Tag Archives: corporate culture

Want Company Culture? Just Do Stuff

From time to time I am interviewed for various podcasts or magazine articles about entrepreneurship, business, and the like. Besides the inevitable telling of the infamous Lovesac story, I get asked a lot about company culture–often referred to as “corporate culture,” which I bristle to just by nomenclature alone. (It is for this reason that you’ll never see us refer to “Lovesac Corporate.” Instead we use “Headquarters.”) But I digress…

Company culture is in the eye of the beholder. If people who work at Lovesac think our company culture sucks–then it sucks. If people who work at Lovesac think our company culture is awesome–then it is awesome. What people on the outside think doesn’t matter very much–except, of course, when it comes to attracting talent. Either way, it is my fault. And what’s really crazy is that after all these years, I can confidently say it always both sucks and is awesome at the same time…because you can’t please everybody all the time. Just get used to that.

But I find the perception from the outside is that Lovesac seems to have a really cool, alive, and vibrant culture. So I get asked that question over and over: How do you build company culture? My anti-climactic response: Do stuff. I vlogged about it…
We do some weird things at Lovesac HQ to keep things interesting…

Have an idea? Think of something that sounds fun, or cool, or interesting? Do it. Try it. Spend a buck and go for it. Many “cultural” events don’t cost much or even cost anything. A week ago while I was out of the office visiting Lovesac stores one of our HQ Sac’rs took it upon themselves to throw a spontaneous “Chips and Dips” party at like 3pm on a weekday. They gave a few days’ notice, sent an email around to everyone at HQ and who knew–they had an amazing turnout of chips and dips and people from all departments just hanging out, having a good time on a random Thursday.

You know you have culture when you don’t have to “do” it all.

But until that day–just do things. Whether you are the “boss” or not. We all end up spending most of our waking hours not with the ones we love, but with those we work with. It is kind of sad you think about it–but it is the human condition. With all of the time we must spend at work, it might as well not suck, so be sure about how to go about presenting a companies vision and begin with making your workers not hate the culture they’re surrounded by. After all, as I remind all department heads at Lovesac when we have our Tuesday meeting (which itself is a brick in the wall of our culture here): If our culture at Lovesac rocks–it is your fault. If our culture at Lovesac sucks–its your fault.

The truth is: It’s all our faults. Every last one of us is part of a company culture, and what are we doing to make it not suck.

Get off the couch and go make something happen.

— Shawn

Lovesac Founder & CEO

Thursday Thought: How You Make Me Feel

Internal email sent to all Lovesac employees: Dec 10, 2015

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
—Maya Angelou
I’m sure that I am the most guilty of often behaving ignorantly to this undeniable and often-quoted truth that is so aptly captured by Maya Angelou above. Nevertheless, at this time of year in particular, may we all try to keep this thought in our hearts. We are LOVEsac…and we should live up to that.
Every time I get the chance to help people to sit in a Lovesac for their first time, the expression on their face—the wide-eyed smile, the gasp, the laugh, the comments—I am reminded that: in the end, people don’t pay $800 for a beanbag from us because of good foam or good fabric. Somewhere in their subconscious mind they just want to take that feeling back to their home, and somehow let it bring the same joy to their life everyday.
Joy

This is what Lovesac is

Whether at HQ as we interact with each other, on the phone with our customers, on chat, or in-store, may we all focus on spreading the love this holiday season. It is the right thing to do. And we have an outsized opportunity to do it! We practically have a duty to do it. And speaking truthfully, it has been demonstrated to me over and over again through the years that when we do focus on just spreading that Lovesac vibe in an honest, energetic, and sincere way, the universe has a way of making it happen for us—our business grows—which is good for all of us and the world.
Spread the love. Happy Holidays!
Love you. My #LovesacFamily.
— Shawn