8 Tips for Building Company Culture

Growing a team can prove just as challenging as building one up from scratch. Our co-founder, Lydia, gave a talk today at Draper University, detailing everything from her experience on building a company to growing the team. Lydia shares some valuable tips for expanding companies looking to establish a solid, reliable team: 1. Hire: Sunday Test. Ask yourselfif you were to go into the office on a Sunday, and you saw John, would you be excited to work or let out an exasperated sigh? You want to hire people you are excited to work with! 2. Avoid Dogmatic People. Test potential hires for dogmatic personality traits. It is important to have employees that are flexible and open to new ideas. In our interview process, we challenge interviewee’s suggestions to see how they react to suggestions and criticisms. 3. Ensure Intrinsic Motivation. You want employees to feel personally invested in the company and know they are making an impact. While equity and bonuses help, there are other ways to remind employees of their value to the company. You want them to take ownership of their work and call them to be accountable for their ideas. 4. Encourage Career Growth. Be an advisor to your employees. Find out what their career goals are. What are their interests besides their current role? Taking an interest in your employees and acting as a support system will help improve morale and productivity. 5. Decide on Data. Developer’s hours are sacred, but never shoot down an idea outright. Explain your concerns and if your employees are persistent, establish what you would need in terms of mock-ups and data to consider before introducing it to a developer. 6. Ask, Don’t Tell. Like the previous point mentioned, give employees control of their work. They want to feel as though you respect them and their decision-making process. A subtle, yet effective way to communicate this, is to ask, rather than flat out commanding. 7. Focus on Culture. Create a company culture that people want to be a part of without going overboard. Little things such as playing Cards Against Humanity, or going on outings to shows like Aziz Ansari and Amy Schumer create strong team relationships. 8. Don’t be too soft. You can’t please everyone all the time. It’s normal to hire friends when you’re starting out, but they might not be the best long term fit. You will have to make cuts. It will temporarily hurt morale, but in the long run, people will be happier if the company is successful. See which points best relates to your team, and what can be improved on. For more insights into building a company and growing a team, don’t forget to check out the full video!

Free Essays on Containment

The Walnut that was Containment Containment was a foreign policy adopted by the United States in order to meet the global communist challenge. The Truman administration’s plan to accomplish the goal of containment was to implement the Marshall Plan and to utilize NATO to its full political, and if necessary military, potential. The accepted premise in the American government during the late forties and early fifties was that communism flourished on anarchy and poverty. The natural response was to stabilize vulnerable areas through economic aid (Ambrose 77). The Marshall Plan was designed to rebuild the economic system of Western Europe (McCormick 54). The United States government reasoned if Europe was not restored, it might be susceptible to political volatility and, even more fearful, communist infiltration and insurrection. The Marshall Plan provided for billions of dollars to be injected into Western Europe. It was supposed to accomplish containment by rejuvenating and strengthening the shattered economies in Western European countries and to encourage democracy in these countries. The American government hoped that this economic influence would help fight internal and external communist forces. The Marshall Plan worked well to support pro western governments in Europe. If the plan had not been effective, then more countries, for example Italy or Greece, might have been lost to communism. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to promise collective security to the nations that signed the alliance. It was the muscle that backed up the containment policy in Europe. If any of the allied countries were attacked, then NATO would be called upon to defend these nations. Naturally, the United States bore the greatest burden in this relationship, financially and in terms of manpower. NATO effectively executed its share of the responsibility of containment, for example: the Berlin Airlift in 1948. If it... Free Essays on Containment Free Essays on Containment The Walnut that was Containment Containment was a foreign policy adopted by the United States in order to meet the global communist challenge. The Truman administration’s plan to accomplish the goal of containment was to implement the Marshall Plan and to utilize NATO to its full political, and if necessary military, potential. The accepted premise in the American government during the late forties and early fifties was that communism flourished on anarchy and poverty. The natural response was to stabilize vulnerable areas through economic aid (Ambrose 77). The Marshall Plan was designed to rebuild the economic system of Western Europe (McCormick 54). The United States government reasoned if Europe was not restored, it might be susceptible to political volatility and, even more fearful, communist infiltration and insurrection. The Marshall Plan provided for billions of dollars to be injected into Western Europe. It was supposed to accomplish containment by rejuvenating and strengthening the shattered economies in Western European countries and to encourage democracy in these countries. The American government hoped that this economic influence would help fight internal and external communist forces. The Marshall Plan worked well to support pro western governments in Europe. If the plan had not been effective, then more countries, for example Italy or Greece, might have been lost to communism. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to promise collective security to the nations that signed the alliance. It was the muscle that backed up the containment policy in Europe. If any of the allied countries were attacked, then NATO would be called upon to defend these nations. Naturally, the United States bore the greatest burden in this relationship, financially and in terms of manpower. NATO effectively executed its share of the responsibility of containment, for example: the Berlin Airlift in 1948. If it...