Some people say that the most important role of a CEO is "resource allocation"--deciding how to spend company resources. But I remember as Amazon grew and brought in a seasoned COO, Jeff Bezos said he was grateful to be freed up from operations so that he could spend more time recruiting. Perhaps the most important role of a CEO is to bring the right people together to accomplish the company's mission.

Last year I wrote in Connect magazine that I would be trying a grand experiment in team building. I would be trying an idea I got from The Entrepreneur's Manual, a very popular book for entrepreneurs published in 1997. I would hold a 2-day retreat with a couple dozen executives to brainstorm, network, plan, and then vote on the Founders Team for Worldhistory.com.

My friend Tim Hunt, a venture-backed entrepreneur whose company Lingotek is located at the Novell Open Source Incubator in Provo, called me the other day and said they have a new job opening for someone in internet marketing and sales.

Robert Merrill, a Utah technical recruiter, is offering a $1500 reward
for the person who helps one of his clients hire the right SQL
engineer. He is using H3.com, a site that is getting a ton of press
lately, to manage the referrals and referral fee payments.

When I signed up at H3.com the following message was generated which I
am supposed to email to friends who qualify for the SQL engineer
position:

Hi -

I recently heard from a friend who asked me to help them fill a job

I am totally disappointed today. I just learned that the UITA-sponsored Will West/Amy Lewis discussion
today about management teams was a breakfast meeting. I marked
September 1 on my calendar, but I thought it was a lunch meeting.

Please, please, please, if anyone attended, can you send me your notes/impressions or blog about what they said?

Will is the #1 fund-raising entrepreneur in the history of Utah. Amy is
one of the most energizing speakers I have ever heard. I can't believe
I missed this event.

Thanks to Ryan Money (Junto 2005), I got a copy of the handouts Will and Amy used in today's UITA breakfast.

Keys to Management Success - Will West, Control4

Hire right.
In fact, hire people that are better than you are. If you don't you
can't grow an exceptional organization. Do this right, and 80% of your
job is done. Do this wrong, and you'll sink.

Be yourself. Don't try to be the manager you read in a
book. Use those learningÂ?s to mold your approach, but don't try to
become someone else. You aren't, and you probably won't do it well.

Create passion. Retention, extra hours, loyalty to the
business, etc. are all easier when your management team believes in a
vision. Help your team understand why you are going to change your
little comer of the world.