The phone on my desk has one of those digital displays that prints out the name of the internal EMC employee that is calling me. I can see who is calling, and decide whether or not to answer.
Every other week or so a certain name comes up. It usually means a surprise is in store:
Polly Pearson.
When I see that name I stop and wonder what’s about to happen to me.
Probably something cool.
I’m a regular reader of Polly’s blog. When I opened her site this morning I was quite surprised to see an ENORMOUS picture of myself, along with Polly and Monya. I understand that my choice to blog, after years of building products in relative anonymity, increases my visibility. But honestly, talk radio shows?
How did this happen?
We Both Started Writing
My external site is mainly about my experiences building the software for several of EMC’s products. Along the way I have written about the culture in which I work, and how it enables me to stay creative and interested.
Polly on the other hand, was writing some internal posts asking world-wide employees to describe what “engages” them about EMC’s culture, and what turns them off.
So I referred her to my external post about EMC’s Innovation Contest, which I mightily enjoyed.
That’s when the phone calls started. Both of us share the common goal of high-quality products that meet our customer’s needs. Polly asked some sensible questions:
Would you be able to speak with this customer? Could you drop them a line?
Can you interact with the competitive team on this issue?
But some of her questions are of a wilder variety:
Will you do a book interview?
Wanna do a radio show?
Are You Kidding Me
These last questions are unusual requests to make of a software engineer, to say the least. Why put nerds on a radio show? But I found myself saying yes to that one in particular. Why not do something different at lunch? What’s more, I’m helping the company. How?
One of Polly’s many roles is to communicate EMC’s brand to the world. It makes sense to poll EMC employees and create an accurate and true picture of what it’s like to work here, and then communicate that to potential new employees looking for a career. When Polly finds someone that’s willing to talk publicly about life at EMC, she picks up the phone. The first time we met in person, she shared this list of what she believes are the top six “desires” that candidates are looking for when searching for a job:
- Type of work
- People they work with
- Career Opportunity
- Proud to tell people they work for the company
- Opportunity to create wealth
- Fun
I agree with this list, and at EMC I experience an abundance of all these things.
The Radio Show
Imagine joining EMC and trying to learn about the culture. During your new-hire training, you find out that there’s a live radio show coming up: don’t miss it. All of the previous radio shows are archived and there for you to listen to. And each show has a visual aspect, with pictures of the guests for that particular show. Now that’s cool.
The show is true to at least half of the six items on the list: #2 You get to virtually “meet” and learn about the people you work with, #4 You get to listen to people talk about how they are proud to work here, and #6 It’s a whole lot of fun. And one of the more “real” parts, in my opinion, is hearing people’s gripes about working here.
What was my gripe when I was a guest on the show? If EMC is driving us so hard to ship products, and so many of us have stayed loyal to EMC for so many years, why not give us a sabbatical? I personally think it would be beneficial on a number of fronts, and there are many other long-tenured individuals who agree.
The Phone Is Ringing
I can’t say yes to everything; there’s just not enough time. But I always pick up the phone when Polly calls (she calls me on her cell sometimes so I can’t tell it’s her ;>)). She usually presents an opportunity to do something “extra” that has great value to EMC.
One of these days, when I realize that it’s her, I might just decide to throw caution to the wind:
“Whatever it is, I’ll do it! (maybe it’s better if you don’t tell me).”
Steve
