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group38 · 5 years

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Proposal and Production Plan

1: UNDERSTANDING YOUR PROPOSAL What are you intending to do?

Give a brief description of your team’s offering:

Our team aims to offer a fun and interactive way to address the issue of improper recycling. The game demonstrates the effects of improper recycling and how recycling isn't as simple as it seems. Our game of recycle pong highlights the scary truth behind the recycle process.

Give a brief description of the way your offering will be presented at the market:

We will present a large scale arcade like game of what we are calling recycle pong. The expo attendees will be offered the chance to “recycle” an item from the pile by throwing the item into the correctly coloured cup. If the item misses the correct coloured cup and ends up on the floor, it will then go on to either pollute the “ocean” or live forever in the “landfill.” If the item lands in the wrong coloured cup, then that entire cup is emptied and returned to the pile of unsorted rubbish.

2: DEFINING the TASKS involved What is required to achieve your proposal?What are the key components underpinning your offering and expo: list them

- Rubbish - plastic, paper, cans/tins

- Bins/Cups

- Tarp and soil - for the landfill

- Paddling pool and water - for the ocean

- Signs - landfill, ocean, big title page, colour key chart

- Sound system

- Sound track - carnival sounds, win, lose

- Costumes - high vis vest x2, dust pan and brush x2

List and arrange in sequential order all tasks and activities necessary for a successful production and expo

1. Collect rubbish

2. Make the cups and colour label them

3. Buy paddling pool

4. Buy tarp

5. Makes signs

6. Buy costume items

7. Make sound effects

From your list which items need to be: constructed / acquired / assembled. Do this under the headings Product or Stall. Consider quantities, where this will happen and storage

- Colour label the bins - store the bins

- Blow up and fill the paddling pool with water - this will happen on the day of the expo

- Cover a tarp with a pile of soil - this will happen on the day of the expo

Any packaging, branding material, or other collateral to be produced

- Signage

What materials are required, where will they be sourced from, how much will you require and what will be needed to process them?

- Buy large rubbish bins for the cups - Bunnings

- Buy paper to cover the bins - Warehouse stationary

- Buy paddling pool - Kmart

- Buy tarp - Bunnings

- Buy dirt - Bunnings

- Collect rubbish - from expos, and around campus, and from home

- Buy fishing wire - hang some of the signage from ceiling

3: PLANNING for PRODUCTION and DISPLAY Tools / Equipment / Facilities What tools / equipment / facilities / specific knowledge will be needed for production (Provided by Massey? external provider? you?) :

- Printing service - signage

What tools / equipment / power cords, double adaptors / facilities / health and safety considerations (if you intend using a ladder you must have completed ladder training) will be needed for installation on expo day / (provided by who?)

- Ladder to hang some signs?

Any electrical equipment required for building or installation will need to be certified safe by Uli in the 3D workshop tested and signed off, prior to using?

- None

Any storage requirements for materials or other items other than what will fit on the designated trolleys on Levels D or E (must be signed off by a staff member):

- None

Have you discussed any use of Massey tools, equipment or facilities with a technical staff member and made advanced bookings where necessary?

- No

Have all of your team members completed health & safety inductions for the use of all facilities or equipment they need to use? Eg: 3D workshop inductions here are held 2pm – 4pm every Wednesday in the workshop just turn up!

- Yes

Transport, pick-up and delivery of items / Who has access to a car or van (if required) / Who has a full license / are you insured?

- Jack (car)

You must consider whether your offering would pass a health and safety inspection for both yourselves and users? Identify all potential risks and hazards (use the risk assessment form on stream to do this) discuss these with a staff member.

- Low risk:

Slippery floor (paddling pool)

Hit by flying object

Potentially sharp object e.g can/tin

Consider time factors involved in all tasks and activities and factor these into your production schedule below

4: GROUP: TASKS / RESPONSIBILITIES / TIMEFRAMES Who / What / When?

List group members’ skills

Jack - spatial

Jess - spatial

Lara - spatial

Arthur - photography

Maria - fine arts

Assign tasks and responsibilities

Set deadlines for achieving those tasks and responsibilities / draw up an overview production schedule

Bins - Jack (week 9)

Rubbish Collection - Everyone (week 10 and 11)

Pool - Jack (week 9)

Signs - Everyone (week 9)

Wayfinding - Everyone (?)

