Читать книгу Upstanding - Frank A. Calderoni - Страница 16

I have had the benefit of experiencing different corporate cultures at the companies I worked for and those of customers and partners that I interacted with. There is one consistent feature that distinguishes cultures that personally resonated for me. A strong positive culture guided by upstanding core character has always been highly motivating for me as an individual—an environment in which I wanted to connect, but also to perform. I felt like I belonged. I was part of something bigger than myself, doing good in the world, and I wanted to do well—not just for myself, but for the organization and for our customers.

When good character grounds culture, people are more energized and motivated to do well. The leaders set the pace. There's openness, so people understand what's expected of them. There's collaboration, so everyone works together. Drama, office politics, toxic behavior, and other negatives are discouraged and kept to a minimum. I've personally seen and experienced the impact of a strong culture that's created by people demonstrating a core character that made me feel included and valued, and consistently generated great results.

In my experience, leaders who embody upstanding character trust and respect the people who work for and with them, and this trust is reflected right back to them. Trust is built when we say what we believe and we follow it up with action. Employees say to themselves, “I'm going to do whatever I can for them because I like what they stand for. I believe that they're here on my behalf.” And, so, a lot of the behavior that I saw over the years in the people I respected as strong leaders and mentors, I tried to emulate myself as a leader, and I tried to model in the various roles or responsibilities that I've had.

So, who defines a company's character and culture? It's the employees themselves—everyone who works for the organization. And I believe at the heart of an upstanding character are two simple qualities: trust and respect. It allows for psychological safety so that you feel comfortable to speak up, disagree openly, or offer a completely different suggestion knowing there are no repercussions. When trust and respect are strong, people tend to commit fully, and they are less distracted by the unimportant, petty issues that plague so many organizations—destroying the energy and motivation of employees—while putting their focus on the important things that are positive and really make things happen.

After the big downsizings and layoffs of the 1980s and 1990s, when the markets turned around and companies started to hire again, technology companies started bringing back the kind of perks that we thought people wanted—particularly in the Silicon Valley. We started to offer free food, recreational facilities, dry cleaning, on-site childcare, Ping Pong tables—all sorts of pluses to attract and retain talent by creating a pleasant environment. But at some point, we began to realize that we needed to go much deeper than those superficial niceties. We needed to think hard about creating the kind of environment where people would truly connect and feel a sense of belonging—and where they could grow and realize their highest aspirations.

While people work in an organization to make money and further their own careers, they also get to socialize, communicate, collaborate, and learn new and different things. The environment plays a critical role in that, and a company's environment is tangible. You can sense something about a company's character and culture just by walking through the front door. Part of it has to do with how the environment looks and feels. Is it open and inviting? Or are people divided and closed off? You can see it in how people carry themselves and how they occupy their space. Are they engaged and active—excited to be there—or would they rather be somewhere else?

Here's an example of what I mean. One night, before the first COVID-19 shutdown, I stayed late at the office and decided to get something to eat nearby. I was hungry and didn't want to wait to get home for a very late dinner. There weren't many places open, so I stopped by a popular chain restaurant known for its rotisserie chicken. I hadn't eaten at this chain for a long time, but I fondly remembered it for its great food and great service in a friendly, home-like environment.

Unfortunately, the reality of the restaurant had nothing to do with my memories. To begin with, the restaurant was dirty—really dirty. It looked like the tables hadn't been cleaned off in some time, and there was trash and food scattered around the floor. The service also suffered—the employees acted like they would rather have been anywhere but there. They were sloppy, unfriendly, and just threw the food on the plate. The entire experience was decidedly unpleasant—for me and for the people who worked there. Whose fault was this?

I can tell you that behind the scenes, this company is not being managed well. They don't have respect for the people who work there, and as a result, the employees don't have respect for their managers or customers. Because, if they felt more respected, they would make sure that they presented themselves better. They would take pride in maintaining a clean and cheerful environment, rather than one that's neglected with food all over the floor. I saw a direct correlation between the company culture and the customer experience. And it wasn't a good one.

When employees are valued by the people who lead them, they feel important, appreciated, and connected. And this applies so much to Anaplan. I hear this all the time when I'm out with customers. I was at an event in London with some of our customers—executives from Jaguar Land Rover. Mike Tickle—Planning Director, Commercial at Jaguar Land Rover—said to me:

Frank, I don't know if you know this, but the reason why I started looking into Anaplan is because I went to an event and several of your people were there. They were so energized and so enthusiastic about what they were doing that I felt like I would be missing out if I didn't get to know more about what was going on. It piqued my curiosity because of the people and how they were carrying themselves, and the enthusiasm they had for their company. I wanted to be part of it.

