TACOS and Tech

Recently I decided to take a chance and make a big change. I accepted a job with a growing tech company and left the confines of a job, industry, and city with which I had become very comfortable. The change was tough. After leaving sunny San Diego, I drove 20 hours over two days to make it to Dallas just in time to start work the next day. Following a few days of getting acquainted with the Dallas office, it was off to Provo, Utah for a cold and challenging two-week onboarding where I spent my days drinking from the proverbial fire hose and learning everything from the company background and culture to buying personas. From the moment I set foot inside our company HQ in Utah, I felt this would be a big cultural shift. I was immediately greeted by an ultra-modern office layout, fully equipped with a basketball court in the lobby, free food and beverage stations throughout, and an amazing view of the mountains near Provo.

Needless to say, I was a long way from home and my San Diego days of board shorts and burritos were in the rear-view mirror. Speaking of burritos, one thing that I immediately noticed were the company’s core values known as T.A.C.O.S. I’m a big fan of tacos (the edible variety of course) and after spending some time in Mexico last year, anytime someone mentioned the word “tacos” I thought of al pastor, carne asada, and barbacoa. That said, these were a different kind of “tacos.” These “T.A.C.O.S.” stood for Transparent, All-In, Customer-Obsessed, One Team, and Scrappy. After giving it more thought, I realized that many of these values were actually very much in line with the Marine Corps’ leadership principles that I had become familiar with over the years. Specifically, keep your Marines informed, set the example, know your Marines and look out for their welfare, and train your Marines as a team. As far as the scrappy one is concerned, I think that’s kind of implied for the Marine Corps. 

It’s an interesting comparison but once you learn more about Qualtrics, it makes sense. The company was started in a Utah basement and boot-strapped from day one. From what I gathered, those days seemed like some pretty lean times. The software platform was mainly being utilized by academic institutions and while the company was obviously growing, the “scrappy” mentality seemed like it took root right away out of necessity. During training I remember someone asking if we could hand carry some swag (t-shirts and water bottles) back to our home offices so we could save on shipping costs and “be scrappy.” For some reason it made me think about this time when I noticed one of my Marines with a can of Copenhagen taped between two M-16 magazines (one inserted in the weapon). Upon further inspection, I realized that this was meant to make for a quicker reload (once the inserted mag was expended, he’d just switch to the one taped to the other side of the dip can). While not exactly per the training manual, you could argue that this kind of “scrappy” mentality can make a big difference.

In my opinion, all of this “scrappy-ness” really translates to one thing - ownership. When you have a team that’s personally invested in the mission, they’re more apt to internalize it, make it their own, take the initiative, and be scrappy. Seems like a pretty simple concept but it’s easier said than done. The challenge that I see a lot businesses having today is how to really get that buy-in with their workforce. How do you create a team that is really and truly obsessed with dominating their industry? I remember seeing a Gary V video that featured a business owner who had mentioned that it was tough to find people who really cared as much as he did. Gary told the owner to give the employees equity in the business and maybe they’d care as much as him. It certainly seems like a potential solution, but is there any other way?

I once had a mentor who talked about leadership as clearly defining the mission, giving your team the tools they need to be successful, giving them ownership, and showing people that you truly care about them and their families. It feels like maybe the business world has lost sight of this over time. That said, the growing war for talent is bringing it back into focus. With more jobs than qualified people to fill them, it’s a candidate market and employers are feeling the pressure. The simple answer is that in order to really develop teams that are obsessed and all-in, you have to listen and build trust.

Nowadays we actually have a whole business category dedicated to this topic. It’s called Employee Experience and it asks the question - how do we turn employees into ambassadors? With the help of Qualtrics, employers are able to quickly understand workforce sentiments, determine key drivers of those sentiments, and quickly take actions that result in better overall employee buy-in and engagement. In a world where one experience or tweet can send a stock price on a roller coaster ride, Qualtrics is a tool that can help to level the playing field, add stability, and give employers an opportunity to win the war for talent.