In part two of our in-depth conversation with Jason Weiss, the former GM and current advisor of Scopely talks about a subject that many leaders shy away from -
Failure.
At Scopely, failure isn’t a dirty word. Far from it - the company recognizes the “Fail of the Week” at their weekly all-hands, during which a team member describes a major mistake he or she made in the past seven days.
The point isn't to call out mistakes, but to acknowledge that failure is part of the process and to share the lessons learned.
In fact, according to Weiss, a healthy relationship with failure should be a part of your culture, particularly at growth-oriented startups, where big risks are a necessary part of success.
“If you’re asking people to work extremely hard, and aim high, and be ambitious, they’re going to fail [at times],” Weiss explains. “So we need to acknowledge that it’s ok to fail, or people are going to stop aiming high.”
Jason delved into this topic and many more during this week's podcast, and we're extremely grateful that he shared his seasoned perspective on culture, retention, and leadership.
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Many companies use perks like free onsite food, massages, and elaborate off-sites to attract and retain game-changing talent.
If you’re Scopely, you take a different tack.
Namely? Bricks of cash. Wrapped in bacon.
Scopely is the LA-based mobile gaming studio that has produced six #1 games in a row, including The Walking Dead Road to Survival, Yahtzee with Friends, and Disco Bees.
According to today’s Awesome Office guest Jason Weiss, that success started with creating a culture that could attract and retain the top talent.
And he should know: as the company’s SVP of talent for more than four years, he was a main driver behind the company’s vibrant and playful ethos.
The results speak for themselves. During his tenure at the company, Weiss helped expand the organization from 10 to more than 125 employees, and helped grow revenue from zero to a run rate of more than $70 million a year.
While Jason was there, Scopely also launched one of the most notorious recruiting campaigns in recent memory - a search to find “the most interesting engineers in the world” that enticed top talent with oil portraits, a year’s supply of beer, a tuxedo, a spear gun, and yes, $11,000 in cold hard cash wrapped in cured meat.
We talked about all this and more in this week's epic two-part interview.
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Like this episode? Then let us know! Subscribe, rate, and review the show in iTunes. This show grows by word of mouth, and the more we grow, the more Awesome we can all create together.
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Like this episode? Then let us know! Subscribe, rate, and review the show in iTunes. This show grows by word of mouth, and the more we grow, the more Awesome we can all create together.
Not according to today’s Awesome Office guest, David Hassell, a serial entrepreneur and “the most connected man you don’t know in Silicon Valley,” according to Forbes magazine.
His current venture is 15five, a technology solution that helps improve transparency and communication between managers and employees, and provide critical insights for your company.
As you’ll hear, 15five was inspired by ESPRIT founder Doug Tompkins, who realized that if he asked all of his employees to spend 15 minutes writing a report that took their manager no more than 5 minutes to read, he’d have a more engaged company.
We talked to David about a wide range of subjects, but what we found most interesting was his belief that the goal of his software is not to make employee’s happy, but to help them be their best selves, and ultimately to create an environment where they can perform at their highest level. Sometimes this means harnessing the power of good discomfort - or eustress.
Often, this is extremely fulfilling for employees and their managers, but happiness isn’t necessarily the goal - nor should it be.
David joined us via Skype from 15five’s offices in San Francisco. This was a fantastic conversation, and one that we decided to release in two parts.
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