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Welcome to The Culture Code podcast. On this podcast, you’ll learn how to grow, shape, and sustain a high-performance culture with the CEO of LEADx, Kevin Kruse. From designing and delivering highly effective leadership development programs, to measuring and improving the employee experience, you will understand what it takes to cultivate a thriving company culture. Through interviews with Chief People Officers, deep dives into key topics, and recordings of our invite-only community sessions, we bring you cutting-edge, data-backed insights from the most desirable companies to work for in the world.
Kruse: Hello, everyone! I'm Kevin Kruse. Welcome to Culture Code. Our guest today is the Chief People Officer of 10X Genomics, Dr. Rebecca Port. Rebecca, welcome! And where are you joining from today?
Port: Thank you so much for having me. I'm based in Pleasanton, California.
Kruse: I am normally, of course, our listeners wouldn't have guessed that from your accent. You probably aren't hearing "Pleasanton." For those who might not be familiar with 10X Genomics, how big is your organization and in plain language, what do you do?
Port: Yeah. So 10X Genomics is a life sciences company. We have around 1,200 employees across the world, working tirelessly to accelerate the mastery of biology to advance human health. So we've built an innovation engine that has produced over 25 groundbreaking products, helping researchers and pharmaceutical companies understand biology in new ways. Our products have been really instrumental in understanding numerous breakthroughs in biology – oncology, neuroscience, immunology, and comprehending health and disease differently. We have machines, instruments, consumables, and software that researchers use to advance science and understand biology.
Kruse: Now, we're here today to talk about your great company culture, and people often struggle when they think about culture, like. How would you describe your company culture in just a few words?
Port: Yeah, you know, I think about culture as what people do when no one is watching, and I think it's really the way you live. Culture is through the decisions that you make, and so often people want to describe culture in a few words. But culture isn't words on a wall. It's much more complex than that. And so a couple of years ago, we actually wrote out a 5-page document about our culture, and when we presented that to the organization, most people said, "Can't we have a strapline, or can't we? How can we put this on the wall?" It was purposeful that we didn't want to do that because I think when you reduce culture down to straplines or words, it takes away the nuance and makes it harder to live and breathe it. Having said that, there are a couple of core principles to our culture. We are incredibly mission-driven. We strive to have exponential impact in everything that we do. We are very first-principled. We put "we" before "me," and we believe that exceptional talent delivers outsized results.
Kruse: You see me scribbling so many, so many notes, and in fact, one of my first books was called "We." So I love the sentiment behind that. What are some of the ways you foster or sustain this culture? Any unique rituals or traditions related to your culture?
Port: Yeah. So I think, firstly, the culture documents. We send this out to all people that are aspiring to join the organization and our candidates. And as we wrote that document, part of culture will always be aspirational. But was it written in an intentional way of how we operate? It was meant to be a sort of warts-and-all kind of presentation so that during our recruitment process, people can opt in. For example, we openly say, 10X is a really intense place to work. We move really quickly, we work really hard, and we do that because for every moment we lose, there are lives lost as we pursue our ambitious mission. And that's not for everybody. So there's a kind of "is this what you want?" So we have a self-selection bias. We also talk about in the culture document that exceptional talent delivers outsized results. And to do that, we have a high hiring bar, and we select against our culture. We select for collaboration, for that drive and passion. All of our candidates deliver a presentation regardless of the level in the organization. The CEO reviews every single hire that we make, and all interviews are panel interviews. So we hire slowly to ensure we are hiring the best people. The question we ask every single hiring manager to consider is, "Is this person in the top 1% of people in the world that can do this job?" If the answer isn't yes, then we shouldn't make the hire. By selecting for culture fit and keeping that bar high, it helps us ingrain the culture throughout the organization.
Kruse: I want to, just for the listeners out there, I'd like to highlight something, because I do a lot of these interviews. Very often, the only thing the person talks about is notable, you know, training programs and things of that nature. And you focused on how much intention is spent on the recruiting, selection, and hiring. In fact, there's Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great". You know, he's even kind of extreme and says, "You don't really change culture, you hire culture." You figure out what you're looking for, what you want, and people kind of have that or they don't. So for your bar, you know, the top 1%, this is really, really notable. And you also said something that stood out, which is that it's not for everybody. You know, great culture doesn't mean a culture everyone would want to join and be a part of. It's going to repel an equal number as it attracts. And that's the way it should be, right?
