ed in lunch when they didn ’ t leave the office , came back to me massively because that rock star was on a roll and never got up and broke their concentration . I make money on their expertise . So , if they want to skip lunch , I ’ ll gladly pay for that .”
For Hoffman , it went well beyond buying lunch . After hiring a young rock star developer , Hoffman walked in the room where the rock star was working and asked if anyone needed anything . Having never met Hoffman , the new rock star innocently asked if Hoffman could pick up his dry-cleaning , which Hoffman proceeded to do . Mistakenly thinking Hoffman was mad , Hoffman ’ s two vice presidents ran out of the building after him , apologizing and begging Hoffman not to fire the young man . “ I said , ‘ I ’ m not mad . I left the building to pick up that kid ’ s dry-cleaning . That kid is the most brilliant designer I ’ ve ever seen ,’” Hoffman said . “’ That product is going to triple our revenues . Not only am I going to pick up that kid ’ s laundry , but if you guys need me this afternoon , I will be outside washing that kid ’ s car .”
The product the young man developed won the Internet Commerce Exposition ( ICE ) Award . “ We got the best new tech product in the country at the Internet awards that year ,” Hoffman said . “ That kid designed it , not me . THAT is how you build success .”
Attract Rock Stars By Asking Them About Their Vision . Hoffman had zero voluntary turnover . He attributes that to changing the way he interviewed prospective employees . Rather than following the traditional interview model of telling people about his vision and mission statement , he starts every interview by asking them , “ What is something you need to do with your life to make it a success ?”
After asking the question to an engineer named Chris , he discovered that Chris wanted to buy his mom a house in Florida that was fully paid off , and that would make his life a success . Curious about such a specific answer , Hoffman discovered that Chris had grown up extremely poor , living in a rusted-out Airstream with holes in the side where snow would blow in during the winter . With only one blanket for his mom , sister , and him to share , Chris recalled watching his mom and sister shiver all night . “ I asked him , ‘ How did you get through that ?’” Hoffman said . “ He said , ‘ Because I vowed every single night that one day I will work hard enough and be successful enough to buy my mom a house in Florida , all expenses paid so she can spend the rest of her life in comfort and warmth as a thank-you for the sacrifice she made to be my mom .’ I said , ‘ Chris , you ’ re hired .’”
Later , when the business wasn ’ t going well , Chris helped Hoffman figure out how to fix the company , despite it not being his job to do so . “ Chris said , ‘ I ’ m going to stay here and help you . This isn ’ t about me . This is about my mom and I ’ m not leaving until we fix this company because my mom ’ s future depends on it ,’” Hoffman said . “ He was determined . It wasn ’ t about a paycheck . It was about something bigger . People driven by passion and purpose far outperform people driven by paychecks .” Hoffman asked every employee to share what their reason was for coming to work and put pictures up on the walls that depicted their visions of success . ( For example , Chris ’ picture was of a house .) Hoffman was able to sell that company far sooner than he ’ d imagined , and when he did , every employee got a cut because every employee had equity . Chris was able to buy a fully furnished home for his mom in Florida and surprised her with it — and Hoffman was even there to witness her reaction .
After selling the company , when employees were asked why they never quit , they said , “ Because we ’ ve never worked at a place where our mission was also your mission . You told us straight up that you want our career here to be a path to our success , not yours .”
Design Yourself Out Of A Job . The goal is to have a team so talented and empowered that there are no problems . The day Hoffman realized that was the day he walked in and had nothing to do . At first , Hoffman felt sad until his team told , him : “ Every phase of the company is working . Sales is crushing it . Ops is crushing it . Product is crushing it . We don ’ t need you right now . You hired the best people . You trust us , you empowered us , and we ’ re killing it .” Half-jokingly , Hoffman asked if he was fired . “ They said , ‘ You ’ re promoted . We want you to go back to being chief dreamer ,’” Hoffman recalled . “ I realized then I had it backward . I thought I was important when my phone rang . But if you ’ re a really good manager , your phone doesn ’ t ring when you ’ re at the beach because the company is so well-designed , and your people are so talented and empowered that nobody needs you anymore .”
Build A Culture Of Values . Build a company where the best people in the industry all want to work for you and never want to leave . After realizing his job assignment was not to run the company but to build a place everyone wanted to work , he started what he calls “ culture days .”
“ I started asking people , ‘ How do I make this the best job you ’ ve ever worked at ?’” Hoffman said . “ I told them straight up . ‘ I want this to be a company you never want to leave . What do I need to do ?’”
He found that while rock stars care about money , it ’ s not the most important thing . His companies had a big charity component to it . He also provided experiences for employees such as taking his tech people on a business trip with him to Europe where they didn ’ t have to work . The sole purpose was to give employees an international experience . “ Rock stars can get a job anywhere because they ’ re a rock star . They care about experience . They care about impact . They care about a set of values . All these things matter .”
Build A Culture From A Set Of Values Your Employees Can Get Behind . Hoffman ’ s culture was built from the values of his employees . Employees were asked to make a list of everything any boss ever did that made them hate their job . They also made a list of anything any boss ever did that made them love their job . Hoffman incorporated their answers into a new employee manual . “ It ’ s not rocket science ,” Hoffman said . “ If you do anything on the left side of the sheet , you ’ re fired . And on the right side of the sheet , when you become a manager , do that stuff for other people , because you just told me that ’ s why you loved your job that you had before . That is how we built that culture .”
Hoffman used these values to hire people , too . “ Could somebody meet a person at your company and say , she ’ s totally one of us or he is not one of us ?” Hoffman asked . “ If you can ’ t define what one of us is , you don ’ t have a culture . A culture is a set of values that drive behavior that allow people to say , ‘ He ’ s one of us ,’ or ‘ She ’ s not one of us .’ That ’ s not a job description . That ’ s a culture .”