All you can do is Everything you can do...

The tech industry, more specifically the AI space, has been thrust into the spotlight once again.  Companies are being held accountable for making short-term decisions that make a long-standing impact… and it’s about time.

The companies that push their “ghost workers” or “crowd” to standardize their annotated data that drives down cost and increases speed of delivery finally being exposed on causing irreversible damage on influencing bias in algorithms in favor of profits. The same companies have recently been exposed for other unethical practices such as asking the same “ghost workers” to describe their skin tone in the job application process, thinking that by weeding out certain applicants because of their skin color will help in ensuring they’re not biased in their annotation.

Why have these practices even existed in the first place? I think it can be explained by the mantras that dominate the tech industry itself. We’re taught to “move fast and break things” and while that is great for innovation, translating this into business decisions doesn’t always equate to doing what’s right for society.

You don’t need to be the CEO to have your company's values guide you to the right decision in difficult situations. The importance that values have as an organization is not simply to attract talent to work for you or inspire people to work harder but rather to guide employees and businesses themselves when facing difficult decisions. These decisions aren’t just what guide leaders of organizations but ones that individuals are facing every day in their work life.

Short Term Sacrifice, Long Term Impact

While AI is pioneering the future, businesses have long faced difficult decisions, as doing the right thing for society can often come at a sacrifice to profits. There are inspirational examples of businesses that were faced with making difficult business decisions that ended up being good for society. In hindsight these decisions seem like a no-brainer but in the moment, they were certainly anything but simple as they were bad for business.

One example of this came in 1982 when Johnson & Johnson’s worst nightmare became a reality. Seven people died in Chicago after taking Extra Strength Tylenol, their best selling product, that was laced with cyanide through tampering. Most predicted that Tylenol would never recover from the sabotage, yet it became a hero moment for the company. The decision as to what to do was placed on the company’s chairman, James Burke, who quickly decided to pull the product from not just the shelves of the Chicago stores where the tampering occurred but the entire product line of 31 million bottles. Those Tylenol capsules that were pulled were replaced with another product in the safer tablet form free of charge. At this time, recalling products was unheard of and this one cost J&J more than $100M and a few years later another $25M with the relaunch of safer Tylenol non-tampering bottles.

The move turned out to be the right one. The stock was teetering in the short term during the recall but quickly steadied and recovered two months later to record highs. The stock has paid out investors in dividends ever since. The interesting part of this entire story was when faced with this difficult decision, James Burke was calm and steady in his decision making. When asked how Burke seemed so in control of the decision at the time, he simply stated that the J&J Credo provided his guiding light.

The Credo, which is nearly 350 words, lays out the guiding light in the first sentence: “We believe our first responsibility is to the patients, doctors and nurses, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services”.

When faced with difficult moments, the values of the company provide the lighthouse to where to steer the ship.

Saving the Soul of AI

The long road isn’t often celebrated in tech, where you’re constantly pushed for instant ROI without a discussion of downstream consequences. But these are exactly the discussions we should be having, especially in AI. We’re finally beginning to hear the world’s best brands begin to detach themselves from the AI tools that source from the “crowd”, but frankly, it’s long past due and the voices aren’t loud enough to make a significant difference.

From my conversations with Data Scientists, they overwhelmingly believe that ethics, fairness and bias in AI are real problems that can be solved today before we go down an irreversible path. There are brilliant researchers who often root against the success of their own research until they’re confident that businesses will make the right decisions. This harkens back to 1941, where researchers retracted papers they submitted to Physical Review on plutonium, holding them until the end of World War II. Do we have to wait for AI’s Hiroshima moment or can we take pre-emptive steps?

There are many facets of doing the right thing in AI, but regardless of industry, it starts with the data supply chain: from data sourcing, to data annotation to data enrichment and management. AI is not yet fully regulated and doing this rigorous work can be hard and go unnoticed. Still, the regulation of artificial intelligence is coming. The short cuts businesses tmake when deciding how their AI supply chain is sourced will catch up to and cost more in the long run, and rightfully so. To pre-empt businesses from making the wrong decision in these moments we need to continually force the conversation, demand that innovation does not have to come at the detriment to humanity and have consequences for those that are not centered on this.

