We Are Family

The traditional way of running a company has been documented by people from Harvard Business School and many other reputable institutions. If you do it differently, you’re considered to be in uncharted territory. I’ve started to notice that the new approaches companies like GitHub are taking to running a business are influenced a lot by the way families and family businesses are run.

Becoming close with your coworkers and treating them like family helps foster innovation and creates an amazing culture where a variety of people can feel comfortable and enjoy themselves. Family members are honest with each other. Sometimes when someone criticizes you it can hurt, but when you know it’s backed with great respect and love, you use it to help you become better.

Having a great idea, creating useful products, and writing stellar code can be done by smart people. The difficult part is figuring out how to get tons of smart people to work well together. The social aspect is hard, but when you build a culture based on values that are important to a family, you’ll see the amazing things that can be done.

Slides

Video

Ruby Kaigi 2013