Guy Reams (00:00.846)
Today is day 182, the company does not make the list. A while back ago, I was at an executive retreat for a large company and we'd all gathered together to have, do what you do at an executive retreat, talk about the company and our values and our goals and what we wanna change and things to improve, that sort of thing.
At this particular retreat, we had an exercise, which I think was generally meaningful. I mean, the exercise was good. We got around and gathered and decided we'd take a look at listed of all of our values in the company, and then we each voted on improvements we might be able to make. So we broke up into little subgroups and we wrote new ideas on how we could implement or change the values. So everybody had written some ideas and put Post-it notes up on this white board.
And then we got to go around and vote for them. Well, I was shocked that one of the votes, one of the ideas that got the most votes was the idea that we needed to require, not require, but encourage or ask employees to put the company first in their lives. And this one got the most votes. And I was like, I was like taken aback by that. I was like, what? So,
And I kind of whispered in my stage voice, the company does not even make it on my priority list. Like the company isn't on my list. I think some people like nodded, like I was right. But there were a few people that were like astonished or shocked that I would say such an audacious statement. And that took me back a little bit. I think how could people, I mean, these are all well-meaning, well-intended people. I thought, how could we be so,
not aligned on this topic. They legitimately believe that people should put the company first and all of their personal priorities second. Or this is what they were saying. I don't know if they actually meant it. I mean, I still can't believe it, but I think that maybe they hadn't thought it through. But I mean, the idea of putting the company's values or the company's ambitions ahead of a person's ambitions to me,
Guy Reams (02:20.862)
was just not even in the realm of reason. Now it may be because I was raised in a culture that was very individualistic, very kind of a rugged individualism maybe. So I could maybe see that somebody was raised in a culture that was not that way, that being part of an organization was a value in and of itself. But that was definitely not my opinion. So we had an interesting debate about this.
For the most part, there were some people that agreed with me, but for the most part, my idea was dismissed. When I got to think about it, and I didn't really say this very well at the time because I didn't really think it through, but I just don't think we have a place as a company to ask our employees to put the company first in their lives. I think people show up for a job.
for one primary reason, and there may be secondary reasons, but the primary reason an employee shows up to a job is to get compensation. And they use that compensation to then do the things they need to do or want to do in their lives, right? So they're trading their time for compensation so they can go get what they want done in life. So I think this idea that we can ask people to put the company first ahead of any of their personal ambitions is just ridiculous.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. Now, as I've had time to digest this idea, I've come to the conclusion that what we should really be doing at a company is aligning it so to where if a person works, if a person commits their time and energy to the company, they will at the same time accomplish their own personal ambition. If you can get harmony or alignment with a person's own ambitions and the company ambitions,
That alignment creates a synergy that's really hard to match with any compensation. That synergy of alignment on purpose is something that is probably very hard to obtain. But if you can obtain that, you've got the perfect employee-employer relationship. So I think it's better to work on aligning goals. You won't get to be perfect because ultimately people are going to have their own needs and desires and those won't always align.
Guy Reams (04:40.918)
But when they do, that's when real magic occurs. Now, we can go ahead and pretend if we want to. We can pretend that people show up to a company and that they are really a team player and they want to put the company first. We can pretend that all day long. But in reality, that's not the case in most situations. Now, sometimes you can offer a non-compensation thing that employee will really gain value out of, such as some people really like to be in the limelight or to have a
affirmation or public acknowledgement, you can give them opportunities to speak or something like that, or perhaps you can give them an opportunity to learn more or to gain experience that they don't have today. So there can be some things you can give an employee that can really help them achieve their ambitions that may not be compensation. But generally, compensation is the big one.
So I know in my life, now if I was the founder, and I have been the founder of a company and I own company, but I guess if you were the owner or the founder or a significant shareholder, this relationship between company values and personal values may change a bit. But for the most time, if a company's asking you to put the company first above your family or your god or your whatever, then I think the price tag should be really, really steep.
I mean, looking at my family this morning, what we've got going on in our lives, what our dreams and goals are, the price tag will be indeed very high. So I'm going to give my time and energy and passion to a company at the same level that I feel is commiserate with the compensation that I'm receiving. And I'm just being honest about that. I think most people, that is what they think, even though you don't want to publicly say it.
So I propose let's stop pretending and get back to negotiating compensation for time because it's ultimately what employment is, right? Or I think it is. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just an outlier here and I'm wrong. But I think this is a formula we can all agree to because certainly I am not on board with trading a company's value statement for my own personal value. Thank you.