The Connection Magazine The Connection Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 18

The Power Of Giving Back
customer support.” In a nutshell, we did anything and
everything to service our customers, as quickly and as
efficiently as possible. When they called on us for help,
we would be there. Period.
Here are a few examples of how this new philosophy
of fanatical support permeated every aspect of
Rackspace’s corporate culture:
These days, I spend most of my time consulting with
budding entrepreneurs, and I recommend the above
guidelines to virtually everyone in every industry I come
across. I continue to be drawn to big, transformative
ideas and finding ways to nurture the entrepreneurs
that develop these ideas.
In 2011, I cofounded Geekdom with Nick Longo, a
former Rackspace colleague who is now Geekdom’s
“mentor-in-chief.” In researching our initial concept, we
found plenty of office-sharing setups, but we had never
seen one quite like the one we were driven to create. Our
goal was to develop a collaborative space that was about
much more than shared physical resources like desks and
meeting space. We also wanted to share the teaching,
training, and tools that could help people be successful
in nurturing their own entrepreneurial ideas. The ranks
of members we admit are committed to this principle,
whether drawing from populations of undergraduate
students, basement inventors, curious entrepreneurs,
or established small businesses.
Geekdom was founded upon what I like to call “The
Five Pillars of Geekdom,” which consist of the following
principles (according to our research, these have never
coexisted before in a single institution):
1) The Power of Open – Our members are driven to
openness and sharing, whether they are just aspiring
student inventors or established and even profitable
small businesses.
2) The Power of Mentorship – Part of the membership
contract is that each participant commit to giving back
one hour per month to collaborate with and provide
guidance to other members.
3) The Power of Community – We are all about
building technologists and entrepreneurs through the
lens of collaboration. Nobody who comes here works as
an island.
4) The Power of Mission – We aim to be a force for
good, working toward advances in human and community
progress and not just toward financial goals.
5) The Power of Heart-Set – The fabric of Geekdom
is more than a mind-set. It’s a “heart-set” that grants
members permission to take risks and to fail. We believe
that all entrepreneurs must work through problems to
arrive at the right solutions.
Now, the organization draws over 1,600 members
who are spread throughout a 40,000-square foot
facility over eight floors, working collaboratively with
Commitment To Resolution
No matter how complex the customer problem, it
always had an “owner,” someone to coordinate the
various support players to get the job done. No flipping
the account from person to person. The point person
continued to claim ownership throughout the resolution
period, vowing to own the problem until it was fixed.
Eliminated Fallback Possibilities
We decided to literally give our support staff “no
way out” when it came to servicing our clients. We had
installed a new phone system, but tough as it was, we
disabled our voicemail and auto-attendant capabilities
so it was always on us to answer each call. We had zero
tolerance for the “I can’t get to it right now” mentality.
Instead, you made it happen.
Assigned A Time Frame
Time matters when it comes to customer support, so
resolving problems quickly became a priority. Answering
phone calls within three rings or fixing the problem
within one hour became the standard. We created a
“hustle” mentality and lived it each day.
Considered Customers Blameless
When a customer called, we did not spend precious
time trying to figure out who caused the problem or
play the blame game. We knew that this approach was
counterproductive and would not help fix the problem
any faster. We only cared about a quick resolution so
that our customers could get back to work.
Created A Manifesto
Our mantra of “fanatical support” became a way of
life within Rackspace, and everyone who was hired
understood that service was the name of the game. Our
company culture was defined by it and became known
for it, even after the company went public in 2008.
Once we set these rules in motion, the marketplace
responded. We grew by 50 percent a year for over ten
years, adding fifty to one hundred employees a month.
Our commitment to service was not an added expense
that dragged us down but a tremendous motivator to
help us always do better.
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