Two heads work better than one

By VICKI JAYNE

Want to be part of a successful management team? Try locking your ego in the loo before you leave home.

That's one chunk of wisdom from a dynamic duo who have already steered two businesses to commercial success and plan to do the same for others.

Maurice Bryham co-founded PC Direct, with David McKee-Wright later hired as an accountant, and the pair went on to co-pilot accounting software company Exo-Net.

Having sold Exo-Net to Australia's Solution 6 for $38 million, they are now applying their knowhow to a series of potential high-flyers through listed venture capital company IT Capital, which they both joined this year.

IT Capital was a major investor in Exo-net and made $12.7 million out of its sale; that's the link.

Although the company is expecting to announce a loss of $20 million for the year to the end of March, and despite the fact Bryham and McKee-Wright haven't run a listed company before, both know how to manage start-ups.

Bryham, 36, became IT Capital's chief operating officer after the acrimonious departure of his predecessor. "That means I report to David," he says.

"But I call him boss," retorts IT Capital's new chief executive, McKee-Wright, 31.

It's the sort of exchange that speaks volumes about how these two work together. Titles are irrelevant. They know what their roles are.

McKee-Wright: "I've got a more tertiary-trained head than Maurice.

"I'm the numbers man. He's more entrepreneurial. I'm good at execution."

Bryham: "You're more methodical and analytical. I'm more creative, strategic, go a bit more by gut instinct."

Speaking volumes, it appears, is something they actively avoid.

Bryham: "We're very efficient with communication. We don't really have formal discussions - it's more of an ongoing process by email, or verbally."

Because both know where they are headed and trust the other's judgment, the vision and process part of teamwork cuts quickly to action.

Two phrases typify this dynamic: "got it" and "so"?

McKee-Wright: "We both believe in getting quickly to the action point.

"He can be halfway through a conversation and I'll say, 'Got it', and we just move onto the next thing. Other people have screeds of dialogue and just go in circles."

Bryham: "We're very output-focused. If someone is explaining something we already know, then it's "so?" We know that problem - so what are we going to do about it?"

But what if they disagree?

They don't, says Bryham.

"I think that, because we have this ongoing communication process, we filter that stuff out as we progress. We don't ever get to the point of arguing over anything."

It's all to do with trust - each knows the other's strengths and how he best operates.

And that trust is not limited to one relationship - behind the two heads is a team of around 10 that moved with them from PC Direct to Exo-Net.

Although confirmations aren't forthcoming from McKee-Wright or Bryham, all seem assured of some place in the new venture.

The pair, plus every member of their team, have two children under 3 - but all can happily socialise without having to talk shop, says Bryham.

"It's a team that has worked well together in the past," he says.

"We know each other's skill sets. We know that if someone has an area of responsibility, then they will look after it.

"You don't have to check. You have faith in their ability to get on with it."

Which is about where ego doesn't come in.

"There's no "I" in team," notes McKee-Wright.

That might sound pat, but team members have been taken to task for excessive use of "I" statements. Corporate ladder-climbers more concerned with ego than output quickly fall out of the circle.

You can waste a lot of time on politics, arguing the small stuff, says Bryham. And on management, adds McKee-Wright. "Managing is actually a non-value-adding activity. If I have to spend my time checking what someone else is doing, I don't actually add value.

"If I trust that person to do the job, then I don't need to manage or check or performance-appraise him.

"He's going to do it. None of that checking adds any value to the commercial goal."

Nor do the roles within the team change much. That's been tried, says Bryham, and it doesn't work. People do best what they most enjoy doing.

It is a team that thrives on the challenges of start-ups and, says McKee-Wright, moving on has injected a "good shot of adrenalin".

Which is why the pair see IT Capital as such a good fit for their management skills.

Its role is all about creating value for new companies - not just one at a time, says McKee-Wright.

The duo employed venture capital injection at an early stage in the development of both PC Direct and Exo-Net.

They have a lot of faith in the process and believe their knowledge of how it works from a recipient's view is a useful asset.

"That's because we won't be seen as bankers, but as people who have successfully run businesses," says McKee-Wright.

"We know [the process] from both sides, which means we can better communicate it."

Says Bryham: "Having both of us at CEO level works very well.

"We both have a holistic view of the company, we can bounce ideas off each other and share the responsibilities and stresses of the job.

"I think being a lone CEO is very hard."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz