{"id":608,"date":"2014-11-22T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanvetter.com\/?p=608"},"modified":"2020-01-25T23:27:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T21:27:23","slug":"culture-airbnb-uber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stefanvetter.com\/en\/culture-airbnb-uber","title":{"rendered":"A Lesson From Airbnb: Why Losing Culture Is the Biggest Threat to Your Company (and How to Fix It)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the light of the recent PR disaster at Uber<\/a>, I recalled a blog post <\/a>by Airbnb<\/a> founder Brian Chesky<\/a> on the importance of culture. \u00a0He once\u00a0asked Peter Thiel<\/a>, one of his main investors, for his most important advice. Peter’s\u00a0answer was short and simple:<\/p>\n

“Don\u2019t fuck up the culture.\u201d<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

I really like Brian Chesky’s conclusions from this advice, so I will quote him\u00a0without additional comment:<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t what we were expecting from someone who just gave us $150M. I asked him to elaborate on this. He said one of the reasons he invested in us was our culture. But he had a somewhat cynical view that it was practically inevitable once a company gets to a certain size to \u201cfuck it up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why\u00a0culture matters<\/h3>\n

Why is culture so important to a business? Here is a simple way to frame it. The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing. People can be independent and autonomous. They can be entrepreneurial. And if we have a company that is entrepreneurial in spirit, we will be able to take our next \u201c(wo)man on the moon\u201d leap. Ever notice how families or tribes don\u2019t require much process? That is because there is such a strong trust and culture that it supersedes any process. In organizations (or even in a society) where culture is weak, you need an abundance of heavy, precise rules and processes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How to build culture<\/h3>\n

So how do we build culture? By upholding our core values in everything we do. Culture is a thousand things, a thousand times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some final words by Fred Wilson<\/h3>\n

\"values-culture\"<\/p>\n

Fred Wilson<\/a>\u00a0from Union Square Ventures<\/a>\u00a0also wrote a great blog post\u00a0on the #Ubergate and the importance of values and culture<\/a>. I want to close using his words:<\/p>\n

Values and culture matter more than anything.\u00a0They seep into the product, the user experience, the brand, and ultimately define the company in the market. And all of this comes from the top.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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