I fit in with people like Seth Godin. Seth and I both grew up in suburban Buffalo, New York USA. Even though I have never met Godin in person, when I read his work and listen to his podcasts, I feel like I know him. Western New York is a tight knit community of hard working, proud, passionate people. Niagara Falls is 25 minutes away, and Toronto 90 minutes from the Buffalo-Canada border.
Recently, I was thinking about Godin’s definition of tribe and culture fit being “people like us doing things like this.” No matter where you run into Western New Yorkers, we all have that common bond of being from “Buffalo” as we call it even if we were not technically residents of the City proper. I live in Sydney, Australia. I don’t run into many Buffalonians here, but if I do, I know we will have that cultural bond.
People like us live in the rust belt along Lake Erie. We as a community suffered the loss of so many jobs when Bethlehem Steel closed. We rebuilt for 30 years till recently when Canalside signaled a new era has started.
We do things like this. We all have grit from living through the rugged winters and are truly a “city of good neighbors.” We all love the ethnic food culture of our hometown, and retain bragging rights to the home of what we simply call “wings,” even though the rest of the world calls them Buffalo Wings. The Bills and Sabres are our sports teams. This kind of tribalism is the glue that bonds organisations together.
When HR leaders began emphasising the importance of candidates being “a good fit,” about ten years ago, I reflected and realised I have always been a person for whom fit was important. I did well in companies where I fit, left those where I did not, and only hired candidates who were people like us who did things like us.
Today, when I am meeting potential new team members, I tell them up front that we want to find out if you are right for us, and we are right for you.
For me, people like us are driven by a team view of culture, and not by power and turf. We are entrepreneurial even as a large family-owned business that can easily be “corporate.” We are focused on getting things done by commitment, courage, capability, and confidence. We make ourselves accountable in our daily huddle and weekly meeting. We do things such as involve everyone in the company in having a voice that we listen to when we are grinding out strategy, objectives, and key results planning. We treat our employees like we want them to treat our customers. We want to be the best place to work, and best customer experience in our industry. As an executive leader, I truly care about everyone, and believe profit sharing is the best way to unite us as all in this together.
How about you? What do your people look like? What do your people do? What makes you unique and different? Is your company built with people who fit, or are there a lot of competing values, missions, and visions tearing you apart? The peak of your potential is impacted by where you fit, and working with people like you that do things like this. Great idea Seth Godin.
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In July 2018, Kevin Baker became General Manager of Operations (COO in America) for his consulting client Hardware and General Supplies Limited, a 58 year-old building supply and hardware retailer with 28 stores and ranked the Australian Financial Review’s 381st largest private company in Australia. His consulting company now focuses on blogging, podcasting, speaking, writing books, a monthly consulting group of select business executives, and limited management consulting outside the building industry.