Do the Right Thing
Most technology companies shamelessly value raw brain-power at the expense of social grace, common courtesy or any sense of style. As someone who wore head-gear for his entire adolescence, I’ve embraced this approach.
Starting out as an entrepreneur, I once tried to hire an engineer who was so engrossed in the brain-teasers we had given him that he never noticed my nose had begun gushing blood in the middle of our interview (I had actually walked into a wall while gesturing wildly to my partner and mouthing “Let’s hire this freaking guy!!!”).
But since then, I’ve come to learn that there is something far, far worse than people who aren’t Math Olympians. There are people who don’t do the right thing, or care about others. No matter how hard somebody works, if his values are messed up, he’s useless to us. In fact, worse than useless: he screws up the whole company’s reputation.
So Redfin is taking a more balanced approach to the talent-at-any-cost mentality that drives most startups, by emphasizing values too. Starting today, Terrell Owens couldn’t get a job here. This isn’t an easy change for me; I still spend four days every fall rifling through the Stanford computer science resume book looking for the 25 highest GPAs so I can beg them to work for us (Rebecca Illowsky, you made the wrong choice!). But what I like about values-based hiring is this: anyone can have the right values. It’s just that many don’t.
The choice is yours.
Lots of people work for just a paycheck, doing only what is expected of them, with none of the gumption to understand what’s really going on and to make things better. They view any form of idealism with suspicion or embarrassment, and they try so hard to be official and corporate that they can’t have a good time. Many call themselves professionals, but never profess to put their clients’ — or anyone’s — interests ahead of their own.
We want to avoid hiring those people. Which will be tricky, as Redfin has begun to grow very quickly, hiring agents in every market we serve.
So a few weeks ago, Redfin pulled together folks from across the company — agents, field agents, engineers, executives, product managers, even customers — to talk about what we valued in one another. And then we talked about how we’d act if that’s what we really valued. Here’s what we came up with:
| Fire | Wow | Rally | Genuine | Honorable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire in the belly to change the game | Delight the customer | Everyone is a leader | Everyone sweeps the floors | Do the right thing |
| Mission-driven: works for more than a paycheck | High-standards: goes above and beyond to deliver the unexpected | Inspirational: rallies the team, rallies for the team | Caring: stops to help others; doesn’t just walk by | Customer-first: always puts the customer’s interests first |
| Take-charge: acts like an owner, regardless of title | Captivating: makes it beautiful | Curious: digs into root causes; attacks the disease not the symptom | Humble: never says “I,” admits mistakes | Transparent: tells the truth regardless of consequences |
| Unstoppable: finishes the job; 99% done is half-done | Fun: makes people smile | Fearless: bets big, tinkers constantly, fails fast, measures results | Balanced: sets and respects boundaries to stay happy and healthy | Respectful: treats everyone with respect |
| Resourceful: makes more with less |
Julie Brown and Ann Rhoades, who built the customer-service organizations at Southwest and JetBlue, flew out from New Mexico to help us get through our spats and funks.
The fur really flew. We put in stuff like caring and balanced that would never have occurred to an Ahab like me, even though I could have cried hearing colleagues say how far from those values we had sometimes strayed. We stuck with idealistic terms like mission-driven despite some concerns that it was kind of a wussy value for a company that needs to turn a profit (giving people something to believe in is the only sustainable way to turn a profit).
We ditched scrappy at the last second because it reminded people of either a cartoon dog or a drunken runt who starts a fight.
And we tried to avoid the usual corporate baloney, though anything that just hangs on the wall sooner or later starts to smell that way. The only way to keep it fresh is to call out the values every day, guiding how we hire, pay and promote folks within Redfin, how we build our website and serve our customers.
Hopefully, you’ll keep us honest. If a website feature isn’t beautiful, if it isn’t does make you smile, if we aren’t completely transparent with data, call us on it. If we don’t put the customer first, and rally to get the job all the way done, scream it from the rooftops (or maybe just send us an email). The reason we published our values is so we can be accountable for upholding them. That, and to hear what you think of ‘em too… have at it!
Thanks to all the customers and employees who helped us work this out. And thanks to Janelle Saylor for suggesting this Liberace photo to personify our headline values of Wow and Fire (or was it Genuine)?
Jon Tuttle said:
Glenn, rarely have I read anything that opened as strong as this post. What a terrific first paragraph!
I think your values are on target. I experienced them as a customer three years ago although in Redfin terms that’s the stone age, I guess.
Free advice, even though it may sound insane… ever worry about folks overdoing any of these attributes?
October 6, 2009 7:39 AM
JanelleS said:
Cake = Redfin
Frosting = Redfin spends time crafting worthwhile values
Sprinkles = Redfin always aspires to practice what it preaches.
Sugar = CEO of said company not only loves the picture of Liberace in a bathtub, but actually uses it on the corporate blog
Whip Cream Dollop = I work at Redfin
October 6, 2009 9:20 AM
Glenn Kelman said:
Interesting comment Mr. Tuttle, which attributes worry you the most?
For me the icing on the cake Janelle is that I work with someone who found a picture of Liberace and sent it to me, but included the warning that we may not want to use it because Liberace encouraged his boyfriends to get plastic surgery, which is (I agree!) DISTURBING.
October 6, 2009 2:01 PM
Black-Eyed Dog said:
What about Liberace is not disturbing?
One could potentially over do this: tells the truth regardless of consequences. Or perhaps bets big. See AIG et al.
October 7, 2009 8:35 AM
Black-Eyed Dog said:
That said (partly in jest) I like it. A focus on values is an interesting trait in an organization. People who really want to work there make it even more interesting.
October 7, 2009 8:49 AM
Scott said:
No organization is immune to politics, however it’s good to see that Redfin is trying to remain a wholesome startup.
One thing that didn’t like was the reading, “Hopefully, you’ll keep us honest.”
I believe honesty must be driven internally. Once trust is lost, you’ve already incurred loss unlikely salvageable.
October 7, 2009 1:55 PM
Glenn Kelman said:
Good point Scott; we’ll drive honesty internally for sure but one reason we published this was so customers — and this community — could call us out too.
October 9, 2009 5:46 AM
Ian Greenleigh said:
Yours is an interesting take on values, specifically because it explores the practical side of value-focused hiring practices. That is, when most discuss company values, they do so without any allusions to things like profit, productivity etc. However, this is far from the only consideration that we make when we talk about such hiring criteria. Like nearly everything else in life, values-based approaches in business aren’t undertaken solely on the basis of good will or altruism, but there is at least some self-interest in play. Yet, how rarely do we admit this?
Your post was refreshing precisely because it DID detail such practical benefits as well as the more idealistic merits of core company values. Thanks.
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