Should I Go .Com?

"Should I stay or should I go?" So wailed the Clash in a hit song from the 1980s. So asked millions of Europeans, as they considered whether to join previous Great Migrations to the New World. So wonder businesspeople around the world today, as they evaluate what may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a dramatic career leap -- from respectable positions at well-established companies to risky but exciting jobs at Internet startups.

Becky Stein, leader of the Silicon Valley Internet practice at New York City-based Russell Reynolds Associates Inc., one of the country's top executive-search firms, has helped scores of businesspeople wrestle with this question. A big part of arriving at an answer, she says, is being honest with yourself about a different question: Do you have what it takes to succeed in the Web environment? "Almost everyone who walks into my office dreams of becoming an Internet CEO," says Stein, 40, the self-proclaimed "old lady" of the firm. "But not everyone has what it takes to make the move to the online world. Not everyone has Web DNA."

Web DNA? Six months ago, in an effort to understand what kinds of executives are best suited to making the Great Migration, Russell Reynolds Associates teamed up with Lynne Rosansky, a social scientist, to develop the Web Factor, an assessment tool that probes for the personal characteristics -- the Web DNA -- that drive effective leaders in the Internet economy. What are some of those characteristics? Internet executives "radiate vision." They seize the day -- an attribute that Stein and her colleagues call "carpeDiem.com." They are "organizational improvisers" who know how to "get the right stuff done."

Stein herself seems to have enough Web DNA to supply all of Silicon Valley. Powered by Diet Pepsi -- a small refrigerator by her desk is crammed with several six-packs -- Stein, a triathlete in her spare time, speaks at a frenetic pace. She admits that she was an early skeptic of the value of the Web Factor assessment. But "now I'm a convert," she says. "The Web Factor gives us a common language with which to talk to clients and to recruiters. It also lets us cut to the chase with candidates."

Stein and her team have lured dozens of executives away from established companies, persuading them to join the Great Migration to such companies as more.com, MyFamily.com, Nordstrom.com, PeoplePC, and ThirdAge Media. But Stein doesn't hit a home run every time. In fact, one of her recruits lasted only 90 minutes in his new job. After his first strategy meeting, which was devoted to rethinking parts of the three-year plan that had attracted him to the company, he simply left. Stein cracks open another Diet Pepsi. "This was before we had the Web Factor," she says. "Looking back, I realize that although he had the right skill set, he would have totally failed the Web Factor diagnostic. That doesn't mean that he's not a good executive. It just means that he's not right for the Internet."

Fast Company sat down with Stein in her San Francisco office to untangle the strands of Web DNA. She talked about what it takes to become part of the Great Migration to the new economy.

What's the first question that people should ask themselves when thinking about moving to the Internet economy?

You should ask yourself the same question that I ask the people whom I recruit: Why do you want to make the move? Half of the people who are moving to the Internet economy are doing it for the wrong reasons. We're not interested in people who want to make a quick buck. We're looking for people who are in it for the long haul, who see the Internet as a better way of doing business.

I've got to be careful about this motivation issue when I meet candidates. People tend to turn their heads toward the noise. And these days, the noise is on the Internet. There's also a fear of being left behind: "People who are smarter than I am are making the move, so shouldn't I?" Or, "People who aren't as smart as I am are making the move, and some of them are getting rich. What about me?"

It's the spring of 2000. If I meet somebody who hasn't already made the jump to the Internet, a part of me wonders why that is. Anyone who wanted to make the move could have done so by now. Of course, there are plenty of good reasons for not having moved yet -- say, if you still have something to prove at your job. But for a lot of established-company executives, the fact that they are still in their old jobs tells you something about their attitude toward risk.

What are some of the risks that hold people back?

There's the perceived risk of having a failed company on your résumé. In the offline world, there's still a stigma attached to failure. When you see people join a company that fails after six months, you start to wonder about their judgment: What questions didn't they ask that would have prevented them from accepting the job? When it comes to a company's business model, people are asking much tougher questions than they used to. They're critiquing it, analyzing it, and assessing it with more sophistication.