May 10, 2016

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

“The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers

There are a few good nuggets of wisdom in these Kenny Rogers lyrics. There are also some good lessons from Kenny Rogers the CEO, including how to hold on to great people. This weekend, I was in Nashville visiting my cousin Mike Zimmerman, the drummer for Kenny Rogers. Mike joined four years ago to replace Kenny’s retiring drummer of 30 years. Kenny has kept his road team together for decades.

Saturday night we had dinner with Keith Bogus and his wife while we watched Mike play at a gig with a local act. Keith has been Kenny’s production manager and runs the front of house (“FOH”) for Kenny since 1971! He is from Columbus, OH. They met in the First Edition days and Kenny went solo in 1977. Keith has seen it all, from karate lessons courtesy of Elvis Presley at the Las Vegas Hilton, to helping young new artists like Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney and others, start their careers on tour with Kenny.

Keith at Front of House for Kenny Rogers

There is one original band member, and five others have been with Kenny for over 25 years. That’s an amazing run with one artist. He says he can only think of two other artists that have kept teams together for that length of time, Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels. So I asked Keith for the secrets to their success as a unit, hoping to glean some insights for CEOs and companies aspiring to build long-term, successful enterprises.

Tim: what has been your secret to longevity?

Keith: For our crew anyway, it’s been the type of touring KR does. We are never gone for months on end and can maintain a family life. Also KR is a pretty normal guy (No DIVAS here). He expects professionalism out of his people and lets us do our jobs.

Tim: How would you describe Kenny’s management style?

Keith: Laid back but cares about his image [brand] and how he’s represented.

Tim: What lessons from your experience would you recommend to a CEO of a fast-growing startup in terms of building a culture?

Keith: Hire people who are consistent and you can count on….then let them do their jobs. You’d go crazy trying to micro-manage everyone’s position. There’s no way you can know everything about everything. Find people, and use their expertise and experience.

I recently heard that the average tenure of a person at a Silicon Valley startup is 18 months. It’s become a mercenary, get-rich-quick culture. This makes it difficult to build a team that is able to execute at a high-level. Trust and confidence in a team takes time to develop. If you’re running a startup, you might ask yourself what culture you are trying to create. Are you surrounding yourself with a team that’s built to last?