Culture as a Competitive Advantage

Katie Burke VP of Culture and Experience, HubSpot

@KatieBurkie #GDRoadshow

How can I get on this list…

…or this one?

The secret to getting on THAT

list.

Meet Rose

Most organizations look outside instead of in.

Over 2 million views on CultureCode.com

Culture isn’t:

Motivational Posters

Corporate Governance

Perks & Rewards

• A bar for what’s possible at your company

• A powerful weapon in the war for talent

• A proactive catalyst to help employees make better

decisions

• Your promise to your customers

• Collective clarity on what it means to be a part of

your organization

Culture is…

Let’s talk about culture at your

company

What does it stand for?

How do you make your culture known?

How do you market to candidates? To employees? To the world?

The Ultimate Litmus Test for Culture Alignment

How do you know your culture is working?

How do you know if it isn’t?

Most people wait until something fundamentally breaks with their

culture to pay attention to it.

That’s missing the point.

The Top Mistakes We See with Culture

Thinking it’s easy

Thinking it only comes from the top

Making it an HR priority versus a business priority

Hoarding what makes you special versus spreading it to the

world

Recipe for Culture as a Competitive Advantage

1.  Make culture a business priority, not an HR priority 2.  Decide what you stand for and share it with the world 3.  Measure how well you’re delivering on your culture

vision by surveying your employees regularly and anonymously

4.  Share the results — good, bad, and ugly — with everyone in the organization

5.  Work tirelessly to address what’s not working 6.  Rinse, repeat

Hire remarkably smart people who are passionate about your mission and care deeply about the people you employ and the problems you

solve. Do not compromise. Ever.

Forever ever.

And the most important ingredient of all:

Your products will change. Your strategy will shift. Your culture will determine whether you can hire top talent, how you respond to challenges, and how you succeed for the long haul.

Invest accordingly.

Questions? Concerns? Comments? Critiques?

Know someone awesome

who should work at HubSpot?

Katie Burke katie@hubspot.com

@katieburkie