Top 5 things we learned from TINT’s Tim Sae Koo

When it comes to transparency and authenticity, TINT is crushing it.

We invited TINT’s CEO Tim Sae Koo to join us for a Crowdcast Talk about transparency and authenticity. Here are five of our favorite video clips from the conversation with our CEO Cy — plus some bonus insights from Tim about how TINT puts its values into practice.

1) Culture: “How people act and decide certain challenges without their managers being there”

2) Authenticity = “It’s just being who you are and practicing that on a daily basis”

3) Transparency means “defaulting to honesty and giving the facts, and just calling no bullshit on that”

4) Millennials and tech are making transparency and authenticity default business practices

5) Why it’s ok to be a vulnerable leader…. and blog about it

The TINT team is known for being open about their business practices — even blogging about very personal issues like mental health or traditionally private topics like layoffs. Hear why Tim believes in “transforming that wound into wisdom” and the effects of blogging about it.

Bonus: Inside TINT’s culture

Tim shared a few ways the TINT team actively practices transparency and authenticity:

• Transparent salaries: TINT openly shares its salary formula and compensation within the company. Tim says they’ve found it “releases anxiety or potential unfair feelings.”
• Value shout-outs: The TINT team created company values early on. At every all-hands meeting, time is set aside for value shout-outs to team members.
• Blogging about business decisions: No topic seems to be off the table for TINT, even how their employees can legally pursue side projects.
• Face-to-face storytelling: When it comes to tough topics, Tim finds the best method is face-to-face discussion — 80 to 90 percent of communication is non-verbal, he says. Facial expressions, emotion, tone and voice complete the story. But he’ll still take the time to prepare his message as he would with a blog post.
• On being vulnerable in person vs. onscreen: “The all-hands meeting definitely is very tough because it’s, like, 30 people looking at you at once and you’re trying to share this very vulnerable time. It’s so much easier to do it on a blog, where you’re sort of just looking at a computer. But I find face-to-face storytelling and having enough research and context beforehand is the most effective way.”

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Watch the replay or check out upcoming Crowdcast Talks here.