1. Version 2.5 04.21.13
Creating a company we love.*
*Phrase borrowed from HubSpot
CULTURE
CREDO
The Prestige Security
This presentation is adapted from a public document
created and presented by the company Hubspot
Thursday, June 20, 13

2. This is a required
internal curriculum
for all new hires
of any capacity.
Thursday, June 20, 13

3. WHATS CULTURE?
A set of common beliefs,
shared values and practices.
Thursday, June 20, 13

4. Why care about
culture?
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5. A great culture helps
attract great people.
Thursday, June 20, 13

6. Culture is to recruiting
as innovation is to marketing.
Customers are more easily attracted
to great innovation and marketing
Great people are more easily attracted
to great culture and vision
Shout out to Peter Drucker
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7. A great culture helps
people deliver
their best work.
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8. Whether we plan it or not
culture will happen.
CULTURE
HAPPENS.
Why not create a culture we love?
Culture eats strategy for
breakfast. Peter Drucker
Thursday, June 20, 13

9. Lets make the company we always
dreamed of. Lets create a company
that will be a great place to be from.
REED HASTINGS and PATTY MCCORD
NETFLIX.
Thursday, June 20, 13

10. Now, an observation...
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11. People have
dramatically
changed how they live
and how they work.
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12. Then Now.
Focus
Tenure
Need
Pension Purpose
Whole Career Whatever
Good Boss Great Colleagues
credit to DRiVE
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13. Despite this fundamental change...
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14. Most organizations operate as if
they are frozen in time.
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15. They operate as if money
is what matters most...
...and as if amazing people
are just happy to have a job.
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16. We’re different.
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17. We’re Prestige.
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18. We’re creating
a company we
love.
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19. This document is part
manifesto and part
employee handbook.
Its part who we are and
part who we want to be.
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20. Pursue something so
important that even if you
fail, the world is better off
with you having tried.
TIM O’RIELLY
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21. 1We are as focused
on our metrics as
on our mission.
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22. OUR MISSION is to SECURE
our communities, SMARTLY.
Daily we challenge the big behemoths
of the industry by recommitting to and
radically pursuing a more heroic vision.
more

23. on

24. this

25. later...
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26. OUR MISSION is to SECURE
our communities, SMARTLY.
To make secure is to create an experience
people love, an environment of safety that
produces peace-of-mind.
SECURE
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27. To make secure is to create an experience
people love, an environment of safety that
produces peace-of-mind.
YOU MUST CREATE
create
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28. We believe ours is
a noble cause.
We help businesses and
families protect their most
valuable assets.
1
We make offices and homes
“smart”, improving lifestyle
and propagating simplicity.
2
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29. We also reduce the burden placed on
local and state government by actively
growing a medical safety division for
the elderly nationwide.
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30. Our commitment to our mission has earned us
the love of many.
Our commitment to our metrics has earned us
the resources to further our mission.
We are passionate about both.
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31. Balancing this dual personality of mission and
metrics is challenging.
But it is also what makes us different.
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32. One way we balance these
two necessities is by having
a guiding goal that serves
our mission.
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33. Our guiding goal is delighting customers
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34. 2We obsess over our
customers.
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35. Have the courage to start with
the customer. My biggest
regrets are the moments that I
let a lack of data override my
intuition on what’s best for our
customers.
ANDREW MASON
Former CEO of GROUPON
in his departure email.
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36. FOR EVERY DECISION
WE SHOULD ASK
OURSELVES:
“Hey me, whats in it for the customers?
Will this delight them?”
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37. SFTC.
Solve For The Customer
Not just for their immediate happiness, but
for their long-term success.
We

38. often

39. have

40. to

41. remind

42. ourselves

43. of

44. this.
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45. WAIT. Does “Solve For The Customer”
mean just giving more away for free?
Wouldn’t that delight customers?
Because...
NO. To delight customers in the long-term,
we have to survive in the short-term.
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46. Bankrupt
companies
don’t delight
their customers.
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47. All other goals
should support
our guiding goal.
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48. We have a professional sales team.
Does hitting our sales goals
support our guiding goal?
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49. YES.
Having delighted customers requires
having customers.
We’re on the path towards our guiding goal as
long as we sell to customers that we
expect to delight.
This

50. is

51. the

52. key.

53. We

54. must

55. NEVER

56. sell

57. to

58. customers
we’re

59. not

60. justifiably

61. confident

62. we

63. can

64. delight.

65.
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66. WE LOVE TO TEACH.
We believe success comes from educating
customers, not exploiting them.
SO...
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67. 3We are radically and
uncomfortably
transparent.
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68. We are radically and uncomfortably transparent.
‣With our customers
‣With our teams
‣With the office
‣With ourselves
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69. The intent behind all this transparency is to
support smarter behavior and better decisions.
This empowers each of us and our customers.
It always “is what it is” - not just when convenient.
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70. 4We believe that our
teams are powerful,
so we empower.
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71. WE TRUST
OURSELVES.
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72. Just because somebody made a mistake
years ago doesn’t mean we need a policy.
WE DON’T PENALIZE THE MANY FOR THE
MISTAKES OF THE FEW.
We only protect against really big stuff.
Thursday, June 20, 13

73. We don’t have pages of
policies and procedures.
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74. USE
GOOD
JUDGEMENT.
Instead, we have a three-word policy on just
about everything:
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75. USE GOOD JUDGEMENT.
Customer Buy-Outs
False Alarm Fees
Replacing Equipment
Service Calls
Sick Days
Breaks
Reimbursements
Our policy on all of these (and most other things) is:
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76. WHATS GOOD JUDGEMENT?
1. Team Self
2. Company Team
3. Customer Company
Favor your team over yourself.
We’re

77. pretty

78. good

79. at

80. the

81. first

82. and

83. second

84. -

85.
but

86. the

87. third

88. is

89. tricky

90. sometimes.
Remember,

91. acting

92. in

93. our

94. customers’

95.
interest

96. is

97. in

98. our

99. long-term

100. interest

101. too.

