Re:Inside a Completely Transparent Company
by mvkel on Monday April 22, 2013 @02:26PM
(#5590920)
tl;dr they turned "How to Win Friends and Influence People" into a company culture.
A book that was written in 1936.
I feel like this is the equivalent of a 17 year old going nuts for Ayn Rand.
The reality is every _employee_ is different, and the culture should embrace that. Instead of trying to reshape how a person is wired, why not shape how your company's goals are defined and let people use whatever means necessary to get there?
Take a developer with an extremely low social drive who needs cold, hard facts to get on board with an initiative. Buffer's culture would completely conflict with how they're wired because it relies heavily on face-to-face interaction and all the "soft talk" would likely be perceived as manipulative by them. On the other hand, a highly socially-driven person like a sales rep would _need_ said encouragement to thrive.
That's my point; there's no one culture that fits everyone, so focus on the higher-level goals and missions of the company than the attitudes of the people.
Use your interviewing prowess to identify team fit instead of hiring based on skills and shoehorn them into the culture.
All this culture is doing is homogenizing a workforce. Debate isn't a bad thing.
A book that was written in 1936.
I feel like this is the equivalent of a 17 year old going nuts for Ayn Rand.
The reality is every _employee_ is different, and the culture should embrace that. Instead of trying to reshape how a person is wired, why not shape how your company's goals are defined and let people use whatever means necessary to get there?
Take a developer with an extremely low social drive who needs cold, hard facts to get on board with an initiative. Buffer's culture would completely conflict with how they're wired because it relies heavily on face-to-face interaction and all the "soft talk" would likely be perceived as manipulative by them. On the other hand, a highly socially-driven person like a sales rep would _need_ said encouragement to thrive.
That's my point; there's no one culture that fits everyone, so focus on the higher-level goals and missions of the company than the attitudes of the people.
Use your interviewing prowess to identify team fit instead of hiring based on skills and shoehorn them into the culture.
All this culture is doing is homogenizing a workforce. Debate isn't a bad thing.