Hello!

55 Comments

I had the pleasure of hearing Victoria Ransom speak about her experiences of corporate culture – starting and then selling Wildfire (with her husband) to Google. Wildfire offers social marketing software to enterprises globally.

Victoria and her husband (both Kiwi’s) started Wildfire from their lounge room in Silicon Valley and one of the main challenges they faced as they grew was finding good, qualified staff that fit their culture. Wildfire was competing with the likes of Facebook and Google for the best talent available; unfortunately as a start-up competing against the Google Plex is somewhat difficult.

Victoria felt one of their keys to success was their company culture and how important it is to make your values sacred. What attracted talent to Wildfire was just that- the culture was fun (you could skateboard through the office), relaxed (to the point where customer service team members were able to answer calls from a hammock!) and full of thank you’s.

Victoria highlighted the simple truths:

1. Say Thank-you

A simple email or post it note on their monitor – any type of thank-you makes a BIG difference

2. Celebrate the Wins

3. Be honest and transparent

When things are good – GREAT. When things are not so good – don’t try to hide it. Your staff are not stupid (that’s why you hired them in the first place!). Share and rally together. Often acknowledging the problem is all it takes.

4. Gather Together

Dress up days; one of her funny stories was about the entire company dressing up like a person they worked with waiting until they noticed. Team trips and team drinks are also great ideas; the list goes on.

Victoria’s view on leadership really made sense to me and as Victoria was talking about the amazing culture they had created at Wildfire, I was thinking wow – I am not sure I am really that FUN – how would I create something like that?

Her view is:

There is no one perfect leadership style, all kinds of leadership styles can work but you must be authentic

Steve Jobs was an incredibly successful leader with a very unique leadership style, but would that have worked for Victoria and Wildfire, NO. Would it work for me and Booking Boss – NO – and that’s okay. Find your style and be true to yourself.

That is what counts – true blue leadership (and an awesome culture to boot).

Laptop” image from Shutterstock
We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • manners, being humble and appreciative does go a long way. treat people good!

    Reply

  • Good knowledge to know! Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply

  • Fantastic article, wish more companies would have leadership like this.

    Reply

  • Some great ideas, it’s a pity most businesses don’t bother.

    Reply

  • it does make for a better work place

    Reply

  • Thanks was a great read

    Reply

  • Nice article, it’s a good read!

    Reply

  • I hated all those ‘let’s gather’ days and themes. Our Manager even organised a couple of team bonding outings – all of these stunts are a waste of time and most people resent being taken away from the work they then have to catch up on. The overall feeling was we felt like we were back at school, work place bonding, dess ups and themes were immature.

    All most people expect is a decent wage, a thank you for a job well done and to be treated with honesty, courtesy and respect.

    Reply

  • a very interesting read thanks

    Reply

  • I’ve worked in both types of environment and when you celebrate the wins it really does motivate everyone

    Reply

  • I hate women that are so competitive

    Reply

  • A little words to say but very important and memories in mind :)

    Reply

  • this article is Sooo true . Love it

    Reply

  • Glad to see my work is also applying most of these tips to keep us happy.

    Reply

  • I like the first point – Say Thank you. Good manners work in all environments!

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join