102.
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103. Now, lets talk about when we work.
Generally...
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104. Results matter more than the hours we work.
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105. Results matter more than
how much vacation we take
We don’t have an official vacation policy
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106. We believe in being empowered to work
when and how we want.
Remarkable and consistent results are what
matter.
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107. But we also recognize that…
Creative magic happens when phenomenal people
consistently connect.
So, we trust our leaders to
use good judgement when guiding their teams.
And...
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108. ...we try hard to create a work environment
where we want to spend time.
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109. THEN.
Influence based on hierarchy
Command Control
INFLUENCE IS
INDEPENDENT OF
HIERARCHY.
NOW...
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110. We want direction on where
we are going….
not detailed directions
on how to get there.
Simon Sinek
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111. We don’t want just “managers”…
We want inspiring leaders.
Passionate coaches.
Tireless supporters.
Managers exist to help
individual stars
make magic.
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112. CEO, COO, PRESIDENT
VP of This, Manager of That.
Doesn’t matter what your
title is.
EVERYBODY DOES
REAL WORK AND
GETS THEIR
HANDS DIRTY
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113. Being powerful and empowered means
nothing if you don’t act.
DON’T OVER-THINK IT.
JUST DO IT. ACT. MOVE. MASSIVE ACTION.
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114. WITH THIS KIND OF TRANSPARENCY AND
TRUST, WE CAN’T TAKE CHANCES WHEN
HIRING.
SO...
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115. 5We are unreasonably
picky about our peers.
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116. You become the average of the five people
you hang out with most.
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117. What makes somebody a great fit for
Prestige?
What makes them awesome for us?
What does it mean to be PRESTIG-OUS?
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118. There are five (5) attributes
that we value in people.
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119. HUMBLE.
Modest, despite being awesome. Teachable.
WAIT. Doesn’t being humble mean lacking confidence?
NO.
The very best people are self-aware and self-critical -
not arrogant.
1
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120. When things go well, humble
people tend to share the credit.
When things go poorly, they tend to
shoulder the responsibility.
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121. EFFECTIVE.
Gets it done.
Measurably moves the needle. Immeasurably adds value.
EFFECTIVE PEOPLE ARE:
Predisposed to action. They just start doing.
They have a sense of ownership.
They’re resourceful and always looking for leverage.
2
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122. Effective people find ways to have their cake, and eat it too.
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123. ADAPTABLE.
Constantly changing.
Life-long learner.
3
WAIT. What about good people that just want stability
and predictability?
They may do good work, but they likely
won’t be happy here. Change is constant.
“PROGRESS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT CHANGE.”
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Thursday, June 20, 13

124. REMARK-ABLE.
Worthy of being remarked upon.
4
Has a superpower that makes them
stand out in some way.
Remarkably smart.
Remarkably creative.
Remarkably eloquent.
Remarkably kind.
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125. TRANSPARENT.
Open and honest with others and themselves.
5
“NO LEGACY IS SO RICH AS HONESTY.”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Thursday, June 20, 13

126. HUMBLE.
EFFECTIVE.
ADAPTABLE.
REMARK-ABLE.
TRANSPARENT.
WE WANT PEOPLE WITH HEART
Those who will
help us create a
company we
love.
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127. WE DON’T JUST
BELIEVE IN HEART,
WE BET ON IT.
We hire, reward and release
people based on the five attributes
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128. EXAMPLE 1.
If you’re closed, arrogant and stuck in your ways, it
doesn’t matter how effective you are or how much you
produce. Its not going to work out.
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129. EXAMPLE 2.
You can be remarkably smart, humble and open. But, if
you’re not effectively moving us forward, its not going to
work out.
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130. COMPROMISING ON CULTURE IS
MORTGAGING THE FUTURE.
Its reasonably to want to hire just for skills when
the need for help is painfully acute.
Its reasonable, but its also wrong.
The interest rate on culture debt is crushingly high.
Thursday, June 20, 13

131. Does this mean we only accept those that match
the five qualities perfectly?
NO. Confucius has good advice here...
Thursday, June 20, 13

132. BETTER a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.
Confucius
Thursday, June 20, 13

133. “We’re a team, not a family. We hire, develop and
cut smartly so we have stars in every position.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, so we didn’t.
Thursday, June 20, 13

134. Don’t just hire to delegate.
It’s tempting to bring people in that you
can push off work you don’t have time for.
Hire to elevate.
Bring people in that are better than you at
something an you can learn from.
Thursday, June 20, 13

135. We want to be as proud of
the people we build
as we are of
the company we build.
Thursday, June 20, 13

136. We compensate based on
fair market value.
It’s

137. hard

138. to

139. know

140. what

141. market

142. value

143. is.
We

144. think

145. of

146. it

147. as

148. VORP
(Value

149. over

150. replacement

151. Player).
Thursday, June 20, 13

152. THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO
PROGRESS AT PRESTIGE.
1. Gain mastery as an individual contributor
and make magic happen - produce.
2. Provide spectacular support to those who
are doing #1.
Thursday, June 20, 13

153. 6We defy conventional
“wisdom” because its
often unwise.
Thursday, June 20, 13

154. We’d rather be
failing frequently
than never
trying new things
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