Culture Code: Creating A Lovable Company

1. CULTURE CODE THE Creating a company we love. v25 13.09.21
2. WHAT’S CULTURE? A set of shared beliefs, values and practices.
3. WHY CARE ABOUT CULTURE?
4. A great culture helps attract great people.
5. Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing. Customers are more easily attracted with a great product. Talent is more easily attracted with a great culture.
6. Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing. Customers are more easily attracted with a great product. Talent is more easily attracted with a great culture. Click to tweet this quote.
7. A great culture helps people deliver their best work.
8. CULTURE HAPPENS. Whether we plan it or not, culture will happen. Why not create a culture we love?
9. Lets make the company we always dreamed of. Lets create a company that will be a great place to be from. REED HASTINGS & PATTY MCCORD NETFLIX.
10. Now, an observation…
11. PEOPLE HAVE DRAMATICALLY CHANGED HOW THEY LIVE AND WORK.
12. THEN NOW. FOCUS Pension Purpose NEED Good Boss Great Colleagues HOURS 9-5 Whenever WORKPLACE Office Wherever TENURE Whole Career Whatever
13. AND ALTHOUGH PEOPLE HAVE DRAMATICALLY CHANGED…
14. Many organizations operate as if they’re frozen in time.
15. They operate as if money is what matters most…
16. …as if the Internet hadn’t been invented...
17. … and as if amazing people are happy to just have a job.
18. We’re different.
19. We are HubSpot.
20. We’re creating a company we love.
21. This document is part manifesto and part employee handbook. It’s part who we are and part who we want to be.
22. This document is part manifesto and part employee handbook. It’s part who we are and part who we want to be. When something is aspirational (not yet true) we try to call it out.
23. THE HUBSPOT CULTURE CODE. 1. We are maniacal about our mission and our metrics. 2. We Solve For The Customer. 3. We are radically transparent. 4. We give ourselves the autonomy to be awesome. 5. We are unreasonably picky about our peers. 6. We invest in individual mastery and market value. 7. We constantly question the status quo.
24. We are maniacal about our mission and our metrics.
25. “Pursue something so important that even if you fail, the world is better off with you having tried.” TIM O’REILLY. Note: The O’Reilly Library at HubSpot is named after Tim.
26. OUR MISSION is to make the world INBOUND. We want to transform how organizations attract, engage and delight their customers.
27. inbound is about empathy. It’s about creating an experience people love.
28. WE BELIEVE OURS IS A NOBLE CAUSE. We help organizations get more customers and grow.
29. We reduce spam, junk mail and other unpleasantness.
30. Our commitment to our mission has earned us the love of many. Our commitment to our metrics has earned us the resources to further our mission. We are passionate about both.
31. Balancing this dual personality of mission & metrics is challenging. But it’s also what makes us DIFFERENT.
32. Balancing this dual personality of mission & metrics is challenging. But it’s also what makes us DIFFERENT. And sometimes dysfunctional.
33. One way we balance these things is to have a guiding goal that serves the mission.
34. Our guiding goal is delighting customers.
35. We Solve For The Customer.
36. SFTC.Solve for the customer Not just their delightion, but also their success.
37. SFTC.Solve for the customer Not just their delightion, but also their success. We sometimes often have to remind ourselves of this. Delightion is not a word, but it should be.
38. FOR EVERY DECISION WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES: “Selves, what’s in it for the customers? Will this delight them?”
39. WAIT. Does “Solve For The Customer” mean just giving more away for free? Wouldn’t that delight customers? NO. To delight customers in the long-term, we have to survive in the short-term. Because…
40. Bankrupt companies don’t delight their customers.
41. All other goals should support our guiding goal.
42. We have a professional sales team. Does hitting our sales goals support our guiding goal?
43. YES. Having delighted customers requires having customers. (funny how that works) We’re on the path towards our Guiding Goal as long as we sell to customers that we expect to delight.
44. YES. Having delighted customers requires having customers. (funny how that works) We’re on the path towards our Guiding Goal as long as we sell to customers that we expect to delight. This is the key. We shouldn’t sell customers we’re not justifiably confident we can delight.
