Authenticity Unfiltered: The Propeller Way

Being a human comes with its pressure points.

There’s a lot of expectations floating around about how to human correctly — unspoken rules about how we should and shouldn’t show up in certain scenarios. Striking the right balance between ambition, relationships, and having time to exercise our passions. And then there’s all these arbitrary rules dictating when we can be ourselves and when we can’t, especially in the workplace.

I’ll say it: being human is hard. We’re spectacularly messy.

At Propeller, we’ve realized (although we can’t solve the human plight altogether), we can make things easier by embracing the mess a little and creating an environment where people can be authentically themselves. An honest environment where people can show up as they are, say what they mean, and mean what they say.

Because sometimes our mess is what makes us awesome.

Authenticity at Propeller

Apparently not all employers feel that way.

According to a 2023 global survey, only 16% of people feel that they can bring their real selves while they’re at work, and over half report that filtering their persona negatively impacts their mental health.

Results from 2023 CultureAmp survey data show that 91% of employees at Propeller said that they can be their authentic selves at work.

While we can’t know for sure what’s preventing the majority of people from showing up authentically, we can tell how we’re doing things differently at Propeller. And why doing things differently helps our people win.

We’re intentional. With a growing team, every new hire counts. We find that hiring people who choose impact over ego minimizes office politics. This is a key part of all of our hiring screens and final interviews. We only hire people who firmly believe in “we” over “I” and choose impact over ego 100% of the time. The cool part? We’ve found people all over the world who believe in that. And while we’re a rag-tag bunch of different backgrounds and perspectives, our values keep us vibing to the same frequency.

“The first interview is set up as a chance to just learn about Propeller and for us to learn about you, as opposed to an immediate requirement to sell yourself. This allows people to be more authentic from the first interaction.” — Arnold Poon, Talent Acquisition Manager at Propeller

We keep things candid. No walking on eggshells or beating around the bush. Our team practices radical candor to squash conflict, get aligned, and move forward quickly. We provide comprehensive training on delivering effective feedback to all new hires. This communication framework keeps us away from a command-and-control culture to one of collaboration.

Growth is always the goal and transparency helps us get there.

It’s important to be candid and open about our business performance. Every quarter we educate the humans at Propeller on how the business is performing, what we’ve learned and could do better, and where we’re shifting our focus. Our co-founder and CEO, Rory and our COO, affectionately known as Mags, share their thoughts at Demo Days and write up al dente blogs for our internal teams to have a light read. This keeps everyone aligned on our successes, failures and goals.

We get vulnerable. We rally on the good days, and stick together on the ones that aren’t so good. And we create space for people to open up without fear of judgment.

Hannah Elerick, People Operations Manager on our Denver team, opened up about her struggle with depression and the power of self-acceptance during the TedX series at Propeller’s 2023 company retreat in Vietnam.

“In my past work experiences, I’ve shown a bit of myself to my colleagues, but not anything as vulnerable as my experience battling depression. However, knowing my role at Propeller and how closely I work with everyone across the business, it was important for me to open up and show my more ‘human’ side.” — Hannah Elerick, People Operations Manager

We embrace the journey. We fail fast and work hard, but don’t take ourselves too seriously while we do it. And we’re the kind of people who take our leave without guilt because finding that time to just be is what keeps us happy and healthy.

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255 people later, this is still working for us. So we’re thinking it’s time to make some noise about it.

What is Authenticity Wins?

While accuracy is our product North Star (learn more about how high-accuracy data helps our customers win here), authenticity is where we shine culturally. It guides our decision-making, hiring, and communications internally. And encouraging people to show up authentically helps our team win too.

We think everyone’s got a story worth telling, and we want to give our team a platform to tell their story authentically. So we’re lifting the veil and inviting you to discover the faces behind Propeller. And we’re not talking accolades and resume bullet points — talking what makes you, you.

Over the next few months, we’ll explore how authenticity is a:

• Lifestyle win (clearer head, less stress, more confidence)
• Communication win (Less waffling, deeper connections)
• Team win (Faster workflows, better output)
• Business win (More motivated and innovative organization)

And we’re passing our team the mic to tell that story through a series of video interviews showcasing our team in their element. From sharing personal stories to wins and challenges, you’ll see our team open up about what authenticity means to them — and why authenticity wins.

Ready to join the movement? Check out our open roles.