That's not a bad analogy. Going along those lines, of course, a
general must start as a private at some point, then later as a
lieutenant, captain, major and so on. Ultimately, when the OC moves
up to CO's position, one of his subordinates must be in a position
to move up to the OC post.
Again, along the lines of the military analogy, the higher you go,
the more your focus will move from the tactical to the
strategic.
Applying the above to a startup company, the boss starts off as
either a solo act, or one of a small number, which means that he's
got to do the hands-on work himself. As the company grows, he gets
further away from the hands-on work and more into managing the
company at a strategic level. Take this further down the track, and
the boss will find himself not doing any hands-on work
anymore.
That's the theory at least.
The reality is that if the boss doesn't go looking for staff who
have the basic knowledge to follow the path he has taken, he'll
find himself having to go back to do hands-on work, since the staff
won't be competent. Further down the track, as the business
expands, the boss will require middle-level managers to be OCs
while he commands the division, so to speak. Poorly-chosen hires
will leave him without good OC candidates within the company, and
he'll then have to take his chances looking for someone in the job
market. Even in successful companies, there's a fair element of
this occurring, and if the boss ignores it, quality and business
will drop.
Bosses who hire people who only do the practical work and earn
money for the company are being extremely shortsighted, and sooner
or later will find themselves doing a lot more work than they
bargained for.