Why I Work at Sama

One of the many reasons why I chose to work at Sama, one of the only B-Corp certified companies in AI, is the strong foundation built on integrity, humanity and the importance of diversity at all levels. These values have guided us through many difficult times, helping us ensure we do the right thing whether that’s taking care of our data labelers during COVID-19 times, or how we approach building the world’s most trusted human in the loop annotation tool that leverages the diversity of our labelers. We’re constantly tested as a business and while it’s tempting to take the short cut it’s typically true that the right thing to do is to stand by our core values regardless of the cost.

At Sama, we believe the right decision for your data supply chain should start with partnering with companies that have a technology-enabled impact story that increases economic opportunity in underserved communities rather than crunches it through margin. To keep us honest, there was a randomized controlled trial through MIT researchers over 3 years, to measure exactly that: Whether a flourishing business can also deliver significant, measurable impact and stand for ethics in AI.

I work at Sama to continually be a part of something bigger that creates growth the right way, because doing the right thing should always be celebrated over short-term, ruthless business decisions. You can be a part of saving AI’s soul and still run an amazing tech business.

Today marks a milestone for a lot of business leaders and professionals out there. This is the end of the month, your quarter and the first half of 2020 in the bag.

At the end of today, look back and reflect on everything you've done this year. Whether you hit your targets, took on new projects, landed a job or laid off from a job, it's healthy to reflect on the fight you went through. You've been tested. You've questioned your strengths. Your outlook on race in world has been influenced. You’ve been scared for your family and friends. The uncertainly as to what's ahead has proven to be quite cloudy and that can be rattling. Despite all of this, you've pushed through and survived. You've turned challenges into opportunities and become more aware of the issues surrounding you.

Now the question really becomes whether you've made a difference, become stronger, led others through the uncertainty and picked them up, helped them through the same mess to see a world in a new light. Success during the next 6 months will look differently than the last 6. The next 6 months will be about how you are even stronger than the last 6 months. It’s no longer just about surviving but turning the world around to be better than it was entering 2020. You may think that your voice is small, but the world needs leadership right now in every corner of life. This adds up to make a compound difference. 

To get this all started, take a few minutes and recognize those who helped you, fought by your side and thank them. Thank your family / friends for being there when it mattered most and kept their confidence in you through everything. 

Thanking them publicly is even more impactful so I’d love to start. I’m not going to include why I’m thanking them, I just want them to know that they made a difference. Carolyn Betts, Sam Jacobs, Sonny McCall, Brooke Motta, Nate Gentner,  Kris Taylor, Chris Monberg, Katrina Wong, David Yandel, Jeff Gore, Mehul Patel, Ed Schafer, Jeff Torbeck, Ronny Criss, Andy Madden. 

One exception on not including reasons is my wife, Julie Yandel. Who’s been my lighthouse and will continue to be my partner in navigating the world in front of us, whether it’s through a storm or sunny weather, we got this. 

In sales, there’s this promise of the secret list. The one made of gold. The destination is so alluring for the sales person. The list that is filled with buyers who are ready to answer an email with “hell yes!” and pick up the phone ready to see your product with pockets full of money. Best of all? They’re the decision maker and don’t need any buy in from other parties. I have the map that can lead you to this destination. 

The map is nowhere. Neither is the destination. Every sales person will always complain about lead quality, it’s natural. However, those that come around to the fact that the “gold in them thar leads” is the journey itself, are the ones who separate from the pack to become great. When getting a fresh batch of leads, whether you’re an Enterprise AE being handed a lead from your SDR, or whether you are an SDR getting a batch of leads from your RevOps person, here are some good reminders to get you going: 

Look at your leads with the intent to screen in, not screen out. Spend the extra time to “connect the dots”. 

Look at the company, not just the user and ask whether or not the company could use your solution and what the user may stand to benefit from passing you on internally. 

Turn a loss (”no” on an email or call) into a potential win by asking the extra question on how you can help the prospect in other ways than selling them something. Maybe it’s an introduction to someone in your network that could help, or a recommendation on where they can take their kids hiking this weekend. Always look to add value. 

