How Slack Built Its Culture: Part Two - Eating the Goat
This episode, 'Eating the Goat,' explores how Slack recognized and addressed rapid hiring issues and built a strong organizational culture. Slack's CEO Stewart Butterfield used the analogy of a snake eating a goat to describe the current state Slack found itself in. To solve it's problem, Slack developed its Six Slack Values — craftsmanship, empathy, thriving, courtesy, playfulness, solidarity — and created stories and onboarding processes to embed these values in daily work. Then Slack made onboarding into a force multiplier for everyone who joined in Slack's growth.
00:00 Introduction: A Slack Story by James Sheret
00:24 The Goat Analogy: Digesting Growth Challenges
04:51 Codifying Slack's Culture: The Four Attributes
05:26 Introducing the Six Slack Values
08:40 Craftsmanship: Painting the Back of the Drawer
10:09 Empathy and Courtesy: Understanding and Helping Customers
14:11 Onboarding as a Force Multiplier
17:30 Conclusion: Reflecting on Slack's Cultural Evolution
