6 Rules for Building a Happy Company

In the early days of Twitter, co-founder Biz Stone appointed himself the EHO (Employee Happiness Officer). This role made him responsible for building the culture of twitter, starting from the ground up with all employees. Once Biz had communicated his vision to all employees, he developed an enablement process that every new starter had to go through. It was a process where you learnt about the vision, values and beliefs that Twitter was founded upon. (I went through a similar process when I joined Salesforce). The program proved to be a great success at Twitter, one which Biz claimed was due, in part, to these ‘6 Assumptions’ that he teaches each new employee…

1. We Don’t Always Know What’s Going To Happen.

If you work in technology, the only thing that you can predict is that things are going to change. Fast. Your company. Your job description. The products you sell. Therefore being comfortable with change is essential to the growth of your career and your organisation. There will be many successes. There will be failures. But being willing to find learning in both, and having the humility to constantly adapt is the key to your success.

2. There Are More Smart People Out There Than In Here.

For the last few years I have been lucky enough to work in organisations where I am surrounded by people much smarter than I am. One of the things I have noticed that they all have in common is the ability to recognise (and respect) a good idea ~ wherever it comes from.

3. We Will Win If We Do The Right Thing For Our Users.

I like the poster that at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park that say’s “People Over Pixels”. Like Zuck, Biz prefers not to refer to people as users, but in the early days of Twitter everything was focused on developers, so they used the word users internally. Whatever the term, it is the underlying philosophy towards your customers that makes the difference. Do you sell great services to make money, or do you want to make money to provide better experiences? Putting the customer first is one of those marketing cliches that looks great on a poster in your office, but if you really believe it, there are some sacrifices that you might have to make. Whether this is a change to your privacy policy, not adding too many features, tweaking an algorithm or changing your advertising model, if you don’t put your customers first, they will vote with their fingers and click somewhere else…

4. The Only Deal Worth Doing Is A Win-Win Deal.

There is no such thing as a great deal where one party gets the short end of the stick. Deals are like relationships ~ you want one that is going to last. Some industries are zero-sum games where one person wins and the other loses (eg. the derivatives market where people rely on wins and losses). In most business deals though, short-term gains often turn into long-term losses. Some companies have transactional relationships with their customers, being content with each new sale that drives quarterly results. The more savvy companies are the ones who are more concerned with lifetime value. Often referred to as customer companies, these organisations prefer to focus on customer journeys and satisfaction instead of short-term deals and promotions.

5. Our Coworkers Are Smart And They Have Good Intentions.

In large organisations, everyone ends up looking like an idiot at some point. All decisions are made with good intentions based upon whatever information is available at a certain time, but there will always be times when the results are far from what you hoped for. The most respected business leaders are usually the ones who own their outcomes no matter what, and move on quickly in a positive and confident way. I love how Steve Job’s explained this to Rolling Stone magazine in 1994, three years before he returned to Apple via Pixar and NeXT;

Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them”.

6. We Can Build A Business, Change The World, and Have Fun.

Biz Stone talks about Twitter being a triumph of humanity not technology, and he puts this down to the fine balance that Twitter has found between building a strong culture and attracting (and keeping) the smartest people. I talk about Sinek’s TED presentation all the time, only because companies seem to understand it’s core message, but often don’t believe it. Companies should have a purpose larger than themselves, and that purpose should inspire people.

The goal in business is not to sell to people who need what you have, it is to do business with people who believe what you believe”. Sinek

A few examples of the driving force behind some “happy companies”;

Facebook — Genuinely wants to help make the world more open an connected (especially in developing countries).

Google wants to organise the world’s data so that it is useful and helpful, and make it freely available to anybody in the world.

Salesforce wants to build help everyone builder deeper personal and professional relationships, played out in part via Benioff’s 1:1:1 model.

TOMS wants to make life more comfortable ~ not just for people who can afford it (though their one-for-one model).

A Quick Thought On The Word “Company”

It has been said that the word company originates from the French ‘comme pain’ meaning with bread ~ a simple idea meaning that people in companies should break bread together. Companies should be communities of like minded people with one purpose, one set of values, common objectives and a willingness to care for each other. I’m not sure how much truth is in that statement but I love the sentiment.

Anyway… I doubt that Biz had all this in mind when he wrote his ‘assumptions’, but I’m pretty sure that they are one and the same. Rather than assumptions, I prefer to call these, “Rules for Building A Happy Company”. I think they deserve to be on the wall (and in the hearts) of every company…

* This post was inspired by Biz Stone’s brilliant book, “Things a little bird told me”.