Landfill - Jack (week 10)

Sound - Jess (week 10)

Costumes - Jess (week 10)

5: BUDGET and COSTS How much / When / Where / Why

Decide on a dollar amount individual group members need to contribute

Date needed

How are you going to manage your budget?

Keep track of who paid what when and where? Consider whether one person needs to have an overview of the budget and that person authorizes payments. What are the implications of not having someone in this role? Is one person allocated the role of treasurer?

* Keep all Receipts

We will purchase and keep track of purchased items and in week 12 we will work out the total amount spent and then work out how much each person needs to pay.

6: COLLABORATION(S) Who else?

• Any collaboration with other teams (give team numbers and nature of the collaboration):

Possible collaboration with group 33 who is in the same room.

Possible collaboration with the group working on the chill out space.

#jess38

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cloudstorageboss · 7 years

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11 Google File Sharing Facts That Are a Risk To Your Privacy

Just about everyone knows about Google’s file sharing options. Google Drive, Google Docs, and Gmail have become mainstays of the industry with millions of users across their sharing apps, and for a good reason. Google’s offerings are simple-to-use, reliable, and make getting your files to recipients for instant collaboration a breeze.

There may be a darker side to all this Google-related cheer, though. Google’s file sharing comes with its share of privacy concerns, and despite Google’s insistence that your information is stored in their “secure data centers” there’s no shortage of articles about the company leaking information or allegedly mining and marketing data to third parties to make a buck.

Here are some facts that might make you think twice about your privacy when making use of Google’s various platforms.

1) Google Has Some Sordid History with Their File Sharing

We mentioned one lawsuit Google found itself mired in at the onset, but that isn’t the first, last, or only time Google has found themselves in hot water. Look at Matera vs. Google if you’d like. Though they dodged any serious repercussions with a settlement, the fact that instances like this keep popping up doesn’t bode well for the company’s image.

In particular, it gives the impression that providing a quality service is more of a secondary concern and gobbling up as much information about users (and non-users) that they can use to turn a profit is their primary aim. They might claim otherwise, but then, why would they only address the issue after they found themselves in court?

While some protestation might seem like conspiracy theory, there’s definitely a pattern there that would suggest Google isn’t nearly as altruistic as it paints itself to be, and anyone using their services should think long and hard about giving such a gigantic company so much access to their personal data. That warning applies to every company, of course, but Google’s history with shenanigans makes it that much more apropos.

This warning is further compounded by incidents like this one, where Google was syncing user photos through Google Photos even after they deleted the app from their phone. Though they gave the usual corporate speech about how they were committed to making things “clearer” for users of their programs, one just can’t help but wonder, which leads to another interesting point.

2)The Terms of Service Aren’t the Most Reassuring

To be clear, Google is upfront about the fact that “You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.” Good so far, but then there’s this bit:

When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps).”

Now, some rightly claim that this is just giving Google the permission to use your data for derivative uses like their Google Translate service, and that, as they state on the onset, your intellectual property remains yours. It’s not a “gotcha clause” right? True, but Google is still holding on to your data, even after you leave, and as we’ve determined, they’re none too shy about continuing to use that content to their own ends and continue to exert their dominance as global overlords of personal data.

Don’t forget about this either:

We may modify these terms or any additional terms that apply to a Service to, for example, reflect changes to the law or changes to our Services. You should look at the terms regularly. We’ll post notice of modifications to these terms on this page. We’ll post notice of modified additional terms in the applicable Service. Changes will not apply retroactively and will become effective no sooner than fourteen days after they are posted. However, changes addressing new functions for a Service or changes made for legal reasons will be effective immediately. If you do not agree to the modified terms for a Service, you should discontinue your use of that Service.”

So, they can “change the game” on you when they see fit, and conveniently claim that they’re just trying to comply with new laws. As you might have already guessed, this poses another interesting conundrum.

3) They Still Have to Comply With World Governments

Sometimes government intervention isn’t so bad. Other times, they’ll come up with any reason they like to snatch up private details for little to no reason at all. Remember the Patriot Act? PRISM? Expanding snooping on civilians that ballooned under President Obama and may well continue throughout the Presidency of Donald Trump?

