Building a Strong Company Culture Starts with a Diverse Workforce

2012 brought us the break up of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" (you're welcome for the earworm), and most importantly, the founding of Leadfeeder.

Since then, we've grown from a small team to 115 employees in more than 28 countries — and we've got big plans to double our team by 2022.

How did we get here? From the start, we've focused on creating an open, collaborative, and diverse company culture.

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Why does company culture matter? 

There's a lot of talk about company culture these days. But what is it--and does it really matter? We know so. 

"The culture of the organization determines how employees are treated, the products or services that are created, the partnerships that are established, and even how employees actually get their jobs done." - Inc.

Investopedia defines company culture as "the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions." 

Neither of those definitions is particularly exciting. 

At Leadfeeder, company culture impacts everything we do: how we create new features, solve problems, and interact with each other and our customers.

Company culture isn't something most companies think about. It often develops organically through the shared traits of its workforce and leadership.

Company culture is the driving force behind:

• Performance: Companies with a better culture (as measured by McKinsey), report returns 200 percent higher than those with negative cultures. Employees are also happier which contributes to productivity.

• Competitive advantage: Company culture is inherently hard to copy. A competitor might be able to copy your product, but they can't replicate the dedication your service reps or sales team have to your company's vision.

• Adaptability: The business world is constantly changing, often in ways we can't predict (👋 2020.) Healthy company cultures are stronger and, according to McKinsey, much more likely to navigate transitions successfully.

• A better hiring process: Almost half of all new hires quit or are fired in the first 18 months, in most cases due to cultural mismatches. Being upfront about your company culture can help you attract the right people.

Great cultures drive performance, helps your business stand out, and improves agility. Unhealthy cultures foster apathy and underperformance; they're not sustainable. That's why company culture matters — and it is part of the reason company culture is so important at Leadfeeder.

The main reason, though? Our people.

About Leadfeeder’s company culture

Leadfeeder was founded nearly ten years ago in Helsinki, Finland, the country best known for being the happiest country in the world (for the fourth year in a row. 🙌) 

This absolutely trickles down through the Leadership at Leadfeeder. I’ve never worked somewhere where everyone is so intelligent, relaxed, and happy. People treat one another with respect and use their time wisely. On top of that, employees are genuinely excited to learn and teach each other new things.

Here's what a few employees had to say about working at Leadfeeder:

"Leadfeeder is open, fun, low hierarchy, multicultural, goal-oriented, driven, fast-paced." -Maisa

"Trust: results over monitoring and reporting. Appreciation of individual talent: You have space to do your job that works best for you. Sharing and caring: Team members help each other out, you are often reminded that you have the whole Leadfeeder team to help you and people are actually willing to help and available." - Brianna 

"The culture is absolutely fantastic! Very open and transparent, people-centric I would say and most importantly innovative." - Sami

Our culture goes beyond happiness. It's about respect, transparency, and being supportive. It shows up in the way we work, the way we treat our customers, and, yep, even the content we create.

And it all starts with diversity. Our team is spread out over more than 25 countries, including Albania, Croatia, Finland, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, UK, and the US — diverse points of view are integral to building a positive, transparent, and friendly culture.

Why diversity is integral to the Leadfeeder culture

At Leadfeeder, diversity isn't just a buzzword; it's integrated into everything we do. As a remote-first team, we hire talented individuals no matter where they live. This allows us to build a scalable business model that isn't deterred by time, borders, or languages.

We took a survey of Leadfeeder employees for this post. Only 62 of the 118 employees took the survey (we'll forgive them), but nevertheless, we still cover a lot of the globe.

How exactly does diversity impact our company culture? Here are a few benefits we've uncovered: 

• Higher employee engagement: A Deloitte survey found 83% of millennials report higher levels of engagement when their company fosters an inclusive culture. It's proven true at Leadfeeder as well. 

• Creative problem solving: People from different backgrounds often view problems through a different lens. When our teams collaborate, they share their own thoughts and ideas. 

• Innovation: The business world is moving fast. By focusing on diversity, we're able to take more risks, generate out-of-the-box ideas, and focus less on "how it's always been done." 

As a remote team, we're able to hire the best people for the job no matter where they live, what language they speak, or what time zone they are in. As a result, we've been able to scale and grow.

At Leadfeeder, company culture starts at the top

Building a company culture is crucial to the long-term growth of any business. At Leadfeeder, we're dedicated to creating a transparent, people-centric culture that helps our B2B businesses grow. And that culture starts with a leadership team dedicated to challenging norms.

Want to join the Leadfeeder team? We're hiring!

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