A Gritty Company

Grit is a hot topic these days. A word that had previously been used almost exclusively by football play-by-play crews to describe hardworking, untalented players is now being applied to the everyday work environment. Angela Duckworth’s book Grit inspired this trend and, while we’re not a company that chases trends, it is a pretty good description of what it takes to succeed at Rock Candy Media.

The truth is, working at RCM isn’t always fun. Our commitment to giving each client personal attention requires a lot of investment – and doesn’t end when the clock hits six. It’s also a company that values creative thinking, flexibility and proactive solutions. If you’re only doing what clients tell you to do, you’re not going to succeed here.

One thing that becomes apparent very early on is whether you have grit or not. At RCM, we’re always hiring people with management potential. If you join our team, the expectation is that you’ll be able to lead your own hires within a year. Within two weeks, it’s usually apparent who’s going to last and who’s going to move on.

Having high standards kind of sucks. Every time a new hire doesn’t work out it’s a drain on finances and drain on morale. Still, part of RCM grit is the willingness to pick up the slack when we’re down a team member and ensure that clients don’t notice a difference.

Life would probably be easier if we surrounded ourselves with task monkeys, but then we wouldn’t be fulfilling our obligations to our clients. We’ve got too much pride in what we do to settle for mediocre.

And the thing is, hiring for grit works. Our team now is the strongest it has ever been. Every day when we come into work, we know that we’re surrounded by smart, talented, hardworking people who are going to have our backs and our clients’ backs.

As an example, last week, half the internet was shut down dude to a DDOS attack. Our West Coast team was totally locked out of our project management software, but we didn’t let that stop us. The team banded together to work around technical difficulties and make sure clients still got everything they needed on time.

When you hire for ease, situations like this create panic and havoc. When you hire for grit, it’s just another day at RCM.