I recently had the opportunity to get a few minutes with Gary Vaynerchuk to get his take on organizational health and culture. For those not familiar with Gary, he gained notoriety expanding his family’s wine business into Wine Library TV. Building on his wine and social media hustle, Gary became a best selling author of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy and launched VaynerMedia, a brand consulting agency with a focus on social media. Gary’s enthusiasm and energy is contagious. I hope you find the thoughts and ideas he shared with me helpful for your organization.
Listen below or on other podcast players.
21 Comments
Do your best!! Great Audio! Listen #entrepreneur
This was a good one, Gary knows how to treat his peeps!
Glad you enjoyed it and I agree!
Really great thought by Gary on how he hires and sees employees as lifetime employees, not temporary.. That creates a great workplace but at the same time makes it difficult to hire good people.
I think it’s only difficult for companies that continues to hire employees using the typical model, filling the funnel first with those who match on skills and experience and then narrowing by personality, fit and the like. If, in contrast, companies filled the funnel first with people who they knew matched their core mission and values, they would avoid diluting the pool and could focus on narrowing by skills, experience, personality, etc. There are just too many people out there who would jump at the opportunity to work for companies that truly put employees first. Finding them takes a different approach though.
Lovely!
Nicely done, Levi! Great questions–set up Gary to make some excellent points.
The ability to gather a significant amount of pertinent information out of a brief 10 minute interview is rare and refreshing these days. The majority of employees would not only welcome, but would flourish in the type of work environment/relationships discussed, resulting in obvious benefits for employers.
Never a dull interview and content with Gary. ‘Treat your employees the way you want your employees to treat your best customers’.. sad to see that some don’t and use the churn and burn tactics.
Asking your employees to simply replicate how they’re served and led is so much more authentic and contagious. I think companies get into trouble when they demand employees deliver an experience to customers that the employees find unfamiliar internally.
Hiring with the intention of creating a career-long relationship is something that used to happen with regularity – not so much now. Nice to hear that it’s a part of Gary’s intention in hiring.
A very nice interview ! One of the things you could also extend asking Gary is, how does he deal with his management in getting what his trusted team wants like good pay hikes & bonuses, etc. If he can’t do that as a boss, he may not be able to keep his team in tact.
I think the video linked to below of an illustrated TED talk Daniel Pink did years ago sheds some light on this issue. Wages and benefits certainly matter and are a big part of the equation, but I think that too many companies assume it trumps every other factor that impacts employee satisfaction and engagement. Every employee wants to be paid fairly, but it’s not the only or even primary need or want. I think Gary is trying to develop a company that pays fairly while also being attentive to the other needs and motivators that Pink explores in the talk. The research shows that most people leave companies over issues unrelated to compensation.
First, thank you for your honesty. Not many owners admit their weakness/challenges they face in their company. Retention is a challenge for all organizations. I’m sure the culture you are creating is a shock to employees. Not many are used to the laissez faire leadership mentality. Being self- motivated, self-disciplined, and taking initiative are traits found in those individuals with a military background. A message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard 1899 will inspire you and instill in you a drive others will envy to emulate. http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf
This is all very transparent and the ideas are counter-culture. Many organizations judge a person’s worth within the first month or so and from that point forward their impressions are set in stone. It is rare that they look at how their culture affects the individual. Nice work!
Great opportunity, well done. I am trying to set up to do the same thing on my blog. He always makes sense and has a great way of chatting through
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its great!
how wonderfuel
Wonderful
Gotta say thanks for posting, and thanks GaryVee for giving him an interview. I like your site bud!