Research the user, not just the company. Find common connectors within your organization as well as your network to “connect the dots” on making the introduction warm. 

Research the company, not just the user. Find connective value to other companies within a similar industry. Is there a trend happening in this industry that you can spot early to “connect the dots” and create a compound effect in sourcing. 

I was interviewed a few weeks before Covid-19 became a pandemic. The topic was “Keep you Hiring Funnel Overflowing in 2020 & Beyond” and I broke up a few of the major themes from the podcast into separate posts to elaborate even more. What I’m trying to center on is whether, in the matter of only a month, the content aged poorly in a matter of 45 days. More importantly, do the themes apply to today's current landscape. Let’s take a look at some of the themes and see how many (if at all) apply to the current Covid-19 world.

Why a Network First Mindset Always Wins

This theme focused on how you should always seek to be of value to your network. With time and consistency, your network will start to do the same in return. In the podcast, the concept focused on ensuring you find appropriate connections of value within your network at all times so that you make new connections in return that will help you get introduced to the right candidates.

How this applies to the current Covid-19 World:

If there’s one thing to focus on right now it is just this concept. Ensuring everyone within your inner network is met with an opportunity for you to present value is more crucial than ever before. I’ve seen countless people extend themselves and their business offerings in this time of need without any reciprocity. I’ve also seen the opposite, where some people are seeking to take advantage of the current state and promote their needs without offering much in return.

If there’s any silver lining to this pandemic it’s shown how much closer we can become while we become further, physically, apart. Going through the same chaos has, in turn, brought us closer together and truly shown the human spirit is resilient. It’s also shown the need to be connected to one another and how a network-first mindset is really the only appropriate one in light of everything that’s going on.

‘CALL TO ACTIONS’ SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

This theme focused on how a company’s brand is truly important in attracting the right people. When you pop on a website and you’re inundated with demo requests, pop-ups, forms to fill out and screen takeovers before you can actually consume the content or what the company is about, you’re hit over the head with a “used car lot” experience. It says that before presenting you with anything, you’re asked to jump into their sales funnel to make a purchasing decision.

How this applies to the current Covid-19 World:

Who you are as a business and what you value is on full blast right now. Companies pivoting their business models to respond to the current pandemic shows everyone what your values truly are. There are other businesses that are forced to make tough decisions like lay-offs and furloughs, which puts even more people in difficult situations. The important point here is not what you have to do but how you do it. It matters if you make your employees feel like humans and not numbers as you lay them off, take the time to understand that this time will pass and when it does, your actions as a company will come to light. I’m not saying that companies are inherently evil if they have to lay people off, I understand that this is the reality of the world today, but if you treat your people like they’re expendable and without heart, this will certainly bite back when you need them again.

WHY DEPENDING ON THE REFERRAL WAGON WHEEL IS DANGEROUS

This theme focused on two things:

How depending on referrals does not equal to a diverse and multifaceted team.

Look for potential in your candidates rather than if they’ve done the same thing in the past.

Diversity is incredibly valuable in understanding different ways to tackle problems. Any team that has their identity firmly rooted in many perspectives will outperform those with only a few. Don’t just focus on race and gender but also personality types as well. The other added benefit is that a diverse culture will offer multiple perspectives and end up improving every team member’s growth both personally and professionally. This creates a loyal team that bands together through good times and tough ones.

Hiring for potential over experience is a personal mantra of mine. It’s harder on the interviewer to look for signs of potential outcomes than actual outcomes but I’m telling you, this pays off in the long haul. I’m not saying hire an entry-level salesperson to take on an Enterprise AE role, but I am saying that don’t limit yourself as a hiring authority that focuses on industry, role, and experience exclusively for your hire. As an example, if you’re looking for an Enterprise AE in MarTech, try opening up the search to candidates that come from a different, but similar industry with experience as an Enterprise AE. The reason is simple, if you give someone a chance, they will outperform your safe decisions and if you only stick with safe decisions your competition will lap you.

