Episode · This Week in Startups · 2019-10-16
Books mentioned on E989: The Next Unicorns: Culture Amp CEO & Co-founder Didier Elzinga is building an employee analytics platform that keeps workers satisfied & motivated, shares insights on the changing role of culture, what modern employees value & maintaining culture wh
0:52 Jason intros Culture Amp's Didier Elzinga 2:44 How Didier's prior career in Visual Effects led him to start Culture Amp 8:24 Issues with yearly performance evaluations 14:15 Did Silicon Valley take culture too far? 17:35 What defines good culture?
Didier Elzinga recommended Primed to Perform by Neel Doshi and others and The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh and others, and discussed Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock and What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and others. Jason Calacanis discussed Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott. Also mentioned: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Work Rules!
Discussed“but what Mark's tweet was there's a missing chapter to the book work rules it says first create a search monopoly that generates billions of dollars in revenue and then you can do all these things”
Where to get it
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Primed to Perform
Primed to Perform by Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor is a business book that examines how organizational culture and motivation drive workplace success.
Recommended“this is a really great book called prime to perform by Anil Joshi and Lindsay McGregor primed trying to perform and they talk about how you drive adaptive performance”
Where to get it
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Radical Candor
Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott is a management guide focused on building trust, cultivating caring relationships, and delivering effective feedback in the workplace.
Discussed“so if you tell them every term from compassion you have to say I actually want you to succeed and I'd it's like the radical candor piece I want you to succeed”
Where to get it
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The Score Takes Care of Itself
The Score Takes Care of Itself is a leadership and management book by football coach Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, and Craig Walsh that focuses on program building through inputs and daily standards rather than fixating on outcomes.
Recommended“I disagree because I think that if you're doing it for the long run like and you keep on the basketball and actually one of the books I love is Bill Walsh is the score takes care of itself right”
Where to get it
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What Got You Here Won't Get You There
What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter is a leadership development guide that addresses how executive behaviors and outdated habits can hinder career progression at senior levels.
Discussed“but the challenge in late is and I have this conversation with senior leaders all the time is you don't get good without time in the saddle so you like you just got to work really hard and all good leaders have worked probably too hard but you get to a point where the value you're creating is in smaller”
Where to get it
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Antifragile
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a groundbreaking exploration of systems that not only withstand shocks and disorder but actually thrive and grow stronger when exposed to volatility, stress, and uncertainty.
Discussed“we can't get everybody out okay let's tarp on the fire and they just they just go into like this emergency mode and that it's really a red anti fragile mmm Talib and no we got to get to live on the pod”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“all those like five dysfunctions of a team all that well and Sony stuff is I buy all that also”