Leadership Development Blog
A Look Inside Shopify’s Culture with Daniel Weinand
Imagine running a company with over 1,000 employees who range between 18 and 62 years old, and who come from 20 different countries. Now imagine being responsible for ensuring that company has a strong and thriving culture — on top of heading up design. That’s just a glimmer of what Daniel Weinand does, one of the co-founders of Shopify.
We recently had a chance to interview Weinand and explored topics like creating a workplace that’s comfortable for both introverts and extraverts, Shopify’s executive coaching program, the challenges of scaling their culture, and how his German upbringing has influenced his work philosophies.
Continue readingHow Tuft & Needle Built Their Award-Winning Company Culture
Mattress e-commerce company Tuft & Needle was named Entrepreneur’s Best Company Culture in 2017 in the Large Company (100+ employees) category yesterday.
In partnership with CultureIQ, Entrepreneur scores companies on 10 main categories: collaboration; innovation; agility; communication; support; wellness; mission and value alignment; work environment; responsibility and performance focus.
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Conversation with a Chief Heart Officer
Claude Silver has been VaynerMedia’s Chief Heart Officer for just under a year. CHO is a powerful new title to describe a C-Suite role responsible for the culture and wellbeing of a company’s people — the heartbeat of the business, so to speak.
And when a human based, HR-first company has more than 700 employees, gauging and nurturing that heartbeat — making sure every single person feels connected and cared-for — is no easy job.
Curious to learn more about her role, and the role of a CHO in general, we reached out to Silver, who was as heartfelt and sincere as her title would make you hope. We spent a good hour chatting about what culture means to her, how she created her dream role, and the rewards of empowering and unlocking people. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation.
Continue readingCulture-Crushing on MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most playful big tech brands out there. From day one, they’ve put their quirky personality into everything they do, from their signature monkey mascot (Freddie Chimpenheimer) to their creative annual reports, to the colloquial, witty messaging — and hint of mischief — that they infuse into just about everything they create.
Not surprisingly, that exuberant disposition comes through in their internal culture as well. MailChimp’s front desk has a mural by Brooklyn artist Never that reads “Passion Never Fails.”
Continue readingWhy Co-Creation is Key to Scaling Culture
“A community is like a campfire, and a crowd is like a concert” says Thomas Knoll, Executive Advisor and Business Coach.
At a campfire, people either arrive knowing each other or make friends throughout the night. Each person can share the spotlight, and everyone faces one central point: the fire.
At a concert, on the other hand, people aren’t facing each other, generally speaking. It’s too loud to talk. They likely don’t know anyone except for the friends they arrived with. They’re facing the front, absorbing information rather than contributing. They’re the audience, not the artists.
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