Port: Yeah, absolutely. I often think about organizational culture the same way as national culture. You know, national cultures have stood the test of time, and although there may be evolutions in them, they don't change drastically. And I think the same is true for organizational cultures. Unless you are literally replacing the entire workforce and hiring a completely new one, cultures are pretty consistent. Not everybody is going to enjoy every single culture, and that's okay. Your relationship with your work is like your relationship with the other relationships you have in your life, and not every one of those works out.
Kruse: Yeah, that's right. Now, I'm going to turn to the development and support of existing team members, specifically managers. 70% of engagement is correlated to the manager, and front-line managers touch more employees than any other leadership group. What are some of the ways you develop your front-line managers?
Port: Yeah, I couldn't agree more on the criticality of frontline managers. I think they are absolutely pivotal in the employee experience. And we've all worked for those managers that make our jobs joyful and impactful and make us want to do more and come in every day. And then many of us have also had the reverse experience of that. So we, over the last 12 months, have really leaned into our people managers, and what we've looked at is the entire ecosystem surrounding them.
We have developed manager training, which is called Manager Excellence, really focusing on helping managers coach, develop, and have conversations and give feedback to their team, both in terms of a positive but also developmental setting. We've then looked at how we create community across people managers. Because actually, it's often really useful to have a peer that you can speak to, someone you can say, "How do I deal with this issue? Are you finding this? I've got this difficult conversation. This person wants to get promoted, and they're not quite ready. What do I do about it?" So we've set up manager forums where managers can come together and talk through issues. They may be issues of the day, or we may be talking about communicating compensation because it's that part of the year. Or it may just be that this is a random topic that people want to talk about.
We've got a monthly manager digest that I send out to all people managers. Within it, there's a "read, do, watch" section. It may include topics that are coming up for our biannual conversations – "Make sure you read the guide and make sure you have them." Or it may be, "Hey, I read this really interesting article, and I want to share it with you all." So we've really looked at how we bring managers together and how we have this continual cadence to help them develop and hone their skills.
Kruse: One thing I like about this idea of the manager digest, read, watch is that the number one issue in the Benchmark report we did last year is that everybody says they want to grow and develop. But then you offer them a training program, and nobody shows up. "I'm too busy." Right? So, this idea that Josh Person talks about is moving work into the flow of work, moving development into the flow of work. But it doesn't mean you need, like, a fancy platform or an expensive thing. It could be as simple as the monthly communication with some links that go to relevant things, bite-sized in the flow of work and not necessarily very expensive. It sounds like.
Port: Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. I also think that feedback is the best development tool that anybody will ever get. And I don't think people often realize that. So, I completely agree. Our employees all want more opportunities for growth. They all want more development, and I do believe that feedback is the best development anyone will ever get. So making sure that our managers are equipped to give great feedback, willing to do so, and recognize the importance of that has been pivotal – a driving force in what we've done around this.
Kruse: How do you solicit feedback from employees about the culture and their engagement (e.g., engagement or other surveys, town halls, ?)
Port: Yeah. And so, again, in a number of ways, looking at the full ecosystem, I think having a culture and leaders who strive to get feedback, who are willing to get feedback, who want feedback, and who appreciate feedback is the starting point, and are able to demonstrate, "Oh, I heard this, and therefore I'm changing and doing this." So I think making sure that everybody across the organization realizes that it's their responsibility to listen to feedback but also give feedback. If you see something that's not working at 10X, we want to hear from you, even if it's well outside of your swim lane or responsibility. And so we have instituted feedback training for all employees. A large part of that is encouraging employees to ask for feedback on themselves, but also just embedding this culture of feedback.
We've got biannual conversations where managers can give feedback to employees. What's working well, what is not working well, what are the opportunities for growth? We bring managers together. We don't have formal performance ratings. We bring managers together to do performance differentiation. So that's not a single point decision. And again, this feedback is flowing around feedback on individuals. So the feedback ecosystem on individual feedback is something that's really strong.
