CEO who puts profits second

Jim Buckmaster doesn’t believe in maximising profits. He doesn’t believe in management. He doesn’t believe in brands. He doesn’t believe in discussing money and he doesn’t believe in smiling.

Lucy Kellaway from the Financial Times found out that Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster does have a very interesting belief system when it comes to the management of the company.

The management philosophy of Jim Buckmaster
• Listen to what users want. Try to make the site faster and better.
• Hire good people. “We work hard trying to get the right kind of folks.” It pays off: they hardly ever leave.
• No meetings, ever. “I find them stupefying and useless.”
• No management programmes and no MBAs. “I’ve always thought that sort of thing was baloney.”
• Forget the figures. “We are consistently in the black, so if we do better or worse in any given quarter it is absolutely irrelevant.”
• Occasionally, give people “a very gentle nudge”. This can be done over lunch or on the instant messaging boards.
• He doesn’t reply to any of his 100 daily messages, most of which beg Craigslist to do a deal. “I’m not real chatty on e-mail.”
• Put speed over perfection: “Get something out there. Do it, even if it isn’t perfect.”
• “Don’t screw it up by doing things that make people feel worse about their work.”

Now if only Craigslist Ireland would take off properly then I’m sure all my household/personal/staffing/work related problems could be solved with one click…why are we such reluctant Craigslisters?