• Drift Help Center
  • Partners
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • Leadership Team
    • About Us
    • DEI
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • About Us
    • Leadership Principles
    • About Us
    • Newsroom
drift logo
  • Product
    Everything starts with a conversation
    Drift Conversation Cloud

    A single platform for personalizing conversations at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

    Qualify and convert visitors
    Conversational Marketing
    Build quality pipeline
    Conversational Sales
    Deliver customer support
    Conversational Service
    powered by
    Integrations
     
    Conversational AI
     
    Reporting & Analytics
  • Use Cases
    • For Marketing
      • Generate High-Quality Leads
      • Power ABM Campaigns
      • Personalize Web Experiences
    • For Sales
      • Jumpstart Conversations
      • Improve Sales Efficiency
      • Engage Target Accounts
    • For Service
      • Automate Customer Support
    • By Industry
      • Financial Institutions
      • Manufacturing
      • Professional Services
      • Technology
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
    Learn
    Blog
    Books & Reports
    Events
    Webinars
    Podcasts
    Explore
    Test Drive Drift
    Live Demo
    Conversion Rate Calculator
  • Plans
  • Log In
  • Let's Chat
drift logo Let's Talk
  • Product
    • Product
    • Drift Conversation Cloud
      • Conversational Marketing
      • Conversational Sales
      • Conversational Service
      • powered by
      • Integrations
      • Conversational AI
      • Reporting & Analytics
  • Use Cases
    • Use Cases
    • For Marketing
      • For Marketing
      • Generate High-Quality Leads
      • For Marketing
      • Power ABM Campaigns
      • For Marketing
      • Personalize Web Experiences
    • Use Cases
    • For Sales
      • For Sales
      • Jumpstart Conversations
      • For Sales
      • Improve Sales Efficiency
      • For Sales
      • Engage Target Accounts
    • Use Cases
    • For Service
      • For Service
      • Automate Customer Support
    • Use Cases
    • By Industry
      • By Industry
      • Financial Institutions
      • By Industry
      • Manufacturing
      • By Industry
      • Professional Services
      • By Industry
      • Technology
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Learn
      • Blog
      • Books & Reports
      • Events
      • Webinars
      • Podcasts
    • Explore
      • Test Drive Drift
      • Live Demo
      • Conversion Rate Calculator
  • Plans
  • Log In
  • Let's Chat
  • Drift Help Center
  • Partners
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • Leadership Team
    • About Us
    • DEI
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • About Us
    • Leadership Principles
    • About Us
    • Newsroom
Log In

Build a company your team won’t want to leave

March 26, 2019
Like what you’re reading?

Stay connected and get The One Thing delivered straight to your inbox.

Subscribe

Thanks for reading along last week. I’m taking all of your suggestions to heart so keep sending your feedback. If you’re new here, thanks for signing up. Each week, I’ll share one thing that’s on my mind – a mental model, tool or habit to help you become a better leader, thinker, teammate, partner…

Here’s what’s on my mind this week:

Meritocracy

Wikipedia defines meriotracy as a political philosophy which holds that certain things, like economic goods or power, should be vested in individuals on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than factors like sexuality, race, gender, or wealth. Advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement.

I’ve worked hard over my career to build companies and teams where everyone feels like they have a fair shot at success. But it’s not easy. Creating a company where your team members actually feel fulfilled and respected is much harder than delivering a great product, building incredible customer support or even growing revenue month after month, year after year.

And for the bulk of us, data shows we’re not getting any happier. A Conference Board study points out that in the mid-1980s, roughly 61% of workers told pollsters they were satisfied with their jobs. Since then, that number has declined substantially, hovering around half. We reached a low point in 2010 with just 43% of workers reporting they were satisfied. For most of us, we’re just not allowed or incentivized to be our best selves at work.

I’ve found the best way to unlock the best in every single team member – to truly get them to achieve mastery and unleash their full potential – is by ensuring that the organization is run as a meritocracy. And to do that, promotions and advancement should be based on the following three factors:

  1. Loyalty: Are team members committed to the success of your customers and company overall? Will they put those interests ahead of their own?
  1. Harmony: Do they treat everyone around them with dignity and respect? Do they make their teams better, do they make your company better, are they a positive amplifier on the team?
  1. Results: Are they in the top decile of performers consistently year over year?

Creating a true meritocracy is about allowing top performers to fulfill their potential and unlock a high level of personal achievement and satisfaction at work. Being a top performer in a meritocracy means you’re able to take on new roles and adventures that wouldn’t otherwise be available in a traditional environment. (And some of this added responsibility of course also comes with higher compensation, equity or ownership). And when things aren’t moving in the right direction, meritocracy means coaching and, if necessary, removing employees, especially at the management level, who are negatively impacting your company’s performance.

This isn’t a new concept. And once you truly embrace it, it’s relatively straightforward to implement. Entrepreneurs like Ray Dalio and Mark Leonard have been talking about it for years. Leonard, CEO of Constellation Software (current market cap: $20+ billion), even remarked on the concept in a recent letter to shareholders:

I want to support and encourage employees who work hard, treat others well, continuously learn, and share best practices. I try to make sure that sycophants, spin-doctors, and mercenaries don’t survive in Constellation’s senior ranks. Harder, but not impossible, is helping identify and remove hidebound managers who rely upon habit and folklore to run their businesses rather than rational enquiry and experimentation.

As Leonard explained, in order for a meritocracy to work, the following types of employees cannot be tolerated:

  • Sycophants: People who go along with everything you say in an attempt to get ahead
  • Spin-doctors: People who lie to make themselves look good in an attempt to get ahead
  • Mercenaries: People without loyalty to your company who will do anything to get ahead

Here’s Ray Dalio’s take on how to create a company where the best ideas win:

Ray Dalio

How are you working to create meritocracies within your own businesses, teams and relationships?

– DC

PS Know someone who’d want to get this email? You can share it out on LinkedIn or Twitter or point them to drift.com/dc to sign up.

Get The One Thing

Habits, mental models and tools from Drift's CEO and our favorite role models delivered right to your inbox every single week.
Sign me up
drift logo
  • Product
    • Platform
    • Conversation Cloud
    • Conversational Marketing
    • Conversational Sales
    • Conversational Service
    • Conversational AI
    • Integrations
  • Learn
    • Resources
    • Blog
    • Drift Insider+
    • Conversion Calculator
    • Case Studies
  • Support
    • Drift Help Center
    • Partners
    • Professional Services
    • Security & Compliance
    • Contact Us
  • About Drift
    • About Us
    • Diversity Equity Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Leadership Team
    • Newsroom
    • Brand Assets
    • Drift Store
  • Get Drift
    • Pricing
    • Test Drive Drift
    • Drift for Startups
    • Mobile App
    • Video Mobile App
    • Drift for Chrome
    • Get a Demo
Terms Privacy Policy Drift Status Sitemap © Copyright 2023 Drift.com, Inc.