Mark Cuban has surprising advice for anyone starting a career. Don’t get stuck on doing something you’re passionate about — common guidance you’re likely to hear at a commencement ceremony. Instead, try a lot of things, take note of where you’re spending your time and go from there.
“Spend time with things you’re good at it. The more time you’ll spend the better you’ll get,’ he says. “That’s where you’ll be successful.”
Now What is a video interview and panel series with industry leaders, celebrities and influencers covering the major changes and trends impacting business and how consumers connect in the “new normal” 2020 world and beyond. There will always be change in our world, there will always be technology helping us navigate that change, and we’ll always discuss surprising twists, turns, and potential solutions.
Reward employees first
The owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and an investor on Shark Tank, Cuban has tried many different things. One of his first was as the founder of Audionet in 1995, an early audio streaming company that was acquired by Yahoo as Broadcast.com in 1999 for $5.7 billion. CNET’s Brian Cooley calls him “America’s business-savvy uncle,” which makes Cuban an ideal person to talk about what’s facing the economy as the planet grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
As an investor, he says the only thing going on right now is complete uncertainty, but he knows what he wants in investment opportunities. “What I’m looking for is people with a vision on what it’s going to look like on the other side,” he says. “Not when, but what.”
Though his recommendation that companies have both agility and stability during this period may seem obvious, some of his other advice is just as unexpected as his points about choosing a job. In a recovery, companies should reward stakeholders and employees with shareholders being at the back of the line.
“What you do with your employees is going to define who you are as a brand,” he says. “It will define how consumers deal with you for decades.” He encourages companies to do all they can to keep employees, including taking advantage (if they can) of new loans from the Small Business Administration that are part of last week’s $2.2 trillion federal relief package. It may be difficult to retain employees as revenues plummet, but companies that do so will be better positioned when the economy begins to recover than those that have to find new workers and retrain them.
“If employees all know their status, they all know they can put food on the table,” he says. “That’s what communication does and that’s why it’s the most important element for CEOs.”
Cuban has much more to say. Listen to the interview for the full story.