Axios CEO Jim VandeHei, prompted by a morning-long wave of online praise for our “smart brevity” architecture, tweeted in real time some of the lessons learned creating Axios six months ago, and Politico a decade before:
- Truly obsess about your reader/viewer/listener. Their addiction/appreciation equals long-term biz success.
- Related to first one: Never do stupid tricks for clicks or ad dollars. Short-term high but long-term buzz kill for biz/consumers.
- Truly make tech/design as important as content or sales. Great content on clunky site, or with cluttered design, is a disservice, bad biz.
- People + purpose = killer execution. Sorry: Not all talent is created equal. Huge talent + great values = gold. Go all-in on this type.
- If you don’t know with precision what your company is doing broadly, and what you are doing personally, run. Clarity of purpose is
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- The beauty/curse of today: You can build a brand faster than ever, but lose your magic just as quick. Play fast, scared and opportunistic.
Sound smart: Jim told me the one management super-power he would wish for all is this: the self-confidence and judgement to hire people, with killer talent and awesome values, who want your job and can do it better. Do this and the next person they hire will do the same and your company will crush it. Don’t do this, and you will have a hot mess of mediocrity. This is the Roy Schwartz Rule — and it’s damn good one!Go deeper … The Axios Manifesto.
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