Chillin' with the CEO of Reddit: A Candor-Filled Chat About Work Ethic and Success
Employees needed a reminder to boost their work ethic once more
Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, dropped a bombshell during an interview on the "Prof G Pod" podcast - back in 2015, he found himself having to remind employees to buckle down and work hard!
The tech industry in the US, Huffman claims, tends to cling onto unrealistic ideals rather than drive labor productivity. According to the influential CEO, the success of Reddit, now valued at a staggering $21 billion, is largely due to users employing the platform as a search engine for their queries.
Huffman highlighted two significant factors that triggered the transformation at Reddit: the need to adopt common sense and reining in the entrenched idealism within the company culture. He explained, "Another big change for Reddit was that we weren't running a real company. We were very idealistic, and while that was good in many ways, we were also idealistic about not wanting to be a company, which isn't a good way to run a sustainable business."
He further added that the company had developed an alarmingly easygoing mentality, with the attitude that work could be put off. Despite the competitive nature of the industry, many employees seemed comfortable with half-baked products and procrastination. Huffman explicitly stated, "There was also this idea that we didn't have to work too hard," and he fought against it aggressively.
Having returned to Reddit in 2015 following a brief hiatus, Huffman rallied his team to work tirelessly to ensure the platform's success. On the subject, he made it clear that the stakes were high: "Listen, we really need to work really, really hard. We're in a competitive environment. If we don't work really hard and smart, and make this project successful from both a user and business perspective, we'll never achieve our mission."
Calling out the lethargic ethos affecting many tech firms, specifically in the Bay Area, Huffman compared it to an entitlement mentality: "There's almost an entitlement mindset in the Bay Area: 'I work at these companies, but I don't have to work too hard, and I'm here mainly for myself.'"
Many engineers at Reddit, Huffman found, drew inspiration from successful companies like Apple, adopting their slogan, "It's done when it's done." However, Huffman noted, this laissez-faire attitude produced half-baked products that were fundamentally flawed.
As part of his efforts to combat the sloppiness seeping into Reddit's processes, Huffman evolved his leadership style. He emphasized setting realistic timelines, a marked shift from his earlier engineering days, when he cherished the relaxed timetables.
Last year, changes to Google's algorithm impacted Reddit, sometimes positively and other times adversely. During the earnings call, Huffman shared that while there would be obstacles paved by Google, Reddit would continue providing users with the diverse, subjective, and authentic perspectives that keep them engaged.
All in all, Reddit's first-quarter results were promising, with a 61% increase in revenue, making the stock surge by 19%. This transformation from an idealistic, inefficient entity to a pragmatic, business-savvy enterprise has been instrumental in Reddit's remarkable growth.
What did Steve Huffman find himself reminding Reddit employees in 2015? They needed to buckle down and work hard.
Was the success of Reddit solely attributed to hard work? Not according to Huffman, as he claimed the success was largely due to users utilizing the platform as a search engine.
Despite the competitive nature of the tech industry, did many employees at Reddit initially seem to value hard work? There was an alarmingly easygoing mentality, with the attitude that work could be put off, as Huffman fought against it aggressively when he returned to Reddit in 2015.