At least Google is (supposedly) transparent about all those requests for user information that they receive from government entities, and, as they state they “aim to put users first” whenever they get such requests. Still, that wording is less-than-clear, and anyone planning on using Google file sharing for any reason should keep in mind that, if the government wants it, they can just ask Google for it.

4) Security Holes Do Pop Up from Time To Time

It’s the nature of just about any platform. Bugs will arise, and Google has had their share. There was the “anyone who has the link” fiasco, wherein the shareable link could enable crafty third parties to sneak a look at private data “without further authentication.” It was patched, but these sorts of issues aren’t uncommon.

More recently, Wired reported on the potential of shortened links being exploited to spy on people’s Google Maps information:

To fully illustrate the creepy potential of that publicly accessible mapping data, the researchers went so far as to identify one “young woman” who had shared directions to a Planned Parenthood facility. Starting with the Google Maps data from shortened URLs that pointed to her home, they were able to confirm her address, full name, and age—thankfully none of which they shared in the paper. “That’s a very substantial privacy leak,” Shmatikov says.”

The broader point? Yes, Google dedicates a substantial amount of time to identifying and plugging vulnerabilities, but no service is perfect. With a large network like Google that has so much information at its fingertips, the implications of even unintentional privacy violations are thoroughly chilling.

5) Your Google Account Poses A Liability

“One account. All of Google.” That little service that Google provides to make it easier to access all their various platforms is intended to help, and indeed, it does make it easier just remembering one password for all of your Google “stuff.” On the flipside, though, this poses a risk from a security and privacy standpoint.

If someone can get into one of your accounts surreptitiously, or, through negligence you forget to log out of an account and leave your device open, all your accounts then become vulnerable. What’s more, services like Google Drive don’t log you out automatically, meaning you’re particularly susceptible to less-than-scrupulous individuals with ill-intent.

6) Two-Factor Authentication Can Help…

Thankfully, to curtail this problem, Google allows you to enable two-factor authentication on your account to make it more secure. In short, 2FA requires that you provide two different means of proving yourself before you can access the account. In the case of Google, it’s “something you know (your password) and something you have (a code sent to your phone).”

You can read the steps for turning on Google’s 2FA here. It’s bolstered by the fact that you can use an email recovery option to get back into your account if you for some reason forget your password, and can also get a passcode sheet in case someone does manage to circumvent the security on your account and changes your normal password.

7) …But Mobile Access Presents A Concern

Unfortunately, not even this method is foolproof, and savvy tricksters continue to discover ways around the two-factor system, either through clever workarounds or skillful social engineering. To make matters worse, you can completely bypass 2FA on mobile devices for increased convenience and flexibility. Sounds good, until you lose a device that you forgot to lock, and someone else is rummaging around all your Google accounts with no restrictions.

8) Phishing Is Still an Issue

The above raises another issue. For all that Google does to make Drive and their other services secure, the human element is always open to manipulation. The tricks range from spoofing the Google login page (which was fixed) to taking advantage of human nature to get people to grant access to their accounts unknowingly.

To keep yourself safe, you should arm yourself with the knowledge you need to identify and avoid phishing attacks and social engineering. With some study, you can learn to spot the signs that you’re being targeted and keep your passwords and other sensitive authentication information close to the vest.

The rule of thumb is to watch out for spam emails, make good use of encryption and firewalls, don’t email passcodes or other similar data, don’t click on links from unknown senders, and avoid entering any information in random pop-up screens (among others).

9) You’ve Got To Know How To Work The Options

Within Google’s File sharing network, there are lots of options that affect who can access and edit the data you store. Unfortunately, not all of these are as intuitive as Google might hope, which can lead to confusion and the potential for you to accidentally make something accessible to all that you meant to keep private. The only way around this is to familiarize yourself with the options Google allows for deeply, and know what you’ve got your various files set to.

youtube

For example, the aforementioned link sharing. If you turn it off, only you or specific people you designate can see the file in question. If you turn it on for “anyone with the link,” then only people you’ve provided the link should be able to see it, if you turn it to “on for the public,” anyone across the web can access that file (even through search engines). Make sense?

Other things you should take the time to research are editing features, sending attachments, owner privileges, and other such options that determine what specific users can do with specific files. There’s a lot of information to take in, but knowing about it all will help you better protect your privacy when using Google file sharing platforms.

