- Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel admits he purposely makes new hires have a terrifying first day to emphasize failure is welcomed—and necessary—to build a more creative team culture.
For most new hires, being asked to pull together a presentation on your first day would be nothing short of a nightmare. But that’s exactly how Snapchat’s cofounder and CEO Evan Spiegel puts fresh talent to the test.
Rather than easing in with office tours or paperwork, new designers are given mere minutes to brainstorm and pitch a brand-new idea to the team. Of course, they are probably terrified of falling flat on their face—and that’s precisely the point.
“When you have no context for what the company is working on, no idea what’s going on, how on earth are you supposed to come up with a great idea? I mean, it’s almost impossible,” Spiegel admitted on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
While the ideas tend to be not up to par, the goal is to rip the bandage off failure and open the door to creativity.
“99% of ideas are not good—but 1% is,” the tech billionaire said. “We really abide by the concept that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
Accepting failure can be a tough pill to swallow for many Gen Zers who are entering the workforce with unprecedented levels of anxiety. Plus, many of their bosses don’t have the same attitude as Spiegel; some six in 10 employers have reportedly fired Gen Z workers in part due to failures in the workplace, like lack of initiative or communication.
What a billionaire looks for in his new hires: 3 top values, but only one ‘essential ingredient’
Just three simple values distinguish a good candidate from one great candidate that Spiegel wants to hire—and that’s someone who is kind, smart, and creative. But one of these traits is even more important than the rest.
“We learned over time that actually, wow, kindness is the essential ingredient if you want to have a creative culture,” he said on the podcast.
Embodying kindness enables an environment where “crazy ideas” can flourish without fear of being laughed out of the room. But just being nice does not necessarily mean you are kind, he said. For example, if someone has something stuck in their teeth, a nice person will ignore it to avoid making you feel awkward. A kind person will point it out for your benefit.
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The same goes for the workplace. If a peer is struggling, there’s a clear difference in behavior: “The nice thing to do is maybe just make them feel good about it: ‘oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be okay,’” he said. “The kind thing to do is really help them succeed.”
Spiegel warned that finding individuals who balance kindness, intelligence, and creativity is becoming increasingly difficult as society focuses more on measuring performance.
“Creativity is so hard to measure, and so I think it can be really tough to find the dedication to invest in developing creativity when it’s uncertain what the outcome is,” he said.
Cultivating a welcoming creative environment is part of how Snapchat has continued to thrive against social media competition like Instagram and TikTok for the attention of Gen Zers. Last year, Snap’s daily active users increased 9% year-over-year to 453 million.
Fortune reached out to Snapchat for comment.