45. WE LOVE TO TEACH. We believe success comes through educating customers, not exploiting them.
46. We are radically and uncomfortably transparent.
47. Power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it.
48. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” -LOUIS BRANDEIS
49. WE SHARE (ALMOST) EVERYTHING. We make uncommon amounts of information available to everyone in the company.
50. We protect information only when: It is legally required. Example: Information covered under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) It is not completely ours to share. Example: Individual compensation data
51. WE HAVE THE MOST INTERESTING WIKI ON THE PLANET.* Examples of things we share and discuss: • Financials (cash balance, burn-rate, P&L, etc.) • Board meeting deck • Management meeting deck • “Strategic” topics • HubSpot Lore & Mythology (the funniest page on the wiki) *Unverified claim
52. FROM
53. We have open access to anyone in the company. No permission needed. Nobody has an office.
54. We speak the truth and face the facts.
55. NO SILENT DISAGREEMENT. If we disagree with something, we have the responsibility to speak up. Our candor will not be used against us. h/t Paul English, KAYAK
56. The intent behind all this transparency is to support smarter behavior and better decisions. So…
57. We give ourselves the autonomy to be awesome.
58. 6 WE TRUST OURSELVES.
59. Just because someone made a mistake years ago doesn’t mean we need a policy. WE DON’T PENALIZE THE MANY FOR THE MISTAKES OF THE FEW. We only protect against really big stuff.
60. We don’t have pages of policies and procedures.
61. USE GOOD JUDGMENT. Instead we have a 3-word policy on just about everything:
62. Social media policy. Travel policy. Sick day policy. Buy a round of drinks at an event policy. Work from home during a blizzard policy. Our policy on all of these (and most other things): USE GOOD JUDGMENT.
63. 1. Team > Self Favor your team over yourself. 2. Company > Team 3. Customer > Company WHAT’S GOOD JUDGMENT?
64. 1. Team > Self Favor your team over yourself. 2. Company > Team 3. Customer > Company WHAT’S GOOD JUDGMENT? We’re pretty good at the first and second – but the third is tricky sometimes. Remember, acting in our customers’ interest is in our long-term interest too.
65. Results matter more than the hours we work.
66. Results matter more than how much vacation we take. (we don’t track vacation time)
67. WE LOVE DATA. We like to think our decisions are not data driven but data powered. We like to think it, but it’s not true. We are obsessed with data.
68. DEBATES ARE WON BY BETTER DATA NOT BIGGER JOB TITLES. We disfavor pulling rank. It happens sometimes, but we don’t like it.
69. CEO, VP of This, Manager of That. Doesn’t matter what your title is. EVERYBODY DOES REAL WORK AND GETS THEIR HANDS DIRTY.
70. INFLUENCE SHOULD BE INDEPENDENT OF HIERARCHY.
71. We want direction on where we are going… NOT detailed directions on how to get there. h/t Simon Sinek
72. Managers exist to help individual stars make magic.
73. Oh, and speaking of job titles…
74. WE HAVE TRADITIONAL JOB TITLES AT HUBSPOT. It was a topic of intense debate. Options: 1) No titles for anyone 2) Make up our own creative titles 3) Use traditional titles
75. WE HAVE TRADITIONAL JOB TITLES AT HUBSPOT. It was a topic of intense debate. Options: 1) No titles for anyone 2) Make up our own creative titles 3) Use traditional titles We ended up with the last option. Bummer. But, it does align with our desire to increase individual market value.
76. With this kind of transparency and trust we can’t take chances when hiring. So…
77. We are unreasonably picky about our peers.
78. You become the average of the 5 people you hang out with. Drew Houston CEO, Dropbox Note: Drew’s a friend and on our advisory board.
79. What makes someone a great fit for HubSpot? What makes them awesome for us? What does it mean to be HUBSPOTTY?
80. There are 5 attributes that we value in people.
81. Modest, despite being awesome. Self-aware and respectful. HUMBLE.
82. Wait. Doesn’t being humble mean lacking confidence? No. The very best people are self-aware and self-critical – not arrogant. Examples: Bezos. Buffett. Berners-Lee. (and that’s just some of the Bs)
83. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. C.S. LEWIS.
84. When things go well, humble people tend to share the credit. When things go poorly, they tend to shoulder the responsibility.
85. Gets sh*t done. Measurably moves the needle. Immeasurably adds value. EFFECTIVE.
86. EFFECTIVE PEOPLE ARE: Predisposed to action. They just start doing. They have a sense of ownership. They’re resourceful and always looking for leverage.
87. Constantly changing. Life-long learner. ADAPTABLE.
88. WAIT. What about good people that just want stability and predictability? They may do good work, but they likely won’t be happy here. Change is constant at HubSpot.
89. Has a super-power that makes them stand out in some way. Remarkably smart. Remarkably creative. Remarkably resourceful. *h/t to Seth Godin REMARK∙ABLE.worthy of being remarked upon*
90. Open and honest with others and with themselves. TRANSPARENT.
91. HUMBLE EFFECTIVE ADAPTABLE REMARKABLE TRANSPARENT Those who will help us create a company we love. We want people with heart.
