We end the week with a couple of fun, but insightful stories. The first is a breakdown of the “revolt” that recently happened at DoorDash due to their policy “forcing” employees to make deliveries once a month. Hint: It wasn’t actually a revolt, and they aren’t actually forced to make deliveries. Next, Thomas Edison makes another appearance with another strange, but effective strategy he used when interviewing employees. Both stories give us something that we can take and apply to own business today to make ourselves more successful in the long run.
The DoorDash policy is not new, it has actually been around since the company started in 2013. It simply was put on hold the last several months due to Covid. When it was announced that intended to start it back up, the news that came was that employees were furious. In actuality, it might be just one employee complaining about it online. They also are forced to make deliveries. They can choose to shadow a customer service representative to understand their perspective. This is expected of everyone from CEO to the engineers. Why? To allow the people working “higher up” in the company a perspective on how their product is actually functioning in real life scenarios. How is the program and software actually working for the delivery drivers? What are the types of complaints or feedback that the customer service department is receiving? You can test software all you want, and send out surveys all day long, but the best way to get actual real word experience is to live in it.
Thomas Edison didn’t only have a weird habit for bringing his bright ideas back from the “twilight zone”. He also had a technique for interviewing potential employees that might sound strange, but was also effective. He’d invited candidates out for a meal and then ordered soup for the table. The reason for this soup test was that the famous inventor wanted to see if the applicants added salt and pepper before tasting what was in their bowl, or if they waited until they tasted it before proceeding with the seasoning. Edison immediately rejected the premature seasoners, as he reasoned he didn’t want employees who relied on assumptions. In his opinion, those who were content to abide by preconceived notions had no place in his business because the absence of curiosity and willingness to ask questions were antithetical to innovation.
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