Early days for most companies are about survival: launch the first version of the product, track down and win those first customers, and, critically, stay afloat financially. In that sense, StackAdapt was no different. Once we overcame the initial startup hurdles, I turned my attention to scaling up. In my research about how to grow a company, having a great company culture consistently came up as one of the key ingredients. So, when StackAdapt was about 45 people (nearing 300 now), I embarked on a journey to learn about how to build a company with a great culture.
To do this I emailed the CEOs of larger companies the following:
(That’s right, we still used Skype then).
To my surprise and pleasure, I received overwhelming interest from leaders of other companies eager to share their experiences. Not only did I enjoy meeting new people, visiting their offices, and having coffee over thought-provoking conversations, I also made valuable and enduring friendships.
During every meeting, I scribbled in my black notepad trying to capture words of wisdom shared with me. One of those conversations even turned into a Q&A-style article on Huffington Post. One insight in particular stood out to me at the time, and has stuck with me through the years:
“As a founder, you are always in the spotlight.”
Company culture starts at the top. How founders behave and operate directly shapes the culture of the company. Moreover, as the organization grows, more people fall into the proverbial spotlight. Executives, department heads, managers, and even team leaders, spend an increasing amount of time with teams, and consequently, carry the torch of maintaining and evolving company culture. At StackAdapt, we three founders laid the foundation for the culture early on and still play an important role in shaping the overarching culture. However, each team now has its own mini-culture that is created by them and their respective leaders.
Functionally, managers are there to make their teams more productive and effective, empower and coach them to help achieve company goals. It is therefore natural that people look up to their managers for guidance on how to be successful in an organization. But that’s not all they look at. Consciously or subconsciously, they copy the way those managers operate, their attitudes, and how their leaders communicate with and treat their coworkers and clients - especially when things go wrong. How a manager operates quickly becomes a norm within a team. You don’t need to look far to find very successful but culturally dysfunctional companies, companies where serious problems are routinely swept under the rug or simply ignored. Usually, these problems are not the product of a few rogue individuals, but rather are symptomatic of a more troubling culture that permits repeat offenses throughout the organization. More often than not, this dysfunctional culture starts at the top.
A manager is always in the spotlight. Whether you are a founder, a department head, or a manager of a smaller team, how your team operates and the culture you have on your team is a direct reflection of you.
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Notes:
Thanks to Anneke Bruinsma-Findlay for reading drafts of this article.