10) Google’s Got a Big Target On Its Back

As a repository of untold tons of personal data, Google has long worn a target on its back for cyber attackers. The trend shows no sign of slowing down, and there’s a hefty list of attempts taken throughout the years to cite. Like this one, where, apparently, government intelligence agencies were attempting to gain access to Gmail to snoop on individuals, or Operation Aurora, a coordinated effort to glean sensitive information from the tech giant.

One might say that it comes with the territory of being such a popular service, but it’s something to keep in mind before choosing to use Google for file sharing purposes. Convenience is great, but are you comfortable with the risks to privacy?

11) You Might Want to Look Into Encryption

Finally, you might want to take some additional steps of your own to enhance your privacy when using Google’s services, as Google doesn’t use client-side encryption for the data you upload (meaning they can access the files in your account when they choose). Pre-encryption is a popular option, for preventing this, and you can read more here about getting it done.

Like most cloud-based solutions, it all comes down to how you want to balance security and privacy. In the end, this decision falls on you, but you should make sure you’re well informed about all of Google’s practices and the ways you can further protect yourself before making your final call.

11 Google File Sharing Facts That Are a Risk To Your Privacy was first published at http://www.cloudstorageboss.com/11-google-file-sharing-facts-that-are-a-risk-to-your-privacy/

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cherkowskimarsdenllp · 4 years

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Son Claims Right to Home Built on Father’s Property After Father Dies Without a Will

In a recent case, the court had to determine who was entitled to a home built on a father’s property after he died without a will.

Son Constructs Home on Father’s Property

The mother and father had two sons.

In 1987, the elder son joined the father in his framing business as an hourly employee. At that time, the elder son and his wife were either renting or staying with friends or family.

The elder son knew that the father was interested in buying some vacant land on which to build some houses. The elder son located some property for sale and told his father about it.

The father purchased the property on August 3, 1988 for $160,000 and took title in his name alone.

The father had hoped to be able to sever the land into lots, build houses and sell them for a profit. Despite this, shortly after purchasing the land, the father told the elder son to take a small section of the property for himself and build a home for his family. While the father had purchased the land, the elder son and his wife funded the construction of the home themselves.

In February 1989, the father applied to formally sever a parcel from the property, where the house was being constructed, with the intention of conveying it to the elder son and keeping the rest for himself.

In March 1989, they learned that the local Land Division Committee had denied their request to sever a lot.

By the summer of 1989, the elder son was running out of money for the construction. Accordingly, the father and mother mortgaged their own home again for $80,000 and made the funds available to the elder son and his wife to finish construction.

At the end of June 1989, the elder son and father learned that they were denied the development permit because the lot had already been severed to the maximum allowed. They were devastated by the news, but continued construction.

The elder son claimed that soon after, the father told him not to worry because it would all become his when the father passed away.

Father’s Death

On July 17, 2004, the father passed away without a will.

The surviving family members believed that everything that belonged to the father would automatically go to the mother and carried on as before with respect to the property: the elder son and his wife continued to reside on the property, pay all the taxes and insurance premiums and make improvements, with the mother’s full knowledge. The elder son believed that the property would be ultimately conveyed to him upon the mother’s death.

Son and Wife Separate

The elder son and his wife separated in March 2011. They continued to reside in the home, separately, until 2018, when the wife moved out.

It was subsequently discovered that title to the property did not automatically vest in the mother’s name, but that the rules of intestacy governed.

The elder son and his wife claimed that they had a beneficial interest in the property either through an unjust enrichment claim, which would entitle them to a constructive trust or monetary compensation, or through the principles of proprietary estoppel. The wife also argued there was an oral agreement between her and the elder son on one hand, and that father on the other hand, to convey the property to them.

The father’s estate maintained that the elder son and his wife’s claim of an agreement and a beneficial interest in the property, or even a compensatory claim, had not been made out on the facts or in law.

Court Finds Estate was Unjustly Enriched

The court began by finding thatit was difficult to distill, objectively, what the intention of the parties was with regard to the evidence presented about an oral agreement between the father and the elder son. As a result, the court did not find that an oral contract to convey the property to the elder son and his wife has been made out.

