Sports and Business: Are Your Employees Passionate About Your Company?
I get it, some of you may never like soccer. Some of you just can’t stomach the annoying buzz of the vuvuzela for 90 minutes just to watch a game end in a 0-0 tie. Like it or not, the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world. So big in fact, that according to Digital Blog All Things Digital, the World Cup is creating some unparalleled buzz out there on Twitter.
Trendrr, which pulls data from Twitter’s API had 48 different World Cup-related terms showing up about 150,000 times an hour, similar to the intensity from Monday at Apple’s iPhone 4 unveiling. Kafka goes on to note that while the iPhone 4 traffic crested only in the last hour of Steve Jobs’s presentation, the World Cup intensity has been pretty steady with more than 8,000 per minute (that’s a rate of 480,000 hourly) right after the first goal of the tournament.
Love it or hate it, the World is passionate about soccer. There’s just something about national pride that incites a level of passion that’s unifying and really cool.
I use soccer as the example, because the World Cup is hot right now. You get a similar unifying force and passionate outpouring for the Olympics and in any big sports city right here nationally. I was at the Celtics – Lakers game last night and it was so loud, you would have though everyone in the crowd knew each other and had coordinated chants in Sully’s Tap before the game. Red Sox fans are so loyal, they have long eclipsed the consecutive sell-out record (455 games was previous record, broken September 8th, 2008 – I was there) , and are still adding to that tally. We are so unified we refer to ourselves as Red Sox Nation, and we have a President, the Rem Dawg! I use Boston as an example, because I live here and love Boston sports, but there are fans like this in Philadelphia and Chicago too. Great sports cities with rich tradition, and a knack for developing passionate fan bases.
Here’s my challenge for the businesses out there: Try to replicate that kind of passion amongst your workforce around your brand. I know you already have at least 3 excuses in your head for why it can’t be done. I can hear them now – my company is too big, we need these strict corporate policies, our employees can’t buy $7.50 beers two at a time like they can at the Fenway. I know, I hear you, but I think you’re wrong. In fact, think there are a lot of companies getting this right, and the dividends are incredible! Talent attraction AND retention!
Who is getting this right? Video interviewing firm HireVue definitely comes to mind. Here’s a company that has a ton of momentum, and I think it’s because of their people. Give Josh Schwede 15 minutes over a beer and tell me that you aren’t an advocate for what they are trying to do, or that you don’t want to replicate that kind of passion in your company. Need something bigger? Locally, one company that I consistently see employees buzz about is EMC. Here’s a sample of tweets from Polly Pearson, VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement from last week:
“Just got EMC’s 2011 FORTUNE Best Places to Work For book: “Innovation, Passion, SUCCESS!” Includes refs to 2.0, TWITTER + EMC Tweeps”
“Excited to share EMC’s story at BU tomorrow! Attendees are business leaders looking at new models for innovation, workforce management”
3 of Polly’s top 5 words in her tweet cloud are #emc, EMC, and thanks. Her top 5 hash-tags: #emc, #emcworld, #emcs, #jobs, #1. I know what you are thinking. Jason, that’s obvious, because Polly is EMC’s VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement. Isn’t that her job? Yes, of course. But she’s out there talking about her company, and people like me are writing about how it’s cool that there are people out there being passionate about their company. And let me ask you – does your company have a VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement?
That’s what I thought.
(Note: If you were wondering, neither HireVue nor EMC are clients of SEI-Boston, LLC. or of me personally at the time of this post. I am, however, guilty of liking soccer, going to Sully’s Tap before Celtics games, and being a loud and obnoxious member of Red Sox Nation. Now stop reading this disclaimer and go out and make your company a great place to work)
Great post, don’t be too hard on yourself with the headline either – they’re hard to come up with!
I’m going to reiterate your final statement on EMC because I could not agree more on the importance – the necessity – of having a VP of Employer Brand Strategy and Engagement.
This position is absolutely critical especially in companies with more than 5000 employees. They are the conduit between HR and Marketing.
Interesting side note for you: This title has been struggling to emerge since early 2000′s. Smart companies like EMC just get it.
Sounds like a new practice area for SEI
Cool blog. I’ll check back here often.