How this applies to the current Covid-19 World:

Look, there are more candidates on the market today than there were when I did this podcast and surely, many of them have some incredible experience to do the job. In this time they will perform, but I question how long they will be interested in doing the same thing they’ve been doing for years when the economy bounces back and more options start to resurface.

Final thoughts:

I was unsure of the outcome of the exercise when I started this post, but in writing this, it becomes obvious that staying true to your principles can guide you through the toughest of times. Your values are your compass when it seems you're lost in a dark forest without a glimmer of light showing you the way out. How do we get through this together? Stay connected, focused on improving yourself as well as others and solidify your brand in the process. We’re in a moment of time but how you act during this time will define you when we get through it.

From the podcast on Sales Engagement

Seeking out the best salespeople means you never stop hunting. It also means you need to turn to your network and ask people who you should be speaking to.

Everyone reading this probably already knows the power of leveraging their network. Maybe it’s how you got your job, met your spouse or just scored a reservation at that cool, exclusive restaurant you always wanted to try.

But if you want to call upon your network to maintain a steady stream of talent, you need to make sure you are also maintaining your network for the long-term.

Instead of asking what your network can do for you, ask what you can do for your network. Kennedy said that… sort of.

So, while you should definitely be asking people who you should sit down with, you should find people to sit with them, too.

Maybe you find a great candidate who isn’t a fit for your organization but would excel elsewhere. Maybe you aren’t hiring right now. You will still need help someday and reciprocity is a powerful thing.

Even if it doesn’t get you that perfect new hire the next time you need one, you’ll still be doing a good thing.

Checking out what a company does from their website can be a major chore. First of all, sorting through all of the buzz words, demo request pop-ups and screen takeovers is incredibly off-putting. It’s the digital barrage that overwhelms the person looking at the site to find out if what you do is attractive to them to learn more. Whether that’s someone buying your product or looking to potentially work for your company, the “buy, buy, buy” call to actions show what your company values more than the “values” section on your website. 

Websites stuffed with buzzwords about machine learning and riddled with annoying pop-ups offering demos aren’t just failing to convey values, they’re failing to present value to the buyer.

If the buyer doesn’t see value in the company, why would a potential employee?

The other problem with too many buzzwords or convoluted value propositions is they might just confuse the customer — and potential employees — as to what you even do.

A good rule of thumb: If you can’t explain what your company does to your grandparents and have them understand, then chances are, you’ve already lost most of your web visitors.

The value you offer should be so clear anyone hearing it gets it — whether they’re in the industry or not.

Why Values Matter

If you aren’t attracting the right kind of talent, maybe you’re sending the wrong message about who you are or what your business stands for. Worse yet, you may not be communicating any values at all.

A mission-driven organization will attract more, higher-quality candidates.

But all too often, a company’s website is more focused on how cool their product is instead of their brand.

If you focus on who you are as a company and include the product or service along the way, you kill two birds with one stone. The world sees both your values and the value you offer.

This post was influenced by the Sales Engagement Podcast with Scott Barker, where I was a guest speaker. I spoke about the above topic as well as others, check it out!

In the end, if your company lives and breathes a great set of values, it doesn’t just attract the best talent, it keeps the awesome talent it already has.

I’ve been in the audience at a sales tech conference plenty of times, where the topic springs up on how to hire salespeople effectively to match the scale of a growing company. It’s tough, which is why so many sales leaders struggle to keep up with the blistering pace of a successful, growing company. The answer I tend to hear a lot lately on this topic is only hiring referral candidates from your existing sales team and while it’s definitely one successful channel, it’s a slippery slope that potentially leaves you with a very one-dimensional sales team.

The quickest path to a homogenized frat-culture on a team is to only use internal references. They’ll bring in clones of themselves, who in turn will bring in more clones and perpetuate the cycle.

This post was influenced by the Sales Engagement Podcast with Scott Barker, where I was a guest speaker. I spoke about the above topic as well as others, check it out! 

