Nick Martin

Normalize senior-level roles that don't require people management. It sucks that most of us are forced to become people managers if we ever want to make a lot of money. We need more high-level individual contributor roles. Grown adults who want to roll up their sleeves AND get paid like upper management. And for founders/CEOs, isn't this what you want more of? Competent adults who can do their jobs extremely well with little to no oversight. Nobody wants to monitor Asana to make sure the person they hired is actually doing their job. If you think this could be right for your org... Guidelines for hiring a high-level IC: 1. Pay them well. Sure, you can argue they shouldn’t get paid as much as the c-level executive who oversees a whole department. But the high-level IC is much more experienced and competent than a manager-level worker. 2. Be clear it's not a people management role. This will turn off some people, which is great. More time saved for both of you. In a conventional corporate environment, you’d bury this aspect of the role. But you don't have time for those silly trappings. Put "individual contributor" front and center, and the right types of people will apply. 3. Let them define accountability. Remember: this is a grown adult you’re hiring. Making them join a daily standup or updating a spreadsheet is waste of their time and yours. (You don't actually want to look at those daily updates, do you?) A common understanding for what accountability looks like is key. So have them define it, and only agree to it if you're truly on board. Be open-minded. Accountability might not just be outcomes (like increased revenue or more customers). It might be output (like number of projects completed or programs launched). It might be a mix of both. A great high-level IC might be paid like a VP. But for that value, you may very well get the power of several directors. And that might be exactly what you need.