Productiv CEO on building a transparent and data-driven culture

PwC: How would you describe your leadership approach and what’s behind such a strong culture?

Shapiro: I’ve always believed in the power of teams. No matter how smart or accomplished any of us are, there’s a basic truth that multiple people and perspectives are better than any one individual.

It also requires a sense of freedom to think differently. Sometimes there’s even tension. You don’t want people simply sitting around nodding in agreement with one another.

PwC: How have you developed this ethos across the company?

Shapiro: It’s been a deliberate process. I spent almost nine years at Google and our other co-founders have experience at Microsoft and Amazon. We came into this with the mindset that no company is entirely perfect. We looked for what makes those organizations unique and really focused on key values and what has helped them succeed. It’s sort of like building a skyscraper. You have to start off with what the building will look like and what the structure should be. So, in the same way, we really dove into the process — discussing, debating and challenging one another.

PwC: Can you tell us more about your collaborative framework? How has it defined the culture at Productiv?

Shapiro: Our starting point is to create a space for people to do their best work. We’re not looking for perfection. It’s OK to be wrong and learn from it. We’re more interested in gauging the rate of learning. I encourage autonomy — tied to accountability. As an organization we lean into collective collaboration. This includes challenging our own thinking and that of others. We compare and contrast ideas against our core values, which are visible at our website. That’s a basic litmus test. If you get things right and you’re truly living the values, reinforcing them as a team and as a culture becomes a lot easier. You don’t get stuck debating the gray areas and get mired in situational analysis. There’s greater consistency and the ability to prioritize things.

PwC: How do you transform the concept into reality?

Shapiro: There are no gimmicks. We don’t use a fire-and-forget approach. We don’t adopt a write-once-and-put-it-on-the-website mentality. Our underlying values show up in all of our conversations. We also recognize individual people within the company that exemplify a value. All of this helps the framework become self-reinforcing. Another thing we focus on is self-improvement. I talk very openly with my team about things I’m working on. I also ask for honest feedback. There are no taboo topics. This gets back to the fact that no one is perfect, and you have to confront your weaknesses.

PwC: How does trust factor in? How do you build such a high level of trust?

Shapiro: People talk about trust, and everyone agrees that it’s essential, but it’s phenomenally difficult to achieve. I believe that it comes down to authenticity and integrity. When people are honest, they have good intent, and they do what they say it creates trust. This touches many parts of a company in different ways, but the common theme is that it produces psychological safety, which in turn leads to trust. It’s important to recognize that trust never happens by default. It’s something you have to constantly work at. There’s another important aspect: a mutual sense of purpose. We emphasize that we’re all people and at the end of the day we must work together. Your role, title and tenure at the company — or how many years of experience you have — doesn’t change things. We must collaborate so we can do something incredible together.

PwC: Are there any lessons that you’d like to share with business leaders?

Shapiro: Over time, institutional knowledge starts to build and the culture evolves. As this occurs, it’s easy to forget that not everyone has the same history with the company. They don’t know why certain things were decided in certain ways. So it’s important to address this issue, particularly in terms of how people communicate. We don’t want critical information locked up in people’s heads. We also don’t want people playing the game of telephone, where the message changes as it gets repeated and passed along the line. Getting to this higher plane requires a focus on communication at every stage.

PwC: How did you manage during the pandemic? How did you ensure that your values remained consistent?

Shapiro: The pandemic was the largest remote work experiment ever conducted. Like many companies, we had to learn from that experience. This included how to communicate extensively using online tools. There were some frustrations and challenges — including an inability to go into a room and whiteboard together in person. Fortunately, we had a head start on remote work. We’d already invested in technology and business processes. So, while the situation wasn’t desirable, it was doable. For new hires, we set up an onboarding buddy — someone who wasn’t their manager — to help them with questions and aid them in navigating things and learning the culture. We didn’t want anyone to feel stuck at home in their bedroom, isolated, disconnected and depressed, so we focused on ways to bring people together. As a company with offices all over the world, this was crucial.

PwC: What is your advice to business leaders in regard to building an award-winning culture?

Shapiro: Focus on creating a culture based on openness and transparency. There should be no unaskable thing. And if you can’t answer a question, be honest and then find the answer. At Productiv, there are two critical pillars, transparency and functioning as a data-driven company. This means that we can ask questions and find answers. This type of business framework helps reinforce transparency and support the level of agility needed in today’s business world.