Lesson Ten: Transparency is commonplace at game changing companies
This is both a blessing and a burden, loose lips sink ships
To be really transparent, I should say that I sometimes regret talking to people about my time working at Facebook. It is a really odd sensation to be both proud of the work we accomplished and a little embarrassed about some of the things that happen on the service now. But with all the hoopla of the past few years about advertisements and election stealing it has reminded me about one of the things that exists at companies like Facebook, Square and Dropbox that make them uniquely incredible and forbearers of a brave new world and really contrast with the world of politics.
For the entire time I worked at Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg hosted a company all hands meeting on Friday afternoon. The format would change over time, because it had to in order to scale along with the number of folks that we had working at the company, but the spirit of the meeting was the same. The meeting was about removing the cloak and dagger, Machiavellian corporate information brokering that executives at a lot of companies use to hold power over their subordinates. That is to say that these meetings were about transparency.
It was the first real culture shock that resonated with me when I moved from Yahoo! to Facebook. All hands meetings at every company I had ever worked for up until this point were more like political rallies focused on messaging. The entirety of the meetings felt scripted from top to bottom. They felt like some kind of modern feudalism where the Lords were riding in to explain to the serfs why they were so lucky to have these particular Lords in control. Facebook’s all hands were more like a slightly choreographed anarchy, intimate and inclusive even when there were more than a thousand people in the room or watching remotely.
Every Friday, the company would shut down and we would go through the numbers. The level of transparency was fresh and exciting. We were seeing the type of information that other companies would refuse to show to the team on account of stockholders needing to know critical fiduciary information at the same time. Seeing these numbers in bold and black and white was galvanizing for the organization, we all were able to sing from the same sheet of music because we saw the sheet of music with our own eyes.
But what was really riveting was what came after the standard presentation format. Mark Zuckerberg would stand in front of the entire company and answer questions that anyone who felt strongly enough that they needed an answer from the CEO would ask. I can’t recall a time that he ducked a hard one or gave a wishy washy answer. I also don’t ever recall him going after the questioner, even when he didn’t really appreciate the question. The message that this sent to the entire company was clear, attack problems not people.
This created an atmosphere where debate amongst team members was not only encouraged, it was expected and expected to be about data and solutions. If the questioner didn’t know the solution, it created an environment where teams would agree there was a challenge to overcome and focus on solving it together. It is hard to quantify how massive these expectations were to creating the environment that allowed Facebook to compete with massive companies like Google and win. We were nimble, focused and determined.
These meetings had an almost celebratory, recharging feel. We’d all sit and hear about the most mission critical initiatives in a down to Earth way. Our CEO would then stand before all and answer whatever questions anyone had in a direct and earnest way, earning all of our respect. And then we’d wrap it up with a happy hour and usually head right back to our desks energized to take action on the things we had just talked about. It was poetry in motion and as inspirational as a business meeting can be.
At Square, the all hands meetings were at the end of the work day on Friday just like at Facebook. But in contrast, the meetings at Square were much more intimate when I first started working there. This is probably due to the fact that when I went to Square we had less than 300 people at the company but it was also a matter of the different style that Jack Dorsey employed when compared to Mark Zuckerberg’s.
The most impactful all hands meeting I have ever attended was in a particular dark time at Square. We had a few internal events that could be called scandals and some of which was public. They cost some executives their jobs and the fragility at the top could easily translate to uncertainty throughout the organization, but Jack stood in front of the entire company (actually he sat on a stool but it sure felt like he was standing) and related the toughest time of his career for everyone.
He told us all about when he was ousted as the CEO of Twitter and what was most engaging was that it wasn’t necessarily the ousting itself that had caused him the most grief. He related what he felt like calling his mother to tell her about the event. He was vulnerable and open. He related to everyone what it felt like. But the best part was the context that he was saying all of this in and the picture we could draw from it.
When his cohorts at Twitter decided he wasn’t the right option to run their company anymore, he took a deep breath and sought to understand why. Then he took that knowledge and started a second company that was now worth a billion dollars. The company that all of us watching and listening were a part of and that we were pushing to make worth several billion dollars. It isn’t just the numbers that were shared at these wide open events that got all of us pumped up and ready to go. The transparency from the CEO also gave us all someone to relate to.
Personally, the biggest takeaway from this all hands was philosophical. Jack said something like “There are a lot of really smart people who are going to tell you that what you want to do will fail. If you believe in what you are doing, you smile and thank them for their advice and then get to work doing it anyway.”
This transparent dynamic is hard to maintain as a company grows. While initially most of the team members will be at HQ, a growing tech company searches the globe for the best talent. Part of attracting that talent is satellite offices in other parts of the country, and eventually around the world. Managing time zones so that everyone can attend becomes impossible.
At Dropbox, probably the company I have worked for that was most dedicated to flexibility and delighting employees, there was a unique approach that came the closest to making the all hands relevant and timely for everyone. Human beings are creatures of habit and it is so easy to get into a routine when you know that every Friday at 3 PM the company shuts down and we all go and hear some news and have a chat about whatever is on our minds. Dropbox alternated the schedule so that there was an All Hands one week on Friday afternoon Pacific Time and the following week the All Hands would be on Thursday morning Pacific Time, making it more accessible to our compatriots in other parts of the world.
Another common challenge, or concern, when it comes to open and honest All Hands is a fear that the information shared will make its way out into the public. I can confirm that there are things that were talked about in the All Hands of every company that I have ever worked for that were confidential and yet they still ended up written about in blogs. At non game changing companies I have worked for this would lead to a lessening of the information shared at company meetings.
At game changing companies, the leak of information was treated as a discussion topic. There is nothing quite like the CEO of the hottest thing going in tech sending an email to everyone with a link to a blog post and something like the following, “Whoever shared this let your entire team down. We will investigate but I’d like to give you the opportunity to resign without that.”
When you create a bold and open culture within your company and someone lets everyone down, it becomes a rallying point and a unifying moment. I am not advocating for celebrating leaks, but I am highlighting that the growth of your company is depending on the quality of information that everyone has available to make decisions. There were many projects and products that got an impromptu announcement while I was at Facebook, Square and Dropbox in particular and on balance, the damage done to the product or service was minimal compared to the strength of execution driven by a company of informed, intelligent and empowered people working together to change the world.
There are many ways that information is disseminated in the modern corporate hierarchy. There are internal wikis, there are email updates, and there is instant messaging and collaboration platforms like Slack. All of these serve a purpose but nothing is as effective at getting an entire company on the same page as frequent and regularly scheduled wide open discussions with company executives.
With the rapidly changing world and growing adoption of remote work forces this is only going to get harder and harder to execute. But, a culture of transparency is one of a handful of very important aspects that all of the game changing companies I have worked for have pushed very hard to foster and grow. While the way we work might change, the things we need to know to align and push the effort forward will not.
In summary, a culture of transparency is imperative for small organizations to develop and foster. A regularly scheduled company All Hands, mandatory for everyone in the office on the day of the All Hands, is the first step to making this happen. The Chief Executive should lead these meetings and delegate department by department updates. The last half of these meetings should include open discussion about topics discussed at the All Hands and anything that is important but was not included. Last: nothing is sacred in these meetings except the truth and loyalty to each other. Don’t be the guy or gal that leaks a game changing secret and just as important, don’t be the executive that doesn’t share info enough to build a juggernaut.