This week marks my first 6 months at Luum. Although it’s hard to believe that 5 of those 6 months have been in quarantine, the time has flown by. I am lucky to have found myself on a team with driven, creative, kind people who have welcomed me with open arms, encouraged me to ask questions, and challenged me to produce great work. I look forward to the next 6 months and beyond. (And I look forward to working with my team in person as soon as it is safe to do so!)
But, considering it is 6 months since I started at Luum, that means it’s also 6 months since I left the Bezos Family Foundation - my beloved BFF. During my 5 and a half years at the Foundation, I worked with a group of wonderful people - most of whom I am lucky to call my friends and mentors today (and one of whom is practically my landlord!).
Starting at BFF directly out of school, I was mostly clueless about the world of the office. I barely understood how to use a digital calendar. I did not understand how to use a phone extension. I did not (and still don’t) know how to use a fax machine. But more than that, I didn’t know how to effectively communicate with people or form relationships. I didn’t know how to lead a meeting or provide meaningful feedback, I didn’t yet understand how the health and wellbeing of all my colleagues was an intrinsic factor to the quality of my own work. When I showed up to the front desk at BFF 6 years ago, I had no idea that I would be surrounded by a group of people who would help me grow as a professional and challenge me to be a better human being.
To fully capture their contributions to my development would require a book. In lieu of a book, I wanted to share the biggest lessons I learned while working at BFF. All of these values started at the top - with our fearless leaders, Jackie and Mike. I am forever indebted to them for taking a risk in hiring me, nurturing me, and letting me contribute to their world-changing mission.
Always remember the end user
I will always remember when I went to Jackie and Mike for approval on my first project proposal. With the goal of redesigning one of our websites, I was asking for more money than I had ever asked for in my life - I was nervous! They sat through my little pitch with patience and then started asking me a few questions about the contents of the scope and why things cost what they did. Although I had pushed for a cost-effective proposal from the beginning, there were many line items in the budget where I had trusted our partner’s recommendation that certain pieces of work were required. When I asked Mike why he pushed back on some of the costs, he simply responded, “But Taylor, how is this piece of work going to help the low-income parents that we are working for?”
In this moment, and many others, I was given an important reminder: Always analyze costs - whether time, energy, or budget - by determining what will have the greatest positive impact on the end user. While it is easy to get lost in the weeds of process, of budgets and timelines, of the way business is “supposed” to be done, it is imperative to routinely pause, re-focus on the end user, and use that focus to re-evaluate the efficacy of how we work and what we are investing in. Thanks to Mike, I have learned to speak up whenever I’m told that we’re doing something because “that’s the way it’s done.” It is always possible to rethink business practices to better serve those we work for.
Celebrate colleagues
I didn’t realize that our special celebrations were unusual until I told my friends about my first birthday at BFF. For birthdays, work anniversaries, new hires, departures, and innumerable other little occasions, our entire team would gather in our little kitchen, tell jokes and stories, laugh and cry, and - of course - eat. As a food lover, I would eagerly guess what kinds of treats my colleagues would pick for their special day - sometimes sugary indulgences like Hello Robin cookies… other times savory snacks like a platter of Salumi.
I now know just how lucky I was to be celebrated in this way and to have a budget available for treats in the office. But the food was only one manifestation of the spirit of celebration in our office. Jackie and Mike made a point of celebrating us as a team and as individuals with countless smiles and compliments, innumerable hugs, and frequent congratulatory emails. This spirit pervaded our teams and we would begin meetings and emails with words of gratitude and appreciation for each other. In the beginning I appreciated the kindness and it made me feel happier. But I quickly realized there was something deeper: When colleagues trust and respect each other - and make those feelings visible through mutual celebration - they work together happier and more efficiently, and they consistently produce much better work. I am thankful to Jackie and Mike for introducing celebration into our office, but I am also thankful for my colleagues Leonetta and Molly who led the charge and integrated celebration into the everyday functions of our work.
Chase the biggest goal imaginable
In 2018, a few of us got together to buy Jackie a special birthday present: a black leather jacket with a dove and the words “World Peace” lovingly painted across the back. We found the artist to commission the gift, but the words came straight from Jackie. If you were to sit long enough in any meeting at the Foundation and anyone were to ask the question “why are we doing this?”, Jackie would respond immediately and directly - “World Peace.”
When I started at the foundation, I thought Jackie’s invocation of World Peace was a sort of cynical joke - of course many organizations are striving for grandiose visions, even though our daily work too often feels like tiny wins, bureaucracy, and fundraising. But I quickly learned that Jackie was dead serious when she said that World Peace was the goal of every project, of every iota of work. Although this vision obviously went above and beyond our business plans and annual goals, it imbued all of our work with a greater sense of meaning. And I know that this world-changing attitude inspired everyone who walked in our door and made them want to partner with us. From Jackie, I learned that one should always shoot for the biggest goal imaginable and not settle for anything less.
I have tried to bring that perspective to Luum. When we pitch our commute software, we are advocating for a totally reimagined transportation ecosystem - a world in which every commuter is able to travel safely, economically, and conveniently. A world that accommodates this kind of transportation is a world with cities that are livable, healthy, and sustainable. That is the world I want to live in - and the vision that brought me to Luum in the first place. It’s easy to get focused on market position, individual features, costs, and other details, but none of those things can light up the face of a sales person (or prospective customer) like a great, big, ambitious story about Luum’s mission. As a Product Marketing Manager it is my challenge and opportunity to integrate the visionary, audacious story with the business stuff. I can’t say I’ve figured it all out yet… but as long as I remind myself of Jackie’s big vision, I am inspired to inspire others and I get back to work.