Are you on the bus or off?

A number of years ago, when I first started at my last company (Credit Karma), in a very early all-hands meeting, I made the comment that “coming to work every day was a choice — you’re either on the bus or you’re off” and from that day forward, until the last company wide email I sent out, the bus metaphor was set. At one time in our physical office, there was a poster of a giant green bus from burning man outside of my team.

I don’t remember the exact question I was answering at the time, but the general idea is that when you work in a highly competitive space and have a lot of options, you have a choice whether or not you want to work at that company. I’m a big believer that if you don’t like something, you work to make changes — and if you continue to disagree with the mission or direction of the company, you should choose to leave. Get off the bus so to speak.

Some people bristle at that level of bluntness. At the same time, I was willing to listen, make decisions, communicate them, and share context to provide the most amount of clarity possible as to whether or not someone wanted to stay on that bus.

I’m a big sports fan, including our local NBA team, the Golden State Warriors. They have many star players but in particular, Steph Curry is legendary not just for his performance on the court, but for his work ethic and contributions off the court. Normally, he is not a big words guy but instead leads with his actions. Win or lose — I’m on the Warriors bus.

I was thrilled when multiple people sent me this article describing a rally cry speech he made a few weekends ago against the Sacramento Kings where he went on to score 50 points in one playoff game.

Evidently, there were some grumpy individuals about playing time and role “Anyone who wanted to remain in their emotions, he told them to stay home. Anyone who was ready for their vacation, he told them not to get on the bus to Sacramento. But anyone who did get on the bus, Curry took that as a signature of approval, a binding agreement to be on board with the mission. And if they did that, if they got on the bus, he’d promised he’d deliver.”

https://theathletic.com/4475672/2023/04/30/stephen-curry-50-point-speech-warriors-kings/