The Fall of WeWork’s Culture

Since WeWork plummeted last fall, many people are dissecting what went wrong with the business. I’ve been curious about something different: where the leadership and culture went off the rails.

I can’t think of a better person to ask than Dave Fano, WeWork’s former chief product officer and chief growth officer. Dave designed all of their spaces and spent four years as one of their top executives, overseeing all of real estate, design, construction, sales, and marketing.

In today’s bonus episode of WorkLife, I talk with Dave about the rewards and risks of charismatic leadership and bold visions, the differences between strong cultures and cults, and how a meteoric rise can come crashing down. This is his first time speaking publicly about WeWork’s collapse.

You can listen here and discuss below. Highlights:

Leaders should take care to preach what they already practice. Some of WeWork’s leaders claimed to be all about service, but engaged in self-dealing behavior. Mission-driven organizations are more vulnerable to hypocrisy: the higher your ideals, the greater the risk of falling short of them. As Dave says, “the world is becoming less tolerant of deviations of your actions from your words.”

Stretch goals can backfire. WeWork had specific, audacious targets for fundraising, as well as the number of new buildings to open and new members to enroll per month. Sometimes those kinds of moonshots are just the fuel we need. But they can also lead us to cut corners—especially if we’re about to fall just short of a goal. Sometimes our creative strategies for hitting bold targets stretch beyond the bounds of what’s ethical.

When you meet a charismatic leader, don’t forget to look behind the curtain. They may be inspiring people to pursue the wrong ends—or the wrong means. When I met WeWork’s CEO a few years ago, he told me they were selling culture. As an organizational psychologist, my first reaction was that they were leasing buildings and selling office space.

Strong cultures are a double-edged sword. WeWork had a strong culture of relentless, tenacious entrepreneurship coupled with togetherness and community. Passion around shared values can help with attracting, retaining, and motivating people—and with creating a sense of belonging. Yet it can also interfere with diversity of thought, fueling groupthink. The difference between a strong culture and a cult lies in whether people have the freedom to question and challenge the way things are done.

Leaders have a lasting impact on people’s careers. In a remarkably short span of time, WeWork went from an unknown startup to a celebrated unicorn to a place people were ashamed to have on their resumes and struggling to defend. “I was sad because a lot of my friends and people I really care deeply about were very directly affected by it,” Dave says. “When things get bad, do right by people… stand your ground for the things that matter to you.”

As WeWork was laying off thousands of people last fall, Dave stood his ground for something that mattered to him. He tweeted that he was willing to serve as a personal reference for anyone at the company.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

(1) How do you go about maintaining consistency between the values you preach and the behaviors you practice?

(2) When you set stretch goals, how do you make sure people pursue them ethically?

(3) What are your favorite steps for making sure a strong culture doesn’t squash dissent?

(4) Over the past two months, millions of people have lost their jobs. How can you help them get back on their feet?

Here's one idea: Dave’s new startup Teal has created a 6-week job search workshop, Career Assist. If you’re looking for a job, they’re giving away 1,000 free seats. Sign up here.

New episodes of WorkLife with Adam Grant come out every Tuesday this spring. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favorite podcast player.