Pierre Coupet

I'm bursting with ideas!

VOMI Virtual Organization Academy, Virtual Organization Recruiter, Virtual Organization Management Institute

Most frustrating: Building the right team.

Most rewarding: Building the right team.

Starting out with the wrong team. Great ideas come in the millions. People who can execute come in the thousands. Finding people who can execute is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.

For the most part, most entrepreneurs have this "ill-conceived" notion that since they are the ones who came up with an idea, therefore, they are the ones who are best qualified to be in charge of implementing their ideas, not understanding that "having an idea" is not a substitute for "leadership" and business development skills. Having being in business for over 35 years and having started quite a few of these businesses, I can certainly vouch for that fatal flaw.

1. Take time to build the right team. The right team is the team that understands your value proposition and truly buys into it. This is the most difficult part: how to truly differentiate between those who do and those who are just blowing hot air and telling you what you want to hear.

2. Understand the difference between Marketing and Sales. They are 2 sides of the same coin. Putting a Marketing Executive in charge of sales can kill your business. Putting a Sales Executive in charge of marketing will slowly kill your business. Since a lot of sales executives call themselves marketing executives and a lot of marketing executives call themselves sales executives, you need to be able to discern between the two or else you will be in deep trouble. If you can't afford to have both at the same time, then pick a Strong Sales Executive first, until you reach such point where you can immediately bring on board a Marketing Executive. Because, without sales, your business will surely die.

3. Do not compromise when it comes to ethics. Adopt a ZERO TOLERANCE policy. Enforce it rigorously throughout your organization. If not, then you are risking everything that everybody throughout your entire organization has worked very hard to build. As sure as I am that the sun will set tomorrow, I am sure that today's ethical lapses will one day come home to roost and the price you will have to pay will erase every single gain that you have ever made.

Prof. Pierre Coupet is the Founder, CEO & Q of Virtual Organization Management at Virtual Organization Management Institute; is also the founder of the modern virtual organization management discipline pioneered since 1997; and has over 35 years of diversified professional experience.

Concurrently, he heads VOMI Virtual Organization Academy, the world's leading and only favorite sabbatical destination for corporate executives, public policy executives, government officials, investors, and academics on sabbatical leave who seek to immerse themselves and experience life in a 100% virtual organization environment for a limited period of time.  

As well, he heads Virtual Organization Recruiter, the world's leading and only virtual organization recruitment and assesment firm that is strictly focused on the assessment, certification and recruitment of senior executives and middle management professionals who are able to adapt and thrive - and Lead - in a 100% virtual or virtual organization environment.  

He is the author of numerous publications on Virtual Organization Management, including the groundbreaking Ultra Premium White Paper "How to Virtual Organize Your Social Network", and is featured on most of the leading business, human capital management, and HR online publications.

He is  a prolific speaker;  organizing  CEO summits, symposiums, conferences, seminars, webinars, and workshops on Virtual Organization Management worldwide.  He has evangelized and taught extensively on the subject of virtual organization management to leading corporate executives at Fortune 500 and other leading, blue chip companies worldwide.

For over 13 years, he was the founder and head of a national executive search firm whose clientele included Fortune 500 and other leading, blue chip companies worldwide.