While an army of clones could be good for a sci-fi supervillain, it makes a sales team pretty off-putting for anyone who doesn’t see themselves in the type of clique you’ve created. Think about how many times you get exposed to other points of views, different ways to solve problems, unique angles that make one person successful at sales that you have never thought of and as a sales leader, if you’re not building a culture that has diversity in thought and background, you’re missing massive opportunities to grow yourself as well as your people. 

What should you do instead? Keep a Network-First Mentality as the prominent way to keep your funnel constantly full. 

Including diverse viewpoints is important. It’s how you fill any gaps your team might have in skill, knowledge or ability.

Look out for Potential in People

Maybe you have a different problem. You are bringing in great candidates, but they become not-so-great employees.

In that case, your hiring process needs to improve.

A common hiring trap people fall into is thinking every new hire needs a strong background in a particular market. If you sell a healthcare product, you need to have salespeople that have healthcare experience; if you need an Enterprise AE in Marketing Technology, then you need to recruit an Enterprise AE from a different Marketing Technology company. Huh? 

If you only try to hire people who have decades of experience doing the exact same thing you’re doing, they might be stuck in their ways and less able to adapt. Why would you leave a company to only to the exact same thing as you were doing at the other company? That may certainly be true in massive Enterprise Software Sales where the AE can make over $1M / yr, it’s not the common formula for the majority of tech companies out there. 

In reality, candidates with diverse sales backgrounds often end up working harder and with more passion than candidates seasoned in your market, who usually have less to prove.

And new hires aren’t showing up with a full Rolodex these days. It sounds much better than what transpires in reality. 

A rigid focus on a particular type of background can backfire in other ways, too.

Someone who isn’t perfect, but demonstrates potential is always preferable to someone who seems to already know everything. Chances are, they don’t. And when it comes time to teach them, they might not be able to learn new tricks.

Want something actionable you can use to discover a candidate’s potential?

Instead of asking them to do some tedious mock presentation, try running them through a scenario where you present them with a scene, an obstacle, and then role-play the solution with them. Give them feedback on their performance, then repeat the process with a different, similar, scenario.

How did they adjust to your feedback?

Sometimes, the best candidate isn’t the one who has already learned everything, it’s the one who can learn anything.

As with anything, the secret to recruiting is to always look to improve your own hiring process, your own recruiting funnel and most importantly, yourself. 

A few weeks ago, a former colleague of mine, Mike Petrosyan reached out to me and asked to tell my story (thus far) in sales. Sales people aren't born, they're made through constant practice, discipline and drive to master your craft.

Mike and I worked together 12+ years ago, during the recession and very challenging times. The sales environment those days were very different than today but kudos to Mike for staying in touch and working on his own journey. You have to have the "Why" to keep growing as a professional, everyone's path is unique. Here's a sneak peak of mine:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/815311/2540695-spp002-tim-yandel

Bonus: I use the word “Lame Sauce” at some point.

Bonus 2: The book I was thinking about is “Sway” (https://www.amazon.com/Sway-Irresistible-Pull-Irrational-Behavior-ebook/dp/B0013TTK1W) 

I used to love the hustle rally cry, dearly, but I can’t take any more odes to “the hustle” anymore. Because it’s hollow and without any depth or purpose. 

For most of my career, I chose to interpret “the hustle” as a way for those with very little to outsmart those with a lot through clever steps and genuinely outwork the competition. Finding leverage where you had none. Beating out the more experienced person that may be more talented but lacks hunger. Doing things that weren’t supposed to scale or even work, and making it happen. Grit to succeed above all else. 

Yet while my original interpretation was once connected to the term, I can no longer pretend that it is. The hustle has become synonymous with the grind. Pushing through pain and exhaustion in the chase of a bigger carrot but never appreciating the last carrot. Sacrificing the choice bits of the human experience to climb the ladder of success. I can’t connect with any of that.

The grind doesn’t just feel apt because it’s hard on an individual level, but because it chews people up and spits ’em out in bulk. Against the tiny minority that somehow finds what they’re looking for in that grind, there are legions who end up broken, wasted, and burned out with nothing to show. And for what?

Even more insidious about the concept of the hustle and its grind is how it places the failure of achievement squarely at the feet of the individual. Since it’s possible to “make it” by working yourself to the bone, it’s essentially your own damn fault if you don’t, and you deserve what pittance you may be left with.

