The Reverse Mullet with Lance Haun

Welcome to a bonus episode of Punk Rock HR! In this special episode, my guest is Lance Haun, vice president of market insights at The Starr Conspiracy and one of my oldest friends.?

This episode comes from a webinar where we talked about an exciting concept — the reverse mullet. Lance describes a traditional mullet as “business up front, party in the back.” A reverse mullet is what happens when you prioritize the employee experience before everything else.??

This concept can be embraced by everyone, whether you work in human resources, marketing, sales, or hold positions such as an executive leader or a business owner. So if you are ready to learn how to grow into a reverse mullet and how it can impact social good, this episode is for you.

If you want to take a deeper dive into what a reverse mullet is, then check out my previous episode on the topic with The Starr Conspiracy’s Bret Starr .

Want to watch the entire webinar with me and Lance? Sign up now to watch the full webinar and conversation!

Punk Rock HR is proudly underwritten by The Starr Conspiracy. The Starr Conspiracy is a B2B marketing agency for innovative brands creating the future of workplace solutions. For more information, head over to thestarrconspiracy.com .

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What Is the Vision of Your Company?

Most businesses are structured with the business first, or in the front. Employees are somewhere in the back. That’s what you might call, as Lance does, a mullet approach.?

The reverse mullet turns that around and puts employee experience first — an approach that helps companies meet the needs of employees and get to where they ought to be. But to implement a reverse mullet in a traditional mullet organization, simply swinging around the mullet can be incongruent with your company’s values and operating structure, not to mention cause some whiplash.

This concept is a significant shift, so it’s best to grow into it. The first step, Lance says, is “having a really strong vision for what your organization is.”?

Lance adds, “If you think about what you want to do as an organization — not what you want to do as a CEO, what you want to do as an organization — I think having a strong vision there is super-helpful.” Having a strong vision helps greatly with the next step: communication.?

Switching to a reverse mullet isn’t about emphasizing productivity goals, or profitability. In all honesty, Lance says, employees don’t care about that stuff unless they are “a major institutional shareholder, or if I'm a CEO whose pay is dependent on those numbers.” Employees instead want to know how this change will improve their work experience.

“A lot of the things that we see people start with is just creating a communication plan that’s about talking about the ideal employee experience that leads to high productivity, for example.”

Democratizing the Workforce

Let’s say you flipped the mullet around, and now your organization wants to build a new structure, starting with communication. This isn’t something high-level executives can just build out by themselves. Many companies involve their employees in the new democratization of work. One way is by creating a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

DAOs can be defined as organizations that make decisions by consensus? and don’t reserve power for executives alone. Lance shares that there are many good things about this concept, including employee input and the consideration of “what sort of management tax do we want to put on our entire organization?”?

Through democratization, businesses can communicate with their workforce and understand how employees benefit from proposed changes. Lance says it’s about asking, “What kind of decision-making power do people want? What’s the important things? And what’s the non-important things?”

The Reverse Mullet for Social Good

Now, let’s pretend you’re working to build a new structure and a different culture at work. No company can single-handedly solve racism, sexism, and transphobia, But what leaders and companies can focus on are the things they can control.?

Starting smaller can be very effective, Lance shares. Maybe instead of saving the world, you work on saving pets. Or you try to create better employee experiences because it’s within your control.

“I think the best place to start is employees, enabling them, listening to them about the issues they care about and then supporting them,” he says. “I think, in really focused ways, rather than trying to just spread money everywhere, spread effort everywhere. I think finding some of those focused areas where you can make a difference.”?

Listen to customers, employees, partners, etc., to understand their current experiences and the experiences they hope to have. “I think there’s also a role here in thinking about how you use outsource partners, contractors, freelancers … because employees are going to see how you treat an outsource partner,” Lance says.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is an example. The Starr Conspiracy has partners and friends in the country. And while they can’t solve the biggest issues there, Lance says, they can still help take care of those people.

In short, embracing the reverse mullet means that, “for every organization, you’ve got an opportunity to make an impact on social good.” And for now, that is the best that we can do.

People in This Episode

• Lance Haun: LinkedIn , Twitter

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