"You worked at a number of tech companies before becoming C.E.O. of MuleSoft. What lessons did you learn about culture along the way? I learned that it can take years to build a great culture and you can tear it down in very short order. It’s like a building — you can spend years building a beautiful building and then it can just collapse. The problems I’ve seen have been lack of communication, which can lead to a lack of trust. If people don’t feel connected to the leadership and they don’t feel like they understand where the company is headed, people will fill in the blanks, and often not with positive things. It’s just human nature. Another one is when you get leadership that looks like they’re out for themselves. People pick up on that when decisions are made that are not necessarily with everybody’s best interest at heart. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it’s an attitude. Factions are also a problem, and I’ve seen this in the tech world as companies grow quickly. There tends to be an old-timer group — the ones who have been around forever, which in technology is three to five years — and the new people who were brought on board later. If there’s any kind of different treatment, like the folks who have been there since the beginning are treated as if they’re the only ones that can really figure things out, or if the new ones are considered the saviors of the company, that sends a terrible signal. We’re all here together to make it work."
Showing posts with label attitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label attitude. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2015
Greg Schott of MuleSoft: Beware the Threats to a Positive Workplace; New York Times, 8/29/15
Adam Bryant, New York Times; Greg Schott of MuleSoft: Beware the Threats to a Positive Workplace:
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Corner Office, Interview with Dan Rosensweig, president and chief executive of Chegg; New York Times, 7/11/10
Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Dan Rosensweig, president and chief executive of Chegg: [Chegg rents textbooks online and by mail.]: Remember to Thank Your Star Players:
"Q. Let’s talk about hiring. What do you look for? What questions do you ask?
A. By the time they get to me, they’ve been vetted in enough ways that I know functionally they should be able to do the job. So I spend a lot of my time doing two things. I ask them very few questions, mostly around, how do they approach a situation? How do they personally define success for themselves? What do they want for this company? What attracts them here? What do they need to be successful? How do they want to be managed? And then a lot of the conversation stems from there.
And then I really turn it over to them and say: What questions do you have? What do you think you need to know to decide whether this is the right environment for you? Whether we can utilize the talents you bring to bear? Whether we are the right place at this moment in your career? And that dialogue generally leads to a really great outcome.
Q. What are the most important qualities you’re looking for?
A. One is attitude. Some people spend a lot of time focusing on how difficult things are. You don’t get jobs like these unless the situations are difficult. So I like to hear people talk about how they love to approach a challenge, and that’s the thing that gets them excited.
I’m also looking for people who appreciate the fact that the definition of success is the company and not an individual. I’m looking for people who can communicate. I mean, quite frankly, most of the things that break down when you are running a business are transparency and communication. If you have people who are reluctant to share information with their peers, particularly in a very small company, it’s not a healthy dynamic.
And I look for people who generally, as I said earlier, think big, want to achieve big, aren’t afraid. They have that level of humility to know it’s entirely possible we may not succeed, but, man, it’s worth trying.
Q. And if you could ask somebody only one or two questions in a job interview, what would you ask?
A. What matters to you in your professional career in the next five years? And the second would be, what do you think you need to be successful in that goal?
Q. What about feedback? What’s your approach to difficult conversations?
A. I have found in my career that once you know that someone isn’t doing the things that they need to do or they are not going to be successful, then every day you wait it’s really your fault rather than theirs. And the first thing I ask is, did I ask somebody to do something that they weren’t capable of doing?
There’s nothing worse than somebody you like and respect doing something you know they can’t be successful in and knowing that you were the one that did that to them. I try very hard to understand, before I approach the person, why they may not be successful in that particular role. Because, normally, the people I work with have been extremely successful in their careers, so the expectation is that they are going to be successful.
But the longer you wait, the worse it gets. Very few problems correct themselves. And the philosophy of sticking your head in the sand and hoping it goes away has never been that effective for me. So you sit down and have an honest conversation. I think people respect honesty without attitude.
Q. And what about getting feedback?
A. I ask employees, “If you had my job, other than giving yourself more vacation and a raise, what’s the first thing that you would do that you don’t think we’re doing yet?” I try to make it comfortable when you do the review process by asking people: What do you need more of from me? What do you need less of from me? What is it that I’m doing that you would like me to stop doing completely? And what is it that I’m not doing enough of that you’d like some more of? From there, it becomes a much more comfortable conversation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/business/11corner.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
"Q. Let’s talk about hiring. What do you look for? What questions do you ask?
A. By the time they get to me, they’ve been vetted in enough ways that I know functionally they should be able to do the job. So I spend a lot of my time doing two things. I ask them very few questions, mostly around, how do they approach a situation? How do they personally define success for themselves? What do they want for this company? What attracts them here? What do they need to be successful? How do they want to be managed? And then a lot of the conversation stems from there.
And then I really turn it over to them and say: What questions do you have? What do you think you need to know to decide whether this is the right environment for you? Whether we can utilize the talents you bring to bear? Whether we are the right place at this moment in your career? And that dialogue generally leads to a really great outcome.
Q. What are the most important qualities you’re looking for?
A. One is attitude. Some people spend a lot of time focusing on how difficult things are. You don’t get jobs like these unless the situations are difficult. So I like to hear people talk about how they love to approach a challenge, and that’s the thing that gets them excited.
I’m also looking for people who appreciate the fact that the definition of success is the company and not an individual. I’m looking for people who can communicate. I mean, quite frankly, most of the things that break down when you are running a business are transparency and communication. If you have people who are reluctant to share information with their peers, particularly in a very small company, it’s not a healthy dynamic.
And I look for people who generally, as I said earlier, think big, want to achieve big, aren’t afraid. They have that level of humility to know it’s entirely possible we may not succeed, but, man, it’s worth trying.
Q. And if you could ask somebody only one or two questions in a job interview, what would you ask?
A. What matters to you in your professional career in the next five years? And the second would be, what do you think you need to be successful in that goal?
Q. What about feedback? What’s your approach to difficult conversations?
A. I have found in my career that once you know that someone isn’t doing the things that they need to do or they are not going to be successful, then every day you wait it’s really your fault rather than theirs. And the first thing I ask is, did I ask somebody to do something that they weren’t capable of doing?
There’s nothing worse than somebody you like and respect doing something you know they can’t be successful in and knowing that you were the one that did that to them. I try very hard to understand, before I approach the person, why they may not be successful in that particular role. Because, normally, the people I work with have been extremely successful in their careers, so the expectation is that they are going to be successful.
But the longer you wait, the worse it gets. Very few problems correct themselves. And the philosophy of sticking your head in the sand and hoping it goes away has never been that effective for me. So you sit down and have an honest conversation. I think people respect honesty without attitude.
Q. And what about getting feedback?
A. I ask employees, “If you had my job, other than giving yourself more vacation and a raise, what’s the first thing that you would do that you don’t think we’re doing yet?” I try to make it comfortable when you do the review process by asking people: What do you need more of from me? What do you need less of from me? What is it that I’m doing that you would like me to stop doing completely? And what is it that I’m not doing enough of that you’d like some more of? From there, it becomes a much more comfortable conversation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/business/11corner.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
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