My Business Philosophy for the Last 20 Years (VIDEO)
“Hire somebody that can do what you can’t.”
For the last 20 years I’ve been in business, as a CEO and entrepreneur, I have discovered what it takes to build successful companies. In the ever-evolving digital and business markets, it is not realistic to expect that you can be the best in every area of a company.
As a leader, it is important to realize not only your personal strengths and weaknesses, but also those of your team. As Gary Vaynerchuk says in the above video, “the fundamental answer to everything you’re not good at is to hire somebody that is good at it.” This has been my philosophy for as long as I can remember.
You don’t have to be the skill expert across every department within your company, but you should understand the craft well enough to know if your hire is doing a good job.
Building a diverse, dynamic and bright team is something I look for when building a business. Recognizing individual strengths and tailoring internal strategies to match your team’s innate capabilities creates a recipe for a company’s success.
Ego is a giant vulnerability when it comes to hiring and finding people who can do the stuff you’re weak at. The truth is, it is a good idea to hire someone who is better than you.
The moral of the story is: don’t let your own ego hold you back from hiring an all-star team that will help you succeed. Let them do what they do best. Sure, you can be powerful on your own, but forming a team of strong go-getters will make you unstoppable across the board.
What Business Stars Say About Jon Flatt:
“I have witnessed firsthand Jon`s unique ability to lead and build a company from the ground up. He has a proven track record to create technology, operations and company vision based on identifying early adopter trends in the market place”, VP , Circuit of the Americas
“Jon Flatt is a true entrepreneur and pioneer in the fast growing world of online advertising. His philosophies on innovation and business operations in the new economy have proven to be very successful.”, Billionaire and former owner of , The Minnesota Vikings
“Jon has an uncanny ability to quickly understand very complex issues and come up with effective scaleable solutions. His abilities as a problem solver are among the best I have ever experienced”, CEO , Verdant Frontiers
“Jon Flatt is a visionary who has the unique ability to identify early adopter trends in online advertising and more importantly, develop and execute strategies to capitalize upon those trends.”, Partner , McCombs Enterprises
“Jon Flatt builds and leads profitable, highly successful, and rapid growth companies. He is able to focus on mentoring excellent leadership teams, attracting top talent, and gaining employee loyalty during an intense high growth revenue stage. Having worked as CFO for Jon's previous company, Lin Digital, I was able to see first hand his razor sharp focus on building a highly profitable business with an end goal to produce company, employee and shareholder returns.”, CFO , Nfluient
“With almost two decades of experience in digital advertising sales, business operations, and as a publisher, Jon brings a level of combined expertise not seen often in the digital space. Leveraging owned and paid assets for revenue and sales is tough. Building a business from that success is even more difficult. Few people exist that can help you accomplish those types of goals. Jon is one of them. ”, Director, Business Development , Varick Media Management
“Jon Flatt is a true visionary in the digital space. He's a born entrepreneur, leader, and always has his finger on the pulse of "whats next".”, Regional Account Executive , LIN Digital
“If you are looking to improve your company culture, attract the best talent and position your company for maximum growth, you need to be talking to Jon. Early on in the digital World, Jon realized that tech is an important component in the Red McCombs Media value proposition and while service is key, a tech platform would position the company far beyond competitors. He conceptualized and created RedZone, a platform that streamlines internal workflow that competitors are still trying to replicate in 2016 and gives full, real-time data access to agency clients and brands beyond the limitations of a DSP or an ad server. This is just one of many things that made Red McCombs Media attractive to bidders and led to the purchase of Red McCombs Media by LIN Media. With the powerful combination of tech and service touted by LIN Media, they were purchased by Media General, who was then purchased by NexStar. All of these companies achieved great success as a result of Jon’s early work…work which has withstood the test of time.”, regional account lead , Centro