Mark Cuban: If You Have To Micromanage, Something Is Probably Broken — 'I Wish Somebody Would Have Told Me To Be Nicer'

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban believes micromanagement is a sign that something is broken.

What To Know: Ofek Lavian, CEO of fintech company Forage, recently posted a thread on X focused on counterintuitive leadership principles. Cuban responded to the thread, noting that he agreed with everything except for the post on micromanaging.

"Pretty darn good list. Agree with all but micromanage," Cuban said. "Micromanage early. Trust the process or fix what's broken if you always have to micromanage."

CNBC reported Cuban's opinion on micromanaging was formed from personal experience with his former company Broadcast.com.

Cuban reportedly micromanaged his employees in his early days as he expected them to match his own work ethic. This created a situation in which Cuban was always focused on pushing employees to be better and work faster without thinking about how he was coming off.

"I wish somebody would have told me to be nicer,” Cuban reportedly said on the "Bio Eats World" podcast last year.

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Cuban's "go, go, go" mentality and micromanaging tendencies actually hurt the company in its early stages. Cuban recalled one of his business partners pulling him aside and telling him he was scaring some of the employees with his management style. Still, Cuban sold the company to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock in 1999.

Lavian's post included a link to a video featuring Shopify Inc SHOP co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke, who argued that the idea of micromanaging is bad is "the dumbest idea on planet Earth."

Although Cuban disagreed with the take, Lavian responded to Cuban, thanking him for his input.

"I try to hire the right team so I don’t have to micromanage, but I don’t always get it right," Lavian said.

"Once I know I can trust someone to get the little things right, I know they can devote the same level of detail and attention for the big ones that truly matter."

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• Mark Cuban Planned To Retire By Age 35: He Says There’s Only One Reason He Didn’t

This story is part of a series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire. Some elements of this story were previously reported by Benzinga and it has been updated.

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