S03E05 - Hiring and Diversity with Executive Director of People - Ari Gerber (and How to Properly Cook Steak)
Description
This week Ari has all the vision, James has all the passion, Garret has the “squeakiest wheel”, Darin is fully vaccinated, and Tyler wants to learn. All of that and the group discusses hiring and embracing diversity.
Show Notes
00:00:00 - Pre Show
Christmas music - “Carol of the Bells”
Reverse searing steaks
Oil, Butter, Rosemary and Thermapen
Smoking meat
00:04:10 - Show Start
Week 4 with Ari
00:04:20 - Follow-Ups
Lucy Update
It’s Lucy’s 18th birthday...and she’s still kickin’
Question from Garret: Is there a correlation between a lack of clear vision articulated through the teams and teams hesitant to make decisions?
Hearing “no” may create some timidness
Maybe after so many no’s they stop trying to get yes
1000 no’s for every yes (but can’t just be a blind no)
How do we keep teams aligned with what’s most important for the company
“I don’t know if Garret knows what Follow-Ups are”
00:20:21- The Headlines
Darin
Product L10™ - 4.25 (Darin scored it a 3)
Without the V/I on product team - felt a little “at the effect of”
Tried to IDS™ an issue that’s about James
Made a decision not to release (people didn’t know)
Strategic Product Team
On track to completing a sprint
Got a plan to get back into order speed release
Started as not really a plan
Bringing more intentionality to development
Getting away from a shotgun “scatter shot” approach to UAT
Personal
Second Covid-19 Shot this week
Important to pass that message out
No side effects
Bathroom remodel coming next week
Tyler
Planning (or at least some version of planning)
Most non-standard 1 off process
At risk client stuff continues
Garret
LT L10™ trumped by planning this week
Unconventional planning but got through it all
Identified 8 Rocks
Detailed to the degree required for team handoffs
Stand alone IDS™ session for retail L10™
L10™ cut short due to some buy-in concerns and not having V/I available for the discussion
3PL L10™ scored a 4.0
IDS identified a lack of 3PL references for 3PL prospects
Ari
Vacation Ari mode is setting in
Even had my coffee delivered this morning
Quarterly planning was a 5.0 score
Ari used all the shapes and emojis during planning
8 Rocks is a little terrifying
Got to be with team leads all of Wednesday rescoring functional assignments
Garret also got to start and end each day with me...which he loved
Sales Integrator Carter is playing “Hiring Ari” this week taking over the employee search
James - Takes the easy road out 2 weeks in a row
00:37:03 - Topic 2 (1) - Ari part 4 - Hiring
What does hiring look like for us
Especially in this high growth pivot
The next 90 days could be pivotal
How do we not become a great place for only “middle aged white tech guys”
The company James and Darin want to be at is diverse in race, gender, sexuality, background, etc…
How do we not become Basecamp?
Ari dives into how we hire
Relaunched job descriptions
Launched a careers website page
Tells the story of who we are and our people
The interview process
Screening
Team Interview
“Reverse Interview”
Reveal who we are to a potential employee
CEO and Core Values
Starts with really bad jokes then 3 simple questions
How do we continue to keep our culture as we scale?
How are we set up to attract people we want?
How do we hire more diversity?
Blind screening - remove all personal identifiable data prior to an in person interview
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Statement
Diving into the desire for diversity (age, race, gender, sexuality) and creating the best reality
What reactions do we get when explaining how we run our company and ourselves in interviews?
Pinpoint (not a sponsor of the show) as our backend hiring tool (runs our process)
What lessons can we take from Basecamp
Not a company I ever want to be
Question from Ari: How do you as leaders of the company lean into creating diversity?
“If you don’t want to discuss tough topics at work, it implies you’re okay with the world around you”
Question from James: How much do you all feel you are being drug along in this vs have your own passion for it?
The small things matter
Seemingly small micro-aggressions add up
“One small thing, makes the next thing slightly more acceptable”
The small things we can do can create a ton of space for others
“StarTrek has shown us the way.
01:34:54- Questions and Long Answers
None this week since Garret did them in follow ups
01:35:03 - End of Show
We love external validation, so share
01:36:20 - After Show - Darin found an iOS shortcut to set wallpapers on your devices
The Credits
Hosts, Garret Richardson, Tyler Samples, Darin Kelkhoff, and James Maes
Show Notes by Garret Richardson
Proofing and Title by Darin Kelkhoff
Editing, Mixing, and Mastering by Brenton Wainscott