92. HUMBLE EFFECTIVE ADAPTABLE REMARKABLE TRANSPARENT Those who will help us create a company we love. We want people with heart. Yes, “heart” is a bit cheesy. We’re a bit cheesy sometimes.
93. WE DON’T JUST BELIEVE IN HEART, WE BET ON IT. We hire, reward, and release people based on the five attributes.
94. EXAMPLE 1: If you’re closed, arrogant and stuck in your ways, it doesn’t matter how effective you are. It’s not going to work out.
95. EXAMPLE 2: You can be remarkably smart, humble and open. But, if you’re not effectively moving us forward, it’s not going to work out.
96. Compromising on culture is mortgaging the future. It’s reasonable to want to hire just for skills when the need for help is painfully acute. It’s reasonable. But, it’s also wrong. The interest rate on culture debt is crushingly high.
97. Does this mean we only accept those that match the 5 attributes perfectly? No. Confucius has good advice here…
98. “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” CONFUCIUS.
99. “We’re a team, not a family. We hire, develop and cut smartly so we have stars in every position.” +1 We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, so we didn’t.
100. Don’t just hire to delegate. It’s tempting to bring people in that you can push off work you don’t have time for. Hire to elevate. Bring people in that are better than you at something and you can learn from.
101. WITH GREAT PEOPLE COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. Success is when a group of people achieve their collective potential. So…
102. We invest in individual mastery and market value.
103. We want to be as proud of the people we build as we are of the company we build.
104. We believe in investing to increase individual market value.
105. How do we increase our individual market value? Ongoing learning. Broad exposure. Unique experiences.
106. We’re doing a few things already…
107. HubTalks: Learning From Leaders Clay Christensen “Innovator’s Dilemma” Eric Ries “The Lean Startup” Sheila Marcelo CEO, care.com Colin Angle CEO, iRobot These are small informal talks given at HubSpot.
108. Unlimited Free Books Program. Request a book – it shows up in your Amazon Kindle account. No muss, no fuss. No expense sheets.
109. THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING. We believe in compensating fairly, but we want to invest generously in our learning and growth. We’re always looking for new ideas.
110. We compensate based on fair market value. Reality: It’s hard to know what someone’s market value is.
111. THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO PROGRESS AT HUBSPOT. 1. Gain mastery as an individual contributor and make magic. 2. Provide spectacular support to those who are doing #1. Reality: We have a lot of first-time managers at HubSpot. Need to invest in developing them.
112. We constantly question the status quo.
113. #inbound12 We’d rather be failing frequently than never trying new things.
114. Why do we care so much about being different?
115. Companies start out being exceptional. As they grow, there is a dark, powerful force that pulls them towards the average. If we regress to the mean, we fail. It’s that simple.
116. Remarkable outcomes rarely result from modest risk.
117. 1 Simplicity is a competitive advantage.
118. Things start simple…
119. THEN COMPLEXITY QUIETLY CREEPS IN. ITS TOLL LIES BELOW THE SURFACE.
120. WHY DOES COMPLEXITY CREEP IN? It is often the easy, seductive answer to short-term issues. Fighting for simplicity takes courage and commitment to the long game.
121. You cannot add simplicity in. You have to take complexity out.
122. COMPLEXITY AND THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS. Example: “I need to hit my goals this month, so I’m going to push for this exception to our standard contract.” Result: You may make your goal now, but we all pay the price of the complexity forever. Focus on the long game. Team > Self.
123. 1 Like software, Organizations should be frequently refactored. Refactoring means to improve internal structure without changing external behavior.
124. REFACTOR. • Pull out unused features. • Remove unnecessary rules. • Stop generating useless reports. • Cancel unproductive meetings. • Prune extraneous process.
125. Fight for simplicity. We want HubSpot to be: EASY TO BUY. EASY TO USE. EASY TO LOVE.
126. THE HUBSPOT CULTURE CODE. 1. We are maniacal about our mission and our metrics. 2. We Solve For The Customer. 3. We are radically transparent. 4. We give ourselves the autonomy to be awesome. 5. We are unreasonably picky about our peers. 6. We invest in individual mastery and market value. 7. We constantly question the status quo.
127. WE WERE INSPIRED BY • The Netflix Culture Deck (McCord & Hastings) • “Drive” (Daniel Pink) • The Valve Employee Handbook • “Rework” (Fried and Hansson) • Google’s People Ops Team ...and countless others on the web.
128. THANK YOU. Congrats for making it this far. We would love feedback and discussion: CultureCode.com Yes, we’re hiring. Click the logo.