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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disrupted:_My_Misadventure_in_the_Start_Up_Bubble https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disrupted:_My_Misadventure_i... > FBI documen
by kodah 6y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disrupted:_My_Misadventure_in_the_Start_Up_Bubble https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disrupted:_My_Misadventure_i...
> FBI documents accessed by journalists via a freedom of information request revealed that HubSpot attempted "multiple failed attempts to manipulate and extort people” with the intention of stopping the book's publication.
> HubSpot executives considered the book "a financial threat to HubSpot, its share price, and the company’s future potential."
I'm including this because this book was published in 2016. While I'm sure that HubSpot, its employees, and management may have learned some things about integrity and transparency since then, it's probably not enough to be writing this soap-boxy slide deck that announces that software built around their culture is going to solve their problems.
On the other hand, I do believe software can shape and guide a culture but only if the culture is also at the pilot seat behind that software. That's to say, as long as the implementors of said software are not interested in developing a certain culture. Your employees will inevitably decide what software gets used and what software gets circumvented, the byproduct of which becomes what people colloquially refer to as culture.
Culture comes from everywhere. When you recruit gay people, some of the values of gay people trickle into your company. When you recruit Black people, values of Black folks trickle in. When you recruit from universities those values trickle in. Each of those will shape your culture and those people are not monoliths either, they're mixes of many vibrant and dark experiences. The last part is key, recruiting is one aspect, but your company culture will continue to evolve and I see projects like this as software trying to drive culture (what the C-suite wants) instead of culture driving software that it maintains itself.
- layoutIfNeeded 6y agoOff topic: why is "Black" capitalized but "gay" is not? What's the rule here? I'm not a native English speaker, sorry!
- jerrycruncher 6y agoIt's a very recent development in the language; one of the ripples that radiated out from the George Floyd protests. The NY Times hosted a piece that explains the reasoning behind it: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...
- gedy 6y ago> It's a very recent development in the language Minor quibble, but political opinion, not "language".
- eplanit 6y ago"development in language"? That's a very kind phrasing for a trend for activist-journalists to further proclaim their woke-ness in their writing.
- cmdshiftf4 6y ago>It's a very recent development in the language And we in the party all agree that it's very much doubleplusgood.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- pseudalopex 6y agoCultural groups are capitalized most of the time. It's like Native American or Latino. White is an exception because most white people think of themselves as Norwegian or whatever. Gay isn't capitalized most of the time because most gay people don't think of themselves as Gay.
- layoutIfNeeded 6y agoAh I get it now! So "Black" means "African American" basically, but "black" would be used for dark-skinned people worldwide. As a foreigner, I find it fascinating how nuanced the seemingly simple English language can be!
- Dirlewanger 6y agoIt's not really the English language per se, but over-corrected American political correctness. For example, "African-American" is often used to describe any black person in America. But what if you're a native Ugandian who lives here but not yet a citizen? That term is useless. Had a good friend from school who came over from Nigeria to study here, and he hated the term because he neither identified with Americans blacks, nor did he want to. The fact that we're now back at just Black is where we should have been all along.
- dschuler 6y agoI wouldn't pay too much attention to this particular issue, whatever is politically correct today will keep changing over time.
- waylandsmithers 6y ago> While I'm sure that HubSpot, its employees, and management may have learned some things about integrity and transparency since then I doubt it, from what I can tell they still think their main product (CRM) some special thing that is legitimately making the world a better place and try to get their employees to buy into that idea. I'm sure they have plenty of satisfied customers, but come on now. It's CRM.
- drcross 6y agoI once interviewed for a online PDF document signing company. You probably know it's name. During the interview I was asked what my impression was of what they did. "Allow people to sign PDFs online" was my reply. "No, no, it's so much more" was the reply. That's when I realised it was just a cultish hype machine that I didn't really want anything to do it. This is what I want: 1. Go to work 2. Solve cool problems 3. Go home and enjoy the money I've earned. Companies (US in particular) really need to understand.
- 1-more 6y agoThe anecdote I keep coming back to is how they said that people they fired had "graduated" truly a perverse occlusion of material reality.