This morning, we had the opportunity to hear from a high-level employee from DocuSign. Although we were unable to tour DocuSign’s physical office building, it is apparent that there is a cultural difference between the company and Google, which we have previously toured. Although the cultures are different, both seem to have a strong culture that I would imagine to be equally attractive depending on personal preferences.
Google seemed to have a real community feeling where they support their workers with all these luxurious amenities. They made significant investments in creating a culture that feels very welcoming. This allows Google employees to feel secure and come up with creative or innovative solutions without the fear of being punished or looked down upon for failing. They also seem to have a very collaborative style of work, as a lot of work is accomplished in teams. Google also uses diversity as a tool for getting work done in foreign markets. With such diverse employees, Google can always rely on differing on new viewpoints to reach their objectives. It is also important to note that although Google is continuously growing, they are significantly more established worldwide.
On the other hand, DocuSign appears to have a culture that revolves around accomplishing work. With this being said, they also put a lot of stress on making sure every candidate would be a good fit for the company during the recruiting process. As the speaker mentioned, he could only think of one unpleasant coworker during his five years with the company. Because we did not get to tour their office, I cannot really speak on what amenities that DocuSign offers their employees or the degree of diversity within the company, but if I had to imagine, they would both be lower than that which exists within Google. When looking at how DocuSign does business globally, the most significant difference is that they are relatively still in the introduction phase in most countries outside the United States. Currently, they have to put a lot of focus on attracting new customers specifically by convincing more people that electronic signatures are cheaper, more convenient, and the future of signatures. The most difficult part of this process is that it is largely out of their control, and they have to rely on organic growth and focus on being ready to increase their control of the market when more market growth occurs.
I believe that today’s speaker has had a very impressive career path. When looking at his previous and current roles, it is undeniable that he must be really good at what he does. He achieved high-ranking positions in multiple companies and seemed to have climbed the corporate ladder pretty fast. I also think that it’s important that he always focused on what was best for his current needs or desires, like traveling in the early stages of his career and only working for companies that aligned with his ideal culture in roles that he found interesting.
