We Need People Who Give a S***

by Andrew Gill, Corporate & Commercial Counsel at Unlearn

We Need People Who Give a S***

Unlearn seeks to hire people who care about both their work (generally) and the company (specifically).

This caring is an essential element of what will bring us success.

I've worked and interacted with many companies, both big and small, and one thing that always strikes me is the range of incentive attitudes people have toward their work. Some people work for themselves, some work for the paycheck, some work for their manager, etc.

Another thing that strikes me is the common misunderstanding people have when applying to work at a venture-backed startup—they don't realize that we, and every startup, must look only for people who have the right attitude. We’re looking for people who really give a s***.

It may seem obvious to hire people who have the right attitude, but as the implications could literally mean the difference between success and failure, I think it’s worth exploring why. Unlearn’s mission is to advance AI to eliminate trial and error in healthcare. Simple, right? Of course not. This is a mission that may not be achieved in any of our lifetimes. We face numerous, significant, and constantly evolving obstacles.

The benefits, however, are even greater—if we eliminate trial and error in medicine, we will play a major role in saving people’s lives by reducing error in healthcare decision-making; by increasing access to therapeutic drugs for the millions of patients who need them; by accelerating the development of new therapies; and in many other ways that we cannot even fathom today.

Startups only have two advantages over bigger companies. First, they can adapt to change quickly. Second, not having a brand name, they can more easily hire employees with the right attitude relative to a larger company where candidates may be looking for a resume boost rather than a mission. Both of these advantages are ours to lose if we don’t pay attention to them.

To accomplish our mission, we must exploit our advantages. We need to find and hire people who will persevere in the face of adversity; who can adapt as their challenges evolve; who will learn how to address problems if they don’t already have the knowledge; who will lift up and support their teammates; and who will advocate for the incredible mission we’re striving toward.

In other words, we need people who give a s***.

Now, in no particular order, let’s explore how I see each of the elements of attitude.

1. We need people who will persevere in the face of adversity. The reality is that, with the numerous obstacles on the way to success, there will inevitably be failures and setbacks. There will also be times when the company will not go in the direction that an employee thinks is the right one. Resilience and grit are what will get each of us through these rough patches. There is a great book on this topic.

2. We need people who can adapt to meet their ever-evolving challenges. Remember that first advantage that a startup has? The ability to be nimble is really the superpower of a startup. This, of course, means that the employees must themselves be nimble, which could mean any number of things. For example, we must be able to identify and address new problems quickly; we must be willing to pivot from a project halfway through its completion; and we must be willing to learn new skills or knowledge for the needs of the company. It is an attitude that fosters the willingness and flexibility to learn and adapt. If someone doesn’t care, it is much more likely that they won’t flex—they won’t make the effort to learn a new skill or adapt to a new challenge. We can’t afford to work with that kind of person.

3. We need employees who will lift up and support their teammates. This is, of course, another way of saying we need employees who will support the culture we want to create. Plenty has been written on this topic as well, but it’s worth noting that we would do ourselves a real disservice if we allowed employee attitudes to affect our culture negatively. We face enough obstacles without creating more.

4. We need people who will advocate for our mission. Startups need external champions, whether they come from customers, regulators, suppliers, or elsewhere. The only way to find and identify these people is through advocacy. Every employee should be an advocate for Unlearn and its mission. And advocacy is much more natural, inherent, and effective if it is done from a place of belief in the company and its mission.

Unlearn is not unique, by the way. I don’t know if all startup employees realize it, but every startup has its own constant flow of obstacles. We are all in a race against time—“at war,” in the words of our CEO, Charles Fisher—to either accomplish our goals or sink into the oblivion of failed startups. The needs I have outlined above could just as easily be applied to every startup, everywhere.

In the end, a company is nothing more than its people. And skills can be taught. Attitude, in large part, cannot. At Unlearn, we pay attention to attitude because we have a big mission to accomplish, and we’re looking for people who want to share in achieving it.