The 8th Wonder Employee Investment Model
Invest in employees and get long-term dividends
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
The 8th Wonder Employee Investment Model is a framework for investing heavily in employees and getting long-term returns. Jimmy describes the mechanism: invest 3-4 years in training an employee → they stay for 9 more years → they crush at their job because they can spend 100% of their time on it while you can only spend 5%. The result is that they outperform you on the task, and you get the benefit of their deep expertise. Jimmy calls this 'the eighth wonder of the world for a business.' The key is to find employees who see the value in staying long-term and to invest heavily in their training and mentorship.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01Invest heavily in employees who stay long-term
- 02Training creates a compound effect over time
- 03Employees who understand your vision can outperform you
- 04Long-term retention is the 8th wonder of the world
How to run it
- 1
Find employees who see the value in staying
Identify employees who are willing to invest their career with you and see the long-term value in the relationship.
Pro tip Look for employees who are deeply committed to the mission and the company.
Watch out If employees don't see the value in staying long-term, they won't stick around for the dividends.
- 2
Invest heavily in training and mentorship
Spend time training and mentoring employees, especially in the early years. This creates a compound effect over time.
Pro tip Invest 3-4 years in training an employee, then you get 9 years of dividends.
- 3
Allow employees to develop deep expertise
Give employees the time and resources to develop deep expertise in their area of responsibility.
Pro tip Deep expertise allows employees to outperform you on specific tasks.
- 4
Trust that employees will outperform you
Recognize that employees who spend 100% of their time on a task will outperform you if you can only spend 5% of your time on it.
Pro tip Trust the process and let employees take ownership.
- 5
Get dividends on the back end
After investing in employees, you get the benefit of their deep expertise and improved performance.
Pro tip The dividends come in the form of better results, more efficient processes, and reduced workload for you.
In the wild
Jimmy describes Tyler, an employee who writes and directs many of his videos. Jimmy invested years of daily mentorship into Tyler, and now Tyler spends 100% of his time on the work while Jimmy can only spend 5% of his time. The result is that Tyler outperforms Jimmy on the task, and Jimmy gets the benefit of Tyler's deep expertise.
→ The employee investment model creates a compound effect where the employee outperforms you on specific tasks, and you get the benefit of their deep expertise.
Common mistakes
Investing in employees who won't stay
If you invest heavily in an employee who doesn't see the value of staying, you won't get the dividends on the back end.
Training without a long-term plan
Training someone for six months and then losing them is not the same as training someone for a year and getting nine years of dividends.
Is it for you?
Best for
Business leaders and entrepreneurs who want to build long-term, high-performing teams.
Not ideal for
Situations where you need to hire quickly for a short-term project, or where you don't have the resources to invest in long-term employee development.
From the transcript
“I train someone for a year and then I get nine years of dividends on the back end where they crush at their job”
“it's quite literally the eighth wonder of the world for a business”
From the episode
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