“HR Heretics” | How CPOs, CHROs, Founders, and Boards Build High Performing Companies The Anti-Org Chart: Why Colin Zima Traded HR for Chaos (and Won)
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Jan 9, 2025 
Colin Zima, former Looker executive and current Omni CEO, shares insights from his unique management style that thrives on minimal bureaucracy. He argues that founders should roll up their sleeves and tackle tough tasks directly. Colin explains his unconventional approach of operating without an HR or G&A team, valuing engagement over traditional roles. He discusses the cultural pitfalls from acquisitions, like the Google-Listener experience, and emphasizes the need for leaders to adapt their strategies in a hybrid work environment.
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Delay G&A Hires
- Assign G&A tasks to employees in other departments to foster a sense of ownership and shared responsibility.
- Hire G&A roles like HR, legal, and finance only when the workload becomes too much for existing employees to handle.
Learning by Doing
- Employees gain valuable experience and develop empathy by performing tasks outside their primary roles.
- Early involvement in recruiting and HR helps leaders understand these functions better and avoid treating them as mere service functions.
Leveraging Existing Networks
- Omni's engineering team, primarily composed of former Looker and Stitch employees, benefited from a strong existing network and pipeline.
- This allowed them to bypass the need for recruiters, as they had a readily available pool of qualified candidates.