Of course, I was delighted to hear this, and it tells me that we are doing some things right. At the same time, I know we're not perfect. Anaplan is a work in progress, and we still have a ways to go. But, working together, we're accomplishing some truly amazing things for our customers, in a culture based on mutual trust and respect. In fact, we've hired a number of people who used to be our customers. In every one of these cases, the people we hired were impressed with the Anaplan culture, which they experienced as they worked with our employees.

Sara Baxter Orr is our Global Head, CFO Practice. Here's what she told me about experiences she had before and after joining Anaplan:

While I was still with Verizon, you invited me to speak at Anaplan's Women's Interest Network. It was a fantastic event—there was tremendous passion around wanting to help women succeed. And I tell everyone I meet that I've never been around a company where women supported women the way that we do at Anaplan. It's so refreshing and amazing to me because that's not always the case, not every culture is like that. For me, that was very exciting and it's one of the reasons I joined.

And then, after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing aftermath, we've really leaned in. We've been honest with ourselves and we've taken a position of wanting to learn, wanting to make a difference, and taking this moment and making it matter. That has been really refreshing and meaningful to me as well. Culturally, this has been just as rewarding as it has been to grow revenue and grow our business.¹⁸

Ray Curbelo, our Global Head of Finance Solutions, had his own very positive experiences with Anaplan and our culture while he was working at a Fortune 500 insurance company. As he explained to me:

The Anaplan team I worked with always made it about more than just “what's in it for Anaplan?” It was about what's in it for the customer, how are they going to benefit, and how can they help them be more successful—and help them drive value for the company? It was always simple things, like the account executive at Anaplan sending me articles. He'd say, “Hey, I remember you mentioned you were struggling with X, Y, and Z. This article made me think of you and that situation you mentioned.” Or “How is so and so doing on your team? Is there anything we can do to support them?”¹⁹

Claire Lord, a Senior Customer Success Business Partner, told me about how the Anaplan people she worked with while at Thomas Cook made her and her coworkers feel valued—even after the company went out of business. She said:

In my role at Thomas Cook, I dealt with a lot of suppliers, and with Anaplan it was never a hard sell—it was always a group effort. You guys weren't selling to us; we were working together. The people that we worked with closely at Anaplan made us feel like we were valued, and they championed us at every opportunity. It wasn't just we were doing our own thing. As a collective, we were working together to make both companies better.

And then, when Thomas Cook went under, we were so overwhelmed by the support that we got from everybody at Anaplan. You know, there was nothing in it for them, but they made us feel like they cared about how we felt. They introduced us to other companies, introduced us to people within the business. And it really felt like they cared about us as individuals, not just as an account. And I see that now from the Anaplan side, which is great.²⁰

Our investors have also noticed the emphasis we put on character, culture, and customer focus. Alex Wolf is Managing Director for the Investment Group of Santa Barbara, one of Anaplan's largest investors. In a discussion at one of our large company and partner events, Wolf explained what he and his investment group look for when they assess an investment opportunity, and what they saw in Anaplan.

We spend a lot of time when we get to know a company, trying to understand what they are doing well. We'll ask their customers questions like: Are you happy with the products? Are you happy with the service that you're getting? Have you looked at competitive solutions? Would you ever switch? What would cause you to switch? What other use cases are you interested in buying? All of that checked out extremely well with Anaplan.²¹

Here's an example of a strong culture from a company that everyone recognizes. Disney is famous for hiring young people to work in its theme parks. What's amazing is that the same teenagers who might routinely stay up late playing video games or hanging out with their friends will eagerly wake up at 6:00 a.m. to come to work for Disney with a smile on their faces, ready for the day. Disney claims it's because of the unique culture that it breeds—the pride it builds within employees (called “Cast Members”) to do the work that they do, whether it's donning a costume to play a cartoon character, operating a ride, or sweeping litter from the walkways. When they have a purpose and feel valued, they transform from sullen teenagers into stellar employees.

A few years ago, we got a taste of Disney's unique culture when a group of Anaplan leaders participated in a one-week professional leadership and development course at the Disney Institute in Anaheim, California. The leaders were steeped in Disney's approach to building employee engagement and satisfaction while delivering the highest levels of customer service, and they put those lessons to work in their own teams.

A big part of Disney and other companies that leverage culture is that they don't just take it for granted. They put extra effort into it—they make sure that it provides the right business outcomes, just as they make sure their company is delivering the right product and financial results. They'll ask, for example, “Is our employee morale in a good place? If it's not, then we need to focus on that as much as we need to focus on our customers.”

In Chapter 6, I devote an entire section to the specific learnings that our people brought back with them to Anaplan, and how we integrated them into our own unique culture.