Finance and financial management companies are some of the least consumer-friendly businesses.  We hate that, and for nearly twenty years, we’ve been trying to educate people about when and where the companies that serve their financial needs are not aligned with their best interests — shining a light on the anti-consumer business practices of commission-based brokers, mutual funds with loads and hidden fees, and exorbitant interest rates on credit (to name just a few).

Still, too many people are underserved and overcharged by financial professionals.

While most of our efforts are focused on helping people to avoid Wall Street pitfalls, today we are announcing that we have partnered with PenFed to offer three unique credit cards that we think deserve to be in your wallet, which is something we can’t say about most of the credit cards out there. You can learn more at http://penfed.fool.com.

We want Fools to relentlessly search for better solutions and try new things.  Fools should make small, thoughtful changes and double down on the winner and learn from the losers. One of our favorite books is Little Bets by Peter Sims. It reinforces our “test and learn” mentality, and I highly recommend it.

Big innovation comes in big steps and small steps, and we always want to be walking forward.

Even our vocabulary and cultural habits embrace and push an innovative spirit.  I hear these phrases almost every day: “test and learn,” “fail fast,” “try stuff,” “top it,” ”small bet,” “minimum viable product.”  I have heard or said each of these terms in the past 48 hours.

We want Fools to be bold and, most of all, to focus on solving the real problems. “Top It!” is a phrase that is a constant reminder to build a better solution.  It’s easy to criticize an idea and lose sight of the problem you are trying to solve.  In an instant any Fool can reframe the conversation with that two-word term – TOP IT – and we are back on track to focus on the problem we’re trying to solve.

Here are my honest answers to questions I referenced in my first post about core values:

1)        Do we hire for this value?

Yes.  We are looking for people that want to make those small bets and top it with us.  In an interview we want to hear about a time that you saw a problem and just made it better.  We want to hear your ideas for our company or the job you seek.  You don’t have to have solved world hunger, but show us that you like to test and learn and are open to change.

 2)      Will we fire for this value?

I credit Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh with putting this question in my head and pushing the idea that core values are ONLY real if they actually drive action in your organization.  You demonstrate their importance if you are willing to take action to increase their presence and also to eliminate blockers to their success.  If an employee is a blocker to innovation and change, it just doesn’t work. 

3)      Can you see and feel this value walking through the office?

Yes.  We are constantly innovating in our physical space, too.  If you come to our Intergalactic HQ in Alexandria, VA for a culture tour you’ll see that our 5^th floor is completely mobile.  All of our desks are on wheels and if you come two months in a row it will look different the second time.  Things change pretty quickly around here.

4)      Is the value referenced frequently?  When was the last time?

I actually received an email from our Chief Performance Officer while I was writing this blog post.  It’s important to note that innovation as a core value is for everyone.  It’s not something that is expected of just the marketing, investing, product, or culture team.  Everyone is expected to innovate within their role and top it.  This is note was about our bonus payouts and innovation in accounting and employee ownership:

“I’d like to tell you about an experimental opportunity for your bonus payout that’s new this year. Like everything at The Fool, seeking innovation is a constant in our culture.  Heck, it’s a core value.  And, for the first time ever, we’re putting the power of choice in your hands in an innovative way…”

Also pretty cool that we’re encouraging employee ownership – I think.

Now – I encourage you to TOP IT!  How do you drive innovation in your company? Give me some ideas in the comments.

Why is it a core value: The Motley Fool was founded in community.  We are better investors because we work with our members.  They have experiences and knowledge that we don’t.

This translates to our working environment as well.  Union gives strength. Our decisions are better when we work together.  Fools are more productive and satisfied when they know each other. We gain energy when we are all working together to achieve the same goals.

We take this seriously.  In fact, we have a Chief Collaboration Officer. Long time Fool Todd Etter works full time to help us get to know each other and work together in creative ways.

Here are my honest answers to questions I referenced in my first post about core values:

1)      Do we hire for this value?

Yes!  We want to see it in the candidate we are interviewing and demonstrate its importance to them.  Interviews at The Fool usually involve 4-8 interviewers and they all have a say in the hiring process.  We also have a special part of the interview conducted by the “Foolish Ambassador.”  This is a Fool from another department who wouldn’t be working closely with the candidate who gets hired.  This Fool assesses Foolish Fit and core values.  A software developer might interview a stock analyst or an accountant might interview an editor.

 2)      Will we fire for this value?

