you say this is because cool people hire cool people?
Elissa: We definitely had a huge number of employees come through referrals. So yes, cool people hire cool people, but in Tableau's case it was maybe more that data geeks hire data geeks. I look at the management team and the executive team, and most of them were referrals. (For the record, I wasn't. Sometimes you need to break out of your own circles.) I think when you are hiring, you are looking for passion, and you are looking for attitude. If they don't have passion for data and they don't have the attitude of work hard, work smart, and always be learning, then I don't care about [the] CV because [they're] not going to work here.
I think the company did a really good job of having the referral network and then really understanding how to hire for passion and attitude.
People went through the wringer on interviews. But the thing about a great culture is not only does it attract the right people, sometimes it helps people understand when they need to move on or move out.
That's why we would put cultural aspects in performance assessments. And it wasn't just checkbox. You had to assess if the employee was living our cultural values. Tableau put a lot of energy into all those hiring and onboarding aspects to ensure the right people were on the bus and had the tools to be successful.
Alexander: Onboarding is a very good topic. Tableau's onboarding process is well known in the software business for featuring a two-week bootcamp organized by Nate Vogel7 and his team. Bootcamp happened almost every month, and cofounder Christian Chabot used to welcome every new hire. How much does such an extensive onboarding shape the culture within the company?
Elissa: I think it was huge. People came from all over the world for two solid weeks. That was not common at the time. And it just spoke volumes: you chose us, and we chose you, and this is an investment for both sides.
This is a relationship we're investing in from the ground up because we believe in you and you believe in us. So, we want you to be as smart as possible as fast as possible.
And then, of course, the payback. It's hard to measure directly, but you can so see it as people were just more efficient and more effective sooner. And so, from a business perspective, it was smart because people could get efficient and effective a lot faster than not doing it.
Alexander: I was at your farewell party right after Tableau Conference 2018 in New Orleans. All our colleagues were very sad and touched. How much do you miss your Tableau colleagues and your Tableau identity?
Elissa: That was a night I'll never forget — thank you for being there. I do miss Tableau — the people, customers, and fellow employees, mostly — very much and I'm just so proud of it. I'm so proud to have been a part of it, what we invented and what we accomplished together. There were so many interesting people who had so much to give and had such interesting lives. I felt like I had done everything I could, and it was time for me to just get out of the way in a lot of respects.
Alexander: You are now semiretired. How did you adjust? Which things did you learn?
Elissa: It took me a while to adjust to a different pace and realize my schedule was my own. I would wake up on a Monday and look at my calendar. I'd be like — holy smokes, I don't have 30+ meetings on my calendar this week. I'm not in wall-to-wall meetings from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. That was my life as a CMO.
I've learned a lot as well, some of which I wish I knew before I retired. A big lesson has been to take time for reflecting — for activities like learning, thinking, getting advice, considering new ideas, reading, really listening. In a fast-growing company like Tableau, the pace is relentless, and you're constantly trying to squeeze more into your day. So I often sacrificed reflecting time to get more doing time. That's not always an exchange worth making. I would have been better at my job if I had taken more time for reflecting.
Now, I'm advising companies, serving on a few boards, doing some teaching at the University of Washington, mentoring or being a sounding board, and most importantly spending more time being truly available to my family.
Alexander: So many companies do not have such a strong and positive culture. Which advice can you give other companies that are at a very early stage?
Elissa: My advice would be three things, all related to taking deliberate action. First, reflect on what your culture is already beginning to be. What culture are you already building? Does it reflect the values you want to cultivate?
Second, culture comes a lot from the personality of the people, especially the early people. So ask yourself — am I surrounded by people I want to build this culture with? Are they displaying the kinds of behaviors we want institutionalized? If not, maybe you need to make some people changes now. It will be a lot easier in the long run.
Third, culture shapes behavior but behavior shapes culture as well. It's kind of like smiling; sure, you smile when you're happy, but sometimes the act of smiling can bring happiness to you. So not only should your culture already be shaping your accepted norms of behavior, but also are you consciously choosing to behave in ways that represent the kind of culture you want?
Alexander: What is your advice for established companies that want to refresh their culture?
Elissa: Refreshing your culture is not something you do a one-day workshop on, list some attributes you wish for, publish an email about that, and then think it's going to refresh. It's going to take deliberate evolution over a long period that starts with the truth about who you are. It's an overused word these days, but authenticity is critical.
I think a great example of a refreshed culture is Microsoft. It's an amazing company, but for a long time, it had a pretty tough culture. But Satya Nadella, an insider who became CEO, has transformed the culture over a multiyear journey.
Culture is reflected in your hiring. Deliberately hire for the culture you want.
So a lot of culture refreshing can be similar to early-stage culture building as discussed before. One way to think about it is through the people you're bringing in, especially the role models at the top.
Second to that is encouraging and recognizing the behaviors and norms you do want and honor them as examples to be emulated. Show people why those cultural behaviors are good.
And finally — maybe most importantly — pay attention to the folklore or cultural stories that get told and repeated. Social scientists tell us stories played at least two important functions for our ancient ancestors: to help people remember important information before we had written language and to help establish what's considered acceptable behavior in terms of social cooperation.
You need leadership with courage.
Alexander: That's great advice. I guess it also takes plenty of courage to perform a huge cultural shift as Satya Nadella did within Microsoft. Don't you think so?
Elissa: I'm glad you brought up courage. It's such an important part of everything we've been talking about. Because if you don't have the courage to be yourself, if you don't have the courage to change, if you don't have the courage to try again after failure, if you don't have the courage to make the first move, well, a whole lot of stuff is just never going to happen. You need leadership with courage.
Alexander:
