I listened to a great podcast from Janice Fraser, CEO of Adaptive Path, yesterday. Janice was presenting for Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series. Her first 20 minutes were very insightful for recruiters and anyone in business. In particular she talked about how important "culture" has been to her company and their growth. Also she made a point that one of my clients also made to me recently. The importance of understanding what the purpose of your company is, and what are the values your company holds.
If everyone understands the purpose and values of a company then recruiting and actions can all be aligned to those values. Adaptive Path's values are "Think, Make, Collaborate and Grow". Janice was certain that everyone in the company was aware of this and had joined the company with the knowledge of what those values were and how they influenced the company culture. My client gave a great example of how to know whether a company follows it's values. If the company preaches superior customer service as their value, but when it comes to paying their own bills their Accountant habitually delays payment that basically means they don't live up to those values across the business. Eventually that kind of inconsistency will really hurt a company.
He recommended Built To Last by Jim Collins as a great book to get more detail on building a company based on values. I have to pick up a copy so if anyone has a spare copy up for grabs then let me know.
Comments