This is an important question, but it will be hard to answer for all of my posts.  I don’t like to think about times when people haven’t been able to embrace our core values, but, alas, sometimes it happens.  Collaboration is such an integral part of who we are as a business that, ultimately, people who don’t embrace it just won’t work out.  Here is a hypothetical example of how this plays out here:  Morton is a brilliant designer.  He has a lot of excellent experience and keeps up to date on the latest trends.  He also thinks he has all the right answers (after all, what does the scrum master know about design?).  He works with his head down for weeks at a time to produce “the perfect” project that he unveils with a big “TA DA!”  By the time he’s done, he has strong sense of ownership and reluctance to accept constructive feedback.  But instead of applause, his fellow Fools are confused and frustrated.  While he was heads down, the project evolved and the design no longer addressed the needs of the project.  Even worse, he’s not willing to listen and make the needed adjustments.  He is frustrated with the team and they are not impressed with his lack of collaboration.  Great Fools don’t “TA DA.”  They seek input early, often, and from a variety of sources.

3)      Can you see and feel this value walking through the office?

It’s almost impossible not to see collaboration when you walk through the office.   We have no private offices and most of our desks are on wheels, so teams can easily push their desks together to work on a project.  Frequently you’ll see several Fools playing pool or sharing stories from their recent vacation.  There are also a lot of white boards with people huddled around them, discussing what they’re working on that day.

4)      Is the value referenced frequently?  When was the last time?

In fact, so frequently that it’s just part of daily Foolish vocabulary.   I promised to answer this one honestly (also a core value), so the last time I saw a reference was today on our intranet – probably not the best example but it is the most recent:

Mark K:  Hey Fools: if there’s an empty dishwasher right next to the sink, why are there always dirty dishes in said sink? A conundrum, wouldn’t you agree?

Peter V: I commented on this to Anthony just a few days ago! It just doesn’t seem Foolish to expect someone else to clean up after you, does it?

Tom:  OTOH, collaborative is a core value.

Let’s be collaborative on this blog post.  I certainly don’t have all the answers.  How do you collaborate in your office?  How can we top it?

You can imagine that they were created by a strange consultant with trendy glasses, who smelled like Mountain Dew and Altoids, who came to the office and spent a day in a conference room – or maybe a result of that executive retreat a few years ago where we all heard Alex got a little tipsy and crashed the golf cart.

But, so what? What do they really mean when push comes to shove?  How do you use them?

At their worst, Core Values are corporate jargon and a company joke – Enron, after all, had values of respect, integrity, communication, and excellence.

But used in the right way, they can be amazing – dare I say magical!  They can allow a company to develop a culture that exists without a lot of oversight.

At The Fool we really do try to live our core values every single day.  And they’re a little different than your typical corporate buzz words.  Here they are – created by a broad section of Fools from several departments and tenures.

You can see them on the wall as soon as you walk through the front door on our culture tour. But they don’t live there – they live in our culture and in each Fool’s daily actions.

Be Foolish!

• Collaborative - Do great things together.
• Innovative – Search for a better solution. Then top it!
• Fun – Revel in your work.
• Honest – Make us proud.
• Competitive – Play fair, play hard, play to win.
• Motley – Make Foolishness your own. Share your core value _____________.

Okay, great – but how do you know you are living them?  What about the pushing and shoving I mentioned earlier? For me it’s about these four questions, and I ask myself these questions frequently for each value:

1. Do we hire for this value?
2. Will we fire for this value?
3. Can you see and feel this value walking through the office?
4. Is the value referenced frequently?  Really? When was the last time?

In the next couple of posts I’ll answer these questions for each value to give you a greater sense of what they mean and how they simultaneously drive and reflect the culture of The Fool.

Robert blogs for Get Rich Slowly, and wrote a post about how your company can encourage employees to take a day to iron out their finances (or how you can set aside a day for this on your own). Check it out here!

By setting aside just a few hours to set up automatic payments, plan for emergencies, create a budget, and start saving for retirement, you can rest easy knowing your finances are taken care of!

Sign up here!

So how much vacation do you actually need?  Most Fools take between three and four weeks.  Some years Fools take more, some years we take less. Here’s the flip side: In a job where vacation time is limited, employees often feel like they need to optimize their free time and use all the time they’re allotted. Where vacation time is “free” it’s hard to tell if it’s ever okay to take any. Some Fools don’t really take much at all, and because we are all so connected we often forget to take a break.

To counteract some Fools’ tendencies to never take a vacation, we implemented a unique benefit called “The Fool’s Errand,” a monthly randomized drawing where the winner gets two consecutive, paid, no-contact-with-work weeks off. And it has to be taken within the month. So you’ve got two weeks to plan a two-week vacation and get all your ducks in a row before you leave.

Besides being a great surprise for one Fool each month, there’s also specific business purpose to the Fool’s Errand: It’s a great way to test our sustainability in a fun way. Typically an unplanned absence is a result of something unpleasant like illness, and only then the team learns where the single points of failure are. This way Fools can get a much needed and enjoyable break, while we as a company can make sure everyone is cross-trained in the event someone on our team needs to take time off unexpectedly.

What is your company’s policy on vacation? How do they encourage (or discourage) employees to take vacations and breaks?

Kara Chambers wrote this post before embarking on her very own Fool’s Errand! Her colleagues and her dog miss her very much but we all hope she has fun.