Peter Drucker said that “culture eats strategy for breakfast” but there's an interesting chicken/egg situation on that point when it comes to MediaMath. We see having a positive culture as a strategic commitment, and a source of competitive advantage, something that we work to reinforce every day. In our world, culture and strategy simply breed one another. Now that we are honored to be a Glassdoor Best Place to Work two years running, we decided to gather our tips for how to become a best place to work, at your company.
Reach for the stars
The loftiness of MediaMath's aspirations - becoming the “MarketingOS” that transforms the way the Marketing function is performed - has influenced our culture in a positive way. We've all signed‐up to sunset the old John Wanamaker quote of, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." So, even our most brilliant employees (and we have a staggering number here) are humbled by the scope of our ambitions and know that in order to actualize our aspirations, we must have successful collaboration, be kind, and set aside time for fun.
Do the right thing
We’re committed to playing nicely in the digital marketing ecosystem as we strive to offer an open, extensible platform at the center of that ecosystem. It’s in our self-interest not only to deliver a great product, but also to be good to work with.
Listen to your employees
Listening to your team is crucial. Having a 2007 birth date, we are a young company that is still learning, so we make it a point to ask our insightful team for feedback on everything from how we can do better as a company and as an employer. We read our Glassdoor reviews for this feedback and conduct a semi-annual Employee Satisfaction Survey. In one of our early surveys, we asked how well the company’s values were articulated and upheld - which, in retrospect, was a very optimistic question, as we'd never formally articulated the values. Suffice it to say, only 37% agreed (the fact that it wasn’t 0% is testament to the kindness of the culture). We took this feedback and established a set of Math Values, attached recognition programs to them, and folded them into job descriptions. Now these values are very much a part of our company vernacular.
Invest in your workforce
We also believe in sharing in the company’s long-term success with the people who are making it happen. Everyone has an equity stake in the company. We think this a great way to align interests and encourage people to think long-term about the importance of investing in relationships, both internally and externally.
In addition, we’ve invested a lot of time and resources into our onboarding and training programs to meet the learning needs of our team in our dynamic industry. And finding creative ways to use e-learning platforms to ensure that our increasingly global employee base can fully benefit from our educational resources is an important investment in their success.
Change is good—as long as you listen to employees first!
Listening to and collecting feedback from our amazing group of employees will always be a part the culture at MediaMath. For example, we recently got a great deal of input from our New York team before confidently making the decision to relocate our World Headquarters to 4 World Trade Center next year. We can’t go wrong by tapping into their great minds!
Have a question? We’re all ears. Leave it in the comments below or visit us at www.mediamath.com.
