How We’re Building Our Company, Laylo
As we approach our first year of working together, we decided it was time to start laying out (publicly) the principles that we work by in order to help other emerging startups and, to better understand these principles ourselves. Below are some of our favorite concepts from awesome thinkers, builders and companies that we’ve studied as we prepared to launch our first product.
Idea Meritocracy
In a meritocracy, the best ideas rise to the top. This is not a democracy but it does mean is that everyone has a say. The point is that we trust each other’s expertise and respect that we are smarter than each other in specific areas (which is exactly what we want). As long as we support open dialogue, but ensure that ideas rise based on merit, not hierarchy, we will be in the best position to succeed, together.
We borrowed this concept from Ray Dalio who’s done a decent job implementing them (his company is the world’s largest and most successful private hedge fund). Ray breaks down the factors that lead to an idea meritocracy with 3 key elements. Here’s Ray:
“You have to make a choice: Do you want to be stuck with your opinion, or go above it all? It’s an out-of-body experience…
Put your honest thoughts out on the table
Have thoughtful disagreements in which people are willing to shift their opinions as they learn
Have agreed-upon ways of deciding if disagreements remain so that you can move beyond them without resentments
And to do this well, you need to be radically truthful and radically transparent, by which I mean you need to allow people to see and say almost anything. If you’re not transparent, people won’t know enough about what’s going on to have good, independent opinions, and if you don’t expect the truth of people, you’ll never know whether or not they’re telling you want they really think.”
Radical candor
Kim Scott was a longtime director at Google and faculty member at Apple University before building her current company, Candor Inc. which has the stated mission of: “Creating bullshit-free zones where people love their work and working together.”
She breaks down the main principle behind the company in one simple sentence. “Radical candor is humble, it’s helpful, it’s immediate, it’s in person — in private if it’s criticism and in public if it’s praise — and it doesn’t personalize.”
“One of the best ways to make Radical Candor easier is to remember what happens when you fail to Care Personally and Challenge Directly. We’ve named the quadrants colorfully to help you remember to move toward Radical Candor, but it’s key to remember that these are not labels for people; they refer to a particular interaction or behavior. Ultimately, everyone spends some time in each of the quadrants.
Obnoxious Aggression™ is what happens when you challenge but don’t care. It’s praise that doesn’t feel sincere or criticism that isn’t delivered kindly.
Ruinous Empathy™ is what happens when you care but don’t challenge. It’s praise that isn’t specific enough to help the person understand what was good or criticism that is sugarcoated and unclear.
Manipulative Insincerity™ is what happens when you neither care nor challenge. It’s praise that is non-specific and insincere or criticism that is neither clear nor kind.”
In any company, there is a golden rule of communication. If it’s happening well, magic happens — great products are built, the team is energized and efficient and problems are addressed head-on as a group. And if it’s not?You’re in a state of ignorant decline.
At Laylo, we are constantly striving to be honest, immediate, direct and humble whether together or one-one-one and just as importantly, we constantly remind each other when these principles aren’t being addressed. If you notice some overlap between Radical Candor and Idea Meritocracies, you’re spot on. The best ideas can’t rise to the top without honest and humble communication, and without those, the best ideas won’t even start to surface.
Responsible Adults
Overworking leads to a decrease in productivity, motivation and creativity. We don’t work insane hours, we work insanely hard for reasonable amounts of time. This allows us to get projects done on time, with well thought out ideas and a maintained sense of sanity.
It also keeps us from having unfair expectations of each other because we all know that if we’re taking some time off, it’s for the purpose of jumping back in ready to tackle the next challenge with energy and our full attention.
Companies that let their people compete for least hours slept or most hours worked are setting themselves up for failure. Who wants to work in an environment that feels unhealthy, uncreative and miserable. We respect each other’s health because it’s in all of our best interest. I constantly encourage my teammates to sleep and eat well, meditate, socialize outside of the office, read great books and anything else that will help them be the best they can be. Both on and off the field.
Disagree and Commit
This is a concept we’ve been seeing a lot since it was first described in Jeff Bezos’ annual letter to shareholders but you should notice how closely it ties in with the other concepts we’ve already discussed.
“If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?” By the time you’re at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you’ll probably get a quick yes,”. — Jeff Bezos
When teams are able to respectfully disagree with each other, open communication can thrive. But if that disagreement leads to stagnation, sure you’ve had a nice conversation but you’ve actually accomplished very little. The idea of disagree and commit solves for this. As a team, we need to be able to keep moving forward even if we’re not completely convinced. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t explain why we disagree, it just means that we need to feel comfortable trying something and iterating if it doesn’t work.
Bezos emphasizes that an important aspect of this principle is making sure you have the right information. Once a team can agree that they have about 70% of the information they wish they had, it’s time to discuss and make a decision.
“Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.”
One last point to make is that the term “leader” is not meant as a person in authority. It is meant to emphasize that anyone within the organization has the ability and obligation to be a leader in these crucial moments.
Direction but Autonomy
There is nothing more destructive to innovation than overbearing bosses. They create a sense of distrust, they make it hard to think clearly and they make it nearly impossible to find the best solution. In all, when it feels like you’re constantly being watched, it’s no wonder you barely have time to focus on building something great. Research has time and again found that the best teams and individuals operate with a feeling of autonomy. Importantly, this does not mean you should aim for a hippie-like society of people who do as they please, when they please. What it means is that once a direction/goal has been established, the people responsible need to be able to determine the best way to implement a solution. It’s important that they continue to get support and feedback throughout this process but the absolute worst scenario is one in which they feel like they’re building someone else’s idea with no idea why and no ability to iterate. Giving direction with autonomy allows for projects to get completed with the necessary blend of strategy and innovation.
Psychological Safety
A few years ago, Google put together a team of psychologists, sociologists, statisticians and engineers to answer one critical question: what makes a team great?. While there were a few key elements that we’ve already touched upon, by far the most important aspect of great teams had nothing to do with the collective intelligence or abilities of the team members, it came down to a sense of psychological safety.
What does that mean?
“Within psychology, researchers sometimes colloquially refer to traits like ‘conversational turn-taking’ and ‘average social sensitivity’ as aspects of what’s known as psychological safety — a group culture that the Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson defines as a ‘shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.’ Psychological safety is ‘a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up,’ Edmondson wrote in a study published in 1999. ‘It describes a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.”
While we’ve already talked about how important it is to be honest and open in our communication and disagreements, the missing piece that we haven’t mentioned is how important is that the members of our teams feel comfortable enough with each other to actually be themselves. When we trust and admire each other enough to be ourselves, all of the other elements are ready to fall into place. Great ideas can thrive, disagreements can be used to fuel innovation, autonomy feels strategic and radical candor is worth listening to.
Conclusion:
Here are the key takeaways to building a great company:
- Make sure the best ideas win
- Be brutally, respectfully, humbly honest
- Good teamwork is mutual admiration
- Disagree but come to a decision
- Give direction, but the freedom to execute
- Get excited to be proven wrong
- Let your personalities thrive without ego
Most important of all, any good philosophy should be fluid. We know that these ideas aren’t set in stone and we’re ready to change them when they’re proven wrong. Nothing excites us more than building something that people love and we believe that establishing some foundational principles will help us do that time and again.
Join Us
If you want to connect with your fans, are a superfan yourself or just dig what we’re doing, come join us. Artists can get access to their dashboard by heading to app.laylo.com and clicking Let’s Go!
