacrificing personal time or profit margins for the sake of growth.

2

Replace traditional interviews with paid work tests where candidates are paid to complete a real task, allowing you to judge actual output instead of interview skills.

3

Conduct 'backdoor' reference checks by asking a candidate's provided references for names of other colleagues they worked with to get a more objective, unfiltered perspective.

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Duration52:00
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