Its origin from a dog-eat-dog world has been turned from a cautionary tale into an inspirational one. It’s not that you need to hustle to survive, it’s that you seek the hustle to thrive, and still at the expense of yourself and others.

Now this opposition mainly comes from a lens focused on the world of creative people. The writers, the programmers, the designers, the makers, the product people. There are manual labor domains where greater input does equal greater output, at least for a time.

But I rarely hear about people working three low-end jobs out of necessity wear that grind on their popped collar out of pride. It’s only the pretenders, those who aren’t exactly struggling for subsistence, who feel the need to brag with bravado about their beat.

It’s the modern curse of having enough time to try to find a meaning to it all. And when an easy answer isn’t forthcoming through shallow inquiry, you just start running from the void. But you can’t outwork existential angst. At best, you can postpone it. Or temporarily bury it. But it doesn’t go away.

The truth is you’re going to die, and it’ll be sooner rather than later, the more feverishly you devote your existence to the hustle and its grind. Life is tragically short that way.

What really gets my goat, though, is that it doesn’t even work. You’re not very likely to find that key insight or breakthrough idea north of the 14th hour. Creativity, progress, and impact does not yield easily or commonly to brute force. It comes with patience, inspiration and situations you don’t put yourself in because you’re working yourself to friggin’ bone and have no time to experience anything. 

You want to be more productive? That’s great. First, of course, figure out what you’re actually trying to be productive at and make it happen. Then learn how to manage your time to focus on that without sacrificing everything else. Everyone loses if you’re just staying in the office for the sake of staying in the office. 

Here’s my cheat sheet and counter to the hustle:

1) Get a great night’s sleep. The studies on sleep deprivation and its cognitive effects are unanimous and devastating. You take a bigger hit on your productive and creative powers through lack of proper sleep than almost any other neglect.

2) Get plenty of fresh air. The latest studies on effects of CO2 accumulation, volatile organic compounds, and other indoor air quality killers are shocking. And unlike sleep, it’s far less known just how much cognitive impairment you can suffer from poor air quality. Running outside in the morning has been my saving grace later in life, so much do I wish that I discovered this earlier in my life, it would have saved so much built up stress. 

3) Get regular exercise. This isn’t about “staying fit” or “looking good”, although those are noble reasons in their own right. It’s about what moving your body does to your brain. And it’s good. These are moments to connect with your body and you should cherish every moment you have to connect closer within yourself. 

4) Read some classics. You probably read the equivalent of a few books a month in tweets, hot takes, and other low-calorie material. What if you shifted some of that consumption to not just what’s most recent, but the best humankind had to offer over the last few millennia? I’m all for great business books but I’ve found the more you are able to disconnect from the constant stream of business thought, the better you are when you return to that space. The influences compound and tickle your creativity in more profound ways than I can list. 

5) Say no. Engage with fewer things but at a higher intensity. Stick with it. Stop chasing so much.

6) Meditate on the regular. Your mind is a muscle, and perhaps the most important muscle you have, it needs work as well. I find myself quick to react when I pause meditation for a spell versus when I’m in the zone, I tend to listen more, reflect on my decisions and generally be more thoughtful in both business and personal life. 

7) Find a coach. Someone who is disconnected from your business and can offer you radical candor and accountability on yourself without needing to tie it to a business outcome exclusively. 

Finally: for God’s sake, relax. Pumping your mind full of anxiety about whether you’re getting enough, doing enough, chasing enough, good enough is no way to live. Background stress like that is literally lethal. 

Put in a good day’s work, then close the damn laptop. Stash the iPhone. Waste some time on the rest of the human experience. At this time of the year, eat some duck. Watch a shitty Xmas movie. Help decorate that stupid tree. Cuddle up with your kids or someone that’s young enough to appreciate the intense intimacy needed in the early years. There’s a desire for time from kids, asking to play, asking to be a part of things, perhaps they’re aware of how fleeting these years of intimacy will be with their family. Dare to be so bold as to embrace the beautifully ordinary every now and then.