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Culture of a company is like the character of an individual. We refer to the character of a person – how honest they are and what kind of person they are and their humility. Well, culture is the character of a whole group of people. How are they under stress? How are they in times of success? Do they take care of their own? Do they brag? Or do they say, “Okay, nice job, guys. Onto the next.” What is the character of the company?
If you don’t build your culture it’ll happen by default. You can have a culture by design or by default. There will be something that will emerge, but do you want a culture of backstabbing and dishonesty or do you want a culture of cooperation and trust?
Reframe values as verbs
To set the culture, to set the environment in which a culture can thrive – that’s one of the huge responsibilities of leadership. Now, to do that you have to know your own values. You have to have a sense of your own vision. And I’m not talking about coming up with a whole bunch of ridiculous values that you write on the wall, because you came up with them at the corporate offsite that say, “Innovation. Honesty. Integrity.” I mean, if you have to write honesty on the wall, you’ve got bigger problems, right?
At the end of the day, values are verbs. It’s things we do. It’s not “Innovation” – it’s “Look at the problem from a different angle.” I can hold you accountable to that. I can measure that. I can do that. True values are how you act when you are at your natural best. It doesn’t mean you’re at your natural best, but it’s how you act when you are at your natural best. Those are your values. And they’re not aspirational; they’re things that you will do, and they should be written in words that are actionable. All of us imagine dreams and sometimes just changing our lot to a different job, a different bus. And yet, the amazing thing is we’re more likely to achieve all of these things if we help each other.
Hire slowly
When we hire we tend to hire by someone’s resume, skill set, the past results they’ve had with maybe our competitors, and how good they are at interviewing. And, let me tell you, some people are really good at interviewing. “We only hire passionate people,” I’ve heard people say. Well, how do you know that they’re passionate for the interview and not so passionate for the work? At the end of the day, a hiring decision is like an adoption. You’re going to bring a child into your family. You’re going to let them into your house. You’re going to give them keys to the house and maybe even give them responsibility over your other children. You probably want to do that a little carefully. So, sure, you can go through the traditional read-their-resume: “So tell us about yourself. What’s your biggest weakness?” That kind of nonsense. But I like it when we treat it like a dating scenario. I like it when we treat it like a marriage or a relationship. In other words, go out for dinner with them. Take them out for lunch. Get to know them as a human being. What kind of people are they? Do you want to hang out with them? Are they one of us? You have a culture and you want to protect that culture more than you just want the skills.
There’s a wonderful story. It’s a true story of a bunch of military recruiters who went to a high school. And the Army recruiter stands up and says to the kids, “Let me tell you why you want to be in the Army,” with his PowerPoint on behind him. The Navy recruiter stands up with his presentation and says, “No, no, let me tell you why the Navy’s better.” The Air Force recruiter stands up and says, “They’re both wrong. I’ll tell you why you want to be in the Air Force.” The Marine recruiter stands up with no PowerPoint, no presentation. He stands at the edge of the stage and he just looks around the room quietly. And then he says, “Nope. I don’t want any of you.” He says, “You have to understand the Marine Corps is the most difficult thing you’ll ever do in your entire life emotionally or physically, and I don’t think anyone in this room is strong enough to be in my Marine Corps. If you think I’m wrong, I’m at the back of the room.” He wasn’t trying to appeal to everyone; he was trying to appeal to the people who had what it takes to be a Marine. And he said, “My Marine Corps.” He’s protective of the culture.
One of the things that the Marines do is they take their best Marines, and they make them recruiters. It’s not seen as something that is a bottom-feeder job. It’s seen as an unbelievable honor to be responsible for letting people in. And I think we need to treat it with the same deference in our businesses. You are building a culture, building a family. Think about the number of companies that say, “Our company is like a family.” Every person you bring in is a child that you’re going to have to take responsibility for their lives. They’re going to have good days and bad days. They’re going to cry. They’re going to be upset. They’re going to have problems at home. And you’re going to have to care about them. So don’t you want to take a little time and get to know them?
And if you are going to hire quickly, make sure that everybody at least has a six-month trial for them to test you out and you to test them out. That way, you can get to know them in real-time when you’re doing actual work. And nothing personal at the end of the six months – either party can say, “Here’s a job offer,” or not. I think everything should start as a short-term contract if you’re not going to take the time to get to know them any other way.