Want an awesome company culture well listen to Yahoo and Netapp execs

ug 21, 2013, 3:01pm PDT Updated: Aug 21, 2013, 3:16pm PDT

Want an awesome company culture? Yahoo chairman, NetApp CEO explain how

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Jon Xavier

Web Producer- Silicon Valley Business Journal

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Good companies have great results. Great companies have great results and a great culture.
That was one of the overlying messages at a lively Churchill Club event Tuesday that brought together Yahoo Chairman Maynard Webb, NetApp CEO Tom Georgens and Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker to talk about company culture and what it takes to build a company that lasts.
Here are some of the takeaways.
Financial results and company culture are more closely linked than you might think
Of course, the first thing a company needs to do is make money, but that doesn't mean time spent on nurturing a good company culture and a happy work force is time wasted, Georgens said. Companies with a strong culture react more quickly to change and deal more readily with setbacks, and are more likely to have ideas coming in from creative people at every echelon of the business. These are all attributes that are absolutely crucial to success in the technology industry. A company with a myopic view on the so-called "hard business skills" and money-minding might succeed, but it's not going to excel.
But make no mistake — it cuts both ways, Georgens said.
"Strong culture enables you to succeed, but success is what gives you the ability to focus on culture," he said. "There's never been a company that had a strong culture the day before it went bankrupt."
Culture is more about transparency, accountability and trust in executives than perks
Georgens said NetApp, which is usually in the Top 10 of the Fortune Magazine Best Places To Work List, often gets asked by journalists about all the crazy perks the company has, like free food or "pet massages." But he said NetApp doesn't actually have any of that and still scores well. Why? Because the list also takes into account how employees feel about the management. If they trust their managers, than culture will be good even if they don't have a lot of amazing perks. If they don't trust the management, no amount of free soda or yoga gyms will fix that.

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Jon Xavier is Web Producer at the Business Journal. His phone number is 408.299.1826.

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