This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Trey Huffine
A lesson on culture from the most innovative and successful companies.
Challenging opinions and questioning decisions is the single trait that is shared among the most innovative and successful companies.
After reading books about the top minds (sources below), from Steve Jobs at Apple to Ray Dalio at Bridgewater, the one common principle present in all of them: they require a culture of dissent and foster an environment of complete candor.
By encouraging diverse opinions and challenging assumptions, you ensure that you always get to the right answer and eliminate groupthink.
Apple: has famously embraced this culture of dissent. The company gave out an award for disagreeing with Steve Jobs, and everyone who won that award was promoted to lead a major department. According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, Jobs himself was known for seeking out opinions that contradicted his own. He is known for pushing people very hard and having strong opinions, but he insisted on a culture where Apple employees voiced their own opinions and pushed back if they ever disagreed.
One of Steve Jobs’s most famous quotes, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
Bridgewater Associates: the top hedge fund is another company that has embraced the value of dissent. The hedge fund’s founder, Ray Dalio, has made it a priority to create a culture where employees are required to speak their minds. The company actively searches for “devil’s advocates”, and they have the rule that you can’t have a critical opinion unless you express it.
Of Bridgewater’s and Dalio’s 250 principles, #1 is that you must think for yourself.
Netflix: values candidness and openness above all else. In Reed Hastings’ (Netflix’s CEO) book, “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention,” he describes how the core of their culture is based on openness and candor. Employees are given nearly full autonomy and are expected to speak up when they see something that could be improved. The primary rule is “act in Netflix’s best interest”, and then it’s up to each employee to make this happen. They are expected to speak and give/receive entirely candid and honest feedback.
Google: also values diverse opinions and encourages employees to speak up and share their views. One way they do this is through “canaries” — small groups of employees who are tasked with testing new products or ideas and providing feedback. They put people on these teams who are known for speaking up. This helps ensure that a diverse set of opinions are heard before making big decisions.
Amazon: Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, famously encourages his employees to disagree and argue with each other in order to come up with the best ideas. He even created a company-wide program called “Disagree and Commit,” which encourages employees to express their disagreements, but ultimately commit to a decision once it’s made.
It’s important to note that the common thread among all these companies is that dissent and radical candor must only be used for the common goal of success of the mission and never for self-gain or to bring someone else down. In all these companies, effectively disagreeing can get you promoted. But even more so, not speaking up when you know better can get you fired.
Some top companies are now relics because they created echo chambers of group think. For example, Polaroid, which was once worth billions in the early ’90s, is a prime example of a company that failed to embrace dissent and paid the price. Polaroid ignored the advice of its own researchers who advocated for going digital and instead doubled down on its traditional instant film business. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late, and it eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2001, just 10 years after its highest market cap.
Embracing dissent and radical candor is not just a trend among specific companies — it’s increasingly recognized as a key driver of success across many industries. The goal is to remove group think and foster diverse opinions to ensure decisions are made on a complete information set. By promoting a culture that encourages open communication, diverse opinions, and active dissent, companies can foster innovation, drive better results, and attract and retain top talent.
Sources
- No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- Originals by Adam Grant
The Single Shared Trait of the Most Successful Companies: Disagreement and Dissent was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Trey Huffine
Trey Huffine | Sciencx (2023-03-01T15:50:51+00:00) The Single Shared Trait of the Most Successful Companies: Disagreement and Dissent. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2023/03/01/the-single-shared-trait-of-the-most-successful-companies-disagreement-and-dissent/
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