I keep a bunch of “People Lists.” People are the most valuable thing in the success of any organization (and in Life).
Surrounding yourself by amazing people is a necessary component in achieving organizational success.
At LeWeb, Sean Parker noted that having an amazing group of people at Facebook was the key to the company’s success.
Just as important is removing people from your life or organization that do not contribute to positive performance and individual and organizational growth. Parker also mentioned that one of his greatest failures was in hiring the wrong people at Napster.
It is important to keep a clear distinction of people that will contribute to your success and I do it through keeping lists of people that I have come across in life.
Two such lists that I keep are 1) Personal Influencers and 2) Detractors. The first list is people that I hope to be able to work with some day (some I am lucky to already be working with) and criteria which includes intellect, hard work, loyalty, and proven success. These people have powerful insights into life and consistently impress me with their abilities. They are people I would start a company with in a second if given the opportunity and if not, folks that I simply want to get involved in my life in whatever way possible someday. I learn from them on every single interaction. The folks on this list are:
Marc Andreessen
Reid Hoffman
Keith Rabois
Peter Fenton
Jim Harbaugh
Coach K
Scott Weiss
Jon Schmidt
Bill Campbell
Jack Dorsey
Alex Rampell
The second aforementioned list is of detractors. Unfortunately (or fortunately since it taught me invaluable lessons), I have met or worked with numerous people that have been extremely disloyal, demotivational, or simply not net positive in my life. I have found that by removing these people entirely, my own effectiveness and ability to grow increases exponentially.
It is important to know who in your life you should keep as close as possible and who to remove.
