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Hadley & Stephenson Management Collaborative Style
Reprinted from Boston Software News
by Mathew Schwartz
Too much of today's media coverage reinforces the myth of that god-like, solitary genius - the CEO who drives a company to greatness by virtue of his ego. So it's refreshing to find two business partners - Mike Hadley and Chris
Stephenson of IT
consultancy OHC Inc. in
Cambridge - who explode that myth and relish their equal
status, personality differences, and penchant for lively
debate.
"Chris is sort of like the Richie Cunningham - warm milk,
apple pie - and I'm more like the Fonz," cracks Hadley,
OHC cofounder, president, and CEO.
Here's how it usually works: one plays the nice guy, the
other the cool icon. One is quick to trust; the other requires
you to build it over time. And neither one is lonely at the
top. "It's a good mix," Hadley says.
Stephenson, OHC vice president and cofounder, doesn't
dispute it. "I think that, unchecked, it would be a struggle
for Mike because he has so much raw energy and
determination," he says. "I can help check that a little bit."
In the 28-person company, which provides everything from
technology strategy to support for clients such as Avery
Dennison, Harvard Business Review, and International
Data Group (IDG), Hadley makes the final call when push
comes to shove. A well-run business requires it. "What
we've found is that you can't have two people running
day-to-day operations," says Hadley. Accordingly,
Stephenson has other responsibilities: working with the
business team, speaking engagements, sales help, client
relations, even serving as one client's CIO.
Theirs is a relationship over 10 years in the making:
Hadley was originally Stephenson's boss at CSC Index,
the management consulting arm of Computer Sciences
Corp. Hadley wrote purchase orders, and Stephenson,
fresh out of college with a journalism degree, was his
administrative assistant. The two moved up through the
ranks quickly. In just seven years, they ran their entire
division - Hadley managing worldwide IT operations,
Stephenson managing data network and technical support
operations for the 14 nationwide branches.
Nevertheless, it took Stephenson's departure and eventual
return to CSC to spark an epiphany: They both realized
that the combination of their wildly different styles made
them both more successful. "When I came back, that's
when Mike sat me down and said 'I've struggled without
you.' I knew that we worked well together, but it took that
absence to work that out," says Stephenson.
Armed with that realization, they decided to capitalize on
it. In May 1995, the two left CSC and transformed OHC
Inc., their lucrative nights and weekends "off-hours
computing" side project, into a full-time job. Sure, a single
client and cramped office space in Hadley's kitchen has
given way to better accommodations and more clients, but
their world views haven't changed. They still love to butt
heads, and each consults the other before any major
decision.
So here's the takeaway for managers: covet the
perspectives of other people. "Find a partner [who] thinks
exactly the opposite, but who you trust and respect," says
Stephenson. And, he adds, think twice before going on
sales calls together.
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