The long-term success of a company is driven by its human capital. A business needs a team which shares “your vision, your dream and your goals”, Walter says, if it is to reach its potential.
Walter says it can be difficult for business to find talent and the right people for the company, but sometimes they miss the people who are “right under their nose”.
“The best businesses bring people in who are passionate. They hire people based on their attitude and their passion and then they train them. Companies work so hard and look high and low, but sometimes the right people are right under their nose – the ones who want to work for them, that perhaps don’t have as much experience,” she says.
When businesses start expanding too quickly, Walter says, they often start hiring too quickly and lose their internal culture.
“Businesses fall apart because they start growing too fast. They then start hiring too fast because they don’t have time to evaluate each candidate,” she says.
She cites shoe and clothing company Zappos as a prime example of good business culture.
In 2012, Zappos was ranked 11th on Fortune’s list of the 100 best companies to work for (Google topped the list).
In 2004, the company created its “Zappos Culture Book”, and now all its employees and even vendors are able to contribute to the book. None of the entries to the book are edited (with the exception of typos) and includes both good and bad responses. Inspired by the book and further consultation with employees, the company’s leadership group compiled a list of 37 core values.
Walter says Zappos’ approach to the organisation’s culture has led to its institutionalisation among the staff.
“Here you have a culture of where people say we’re not afraid! We want our employees and our vendors to speak up. The culture map is prized and the leaders lead by example, this leads to a consistent reinforcement of the culture,” she says.
The chapter on products opens with a quote from Zuckerberg: “I believe that over time people get remembered for what they build, and if you build something great, people don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie… they care about what you build.”
Throughout the chapter Walter details the final steps of Zuckerberg’s journey in creating Facebook. In September 2006, despite criticisms from his own staff, Zuckerberg opened Facebook to the public and people joined at a rate of 50,000 a day. Zuckerberg’s dream was becoming a reality and as Walter calls it “the cult of Zuck” was born.
SmartCompany asked Walter what people can do if they have an idea, but don’t know where to start.
“Break it down into steps – everything is achievable. For example, think about who will help me get you there, do research and find potential investors, find people in your network who could introduce you to those people and what do you need to do to ensure the conversation is productive if you do meet them,” she says.
Entering into a relationship of any sort is accompanied with an inherent risk, but never more so than when it’s a business partnership.
The partnership between Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook’s chief operating officer) is a well-known one; one that Walter says represents the relationship between imagination and execution and she terms it “the visionary and the builder”.
“Zuck has never been good at managing the operational side so he needed a different perspective. But Sandberg is perfect because she’s totally different. All this together and you’ve got a complementary set of skills.
“In successful partnerships there is always somebody who is the visionary and someone who is the builder,” she says.
Walter cites the working relationships of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as another example.
“More and more people seem to partner – some partner poorly and others smartly. It’s all about working together through teamwork and collaboration… you need two partners who complement each other.
Walter concludes the book with a quote from Henry Ford: “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”. But says her last piece of advice for entrepreneurs is to act.
“If you’re passionate, know what you want to do and go ahead and do it, just act.”