And then, when we look at the organization and the organizational culture, we've really leaned into some of the more formal ways. Like we have two employee surveys every single year. We were also inspired by Ted Lasso, and have a suggestion box. So we launched a suggestion box and we said, "You know you can tell us anything. You can either do this anonymously, or you can leave your name." And we've had, in the last six months, around 200 suggestions, and we've committed to responding to every single one of those. It's an open, ongoing Google document. So you can go back and see what people have suggested and see how we've responded.
Sometimes it's small things like, "Can we have bike locks?" Yes, of course, we've now got places where people can lock up their bikes. But sometimes it's, "Hey, this process doesn't work. Can we dive deep into this process?" Or, "I've got a suggestion about a product and how this should work." And we've been able to direct people so that their feedback feels like they're being heard.
Kruse: Well, I mean, so much good stuff is critical, the power of feedback. And the fact that you're getting 200 people or 200 comments and people participating shows like they are engaged. Just the fact that they're taking the time. I had an old boss who said, "Kevin, you know, don't be mad when your employees are quote unquote complaining. That means they care. You need to worry when they stop complaining." And not saying feedback boxes are complaints, but just the fact that everyone is so engaged with it is a remarkable metric.
Port: And I think again it goes back to our culture, I mean, and role modeling that. Personally, I hold listening circles or coffee chats whenever I go and travel to another office. What's working? What do we need to do more of and listen to the employee's voice? One of the things I love about Tenx is that nothing is unchangeable, nothing is so embedded that we wouldn't change it. And you know we never say, "Well, it is what it is," and actually, nothing is what it is. If something isn't working, it's in our best interest to make it work. And so we want to hear about that.
Kruse: It's great. Now, as you know, this is a short-format podcast. We only have a few minutes left. But I want a couple of sort of fun questions for you. What book would you recommend that your colleagues read? (or podcast, video, etc.)
Port: I would send them Shawn Achor's "Big Potential." We recently have rebuilt our employee value proposition around the science of happiness, and I think the science of happiness is so fascinating because it's largely misunderstood. People think, "I will be happy when I'm successful or when I get that pay rise or that promotion." And actually, the reverse is true. Happiness is shown to impact basically every measure of success – whether it's doctors making better diagnoses, salespeople outselling their unhappy counterparts, taking fewer sick days, being promoted, being paid more. So, I really believe that if we can get old... if we can get employees to be happier, they will be more successful and more productive.
And the thing I love about Shawn Achor's more recent book is a lot of the research on happiness looks at what can I do at an individual level to make me happier – meditate, spend time in nature, listen to music, all of those sorts of things. Whereas actually, this book is really about how you have a multiplying effect on the happiness around you. How do you come together? And again, this notion of connectivity and connection really amplifies the happiness, not only of yourself but of all those around you. And what you find is this positive reinforcing cycle. And I just love that concept. So, I think if we could get all employees into the fact that they can be happiness nodes and multiply happiness across not only the organization but, you know, their entire communities, I think it would be really wonderful.
Kruse: Well, it's important work. What skill or behavior do you wish your employees did more of?
Port: I would want it to be a growth mindset. I think that part of driving happiness is this resiliency. It's about learning from mistakes. And it's really about how you approach things. And so if I could enhance the growth mindset across everyone, I think we'd end up with that again the multiplier effect.
Kruse: Maybe you could send the second book from Carol Dweck, or something like that on growth mindset. What excites you the most about your company right now?
Port: I mean, it goes back to our mission. We, our tools, have revolutionized the way that we diagnose and treat and ultimately cure disease. I believe that 10X is gonna help make cancer a thing of the past. And I am just so excited about, you know, as we over the next few years get to the clinic, and not just with 10X, but as a world. Get to personalize medicine and things like that. I think that I can't help but feel excited about the work that we do.
Kruse: thanks for the work that you do and the impact you're making on the world. Thanks for the culture you're creating and the impact you're having on families, and we're talking on a Friday. So thanks for taking time out of a Friday to share some of your best practices with your colleagues, really appreciate it.
Port: Yeah. And likewise, Kevin, I really appreciate your time, too. This has been really fun.