Regarding the unjust enrichment claim, the court found that there was no contract between father and the elder son and his wife that would deny them any benefit or compensation for their contributions to the property. Additionally, the court did not find that there was any evidence to support the finding that the elder son and his wife intended that their expenditures and labour were a gift to the father so that he alone could benefit from it. Accordingly, the court found that the elder son and his wife had satisfied their burden to prove that there is no juristic reason for the benefit they conveyed. The court stated:

“It is reasonable for the [elder son] and Wife to expect to receive some benefit for their ongoing improvement and upkeep of the Property. It is true that they were able to live on the Property at a lower cost than if they had purchased the Property themselves. However, the [elder son] and Wife were both clear that they would have never expended the time and money that they did on the Property had they believed they would not receive an interest in it.”

As a result, the court found that the estate had been unjustly enriched by the elder son and his wife with respect to the construction, improvement and maintenance of the house. It ordered that theland and home be sold, with 75% of the money going to the elder son and his wife to divide, and the remaining 25% to go to the estate.

Get Advice

We are committed to the health and safety of our community and helping ‘flatten the COVID-19 curve’. Our office remains open, but for the health and safety of all members of our community we will be limiting in-person client engagements in our office until further notice.

Your matters are extremely important to us and we want to assure you that business will not be disrupted.

If you have any questions we encourage you to contact us at [email protected]. Let’s continue to take care of each other during this difficult time.

The knowledgeable estate lawyers at Cherkowski Marsden LLP have over 50 years of combined experience helping people in Vernon create Wills designed to protect their families’ futures. Everyone, no matter their stage in life or income bracket, should have a Will to retain control over the administration of their estate. We work with clients with both modest and robust estate planning needs, advising on matters including asset distribution, business considerations, foreign assets and trust considerations. For clients with business assets and those in need of assistance with succession planning, we also offer the benefit of our considerable business law experience. It is impossible to predict all of life’s variables but having an estate plan in place takes a great deal of stress out of the unknown.

Contact the knowledgeable estate planning lawyers at Cherkowski Marsden LLP in Vernon and Salmon Arm for trusted legal advice and guidance on your estate planning needs, including how best to maximize clarity and minimize financial implications for your estate trustees and heirs. We look forward to collaborating with you to achieve your goals with respect to your interests and the protection of your loved ones. We can be reached online or by phone at 250-308-0338 (Vernon office) or 250-803-9171 (Salmon Arm office).

The post Son Claims Right to Home Built on Father’s Property After Father Dies Without a Will appeared first on Cherkowski Marsden LLP.

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csown · 7 years

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Imagine you start a company with two other co-founders. One of you is the CEO, one is the CTO, and one focuses on customer acquisition. You hire a few engineers, a designer, and an office manager. You lease an office, crank out product, and start signing up customers. After six months, business is picking up nicely, so you open a position to run your customer support group. You find a strong candidate who seems perfect for the role. She comes into your office for a day of interviews and joins the team for lunch. Later on, she goes out for drinks with some of the team and fires off questions about the company to them over beers. When she gets home, her roommate asks her impressions of the company. She pauses and thinks about what she learned during the day. She considers: What motivates the team? Did the team choose to work at this company because they believe in the team and mission, or just because they needed a job? Do they arrive in the morning energized to tackle whatever comes up, or do they stare at the clock waiting to go home? Is the team motivated more by fear of failure or by the chance to do something great? What are people’s work habits? Do people arrive early in the office and leave by dinner, or do they work late into the night and then not roll back in until lunch the next day? Do people work from home regularly? Do people respond to emails and Slack messages late at night and on the weekends, or do they sign off and go dark when the workday ends? Is the team diverse? Is the team a mix of immigrants and natives? Does it have a mix of experience levels, or is everyone straight out of school? Does it have racial and gender diversity? Did most of the team know each other before joining the company, or were they recruited from a variety of backgrounds and networks? Does the team socialize? At the end of the workday, do people hang out together, or do they go home to other friends and family? Are their social lives wrapped up in the company, or is the company just one of several social circles for them? Do they actually like each other, or are they merely cordial? Where do the ideas come from? Do the founders generate the ideas and then expect the team to go and execute them? Or is every team member expected to contribute their own ideas? Are people hired based on their ability to generate and advocate their ideas, or just on their ability to crank out work that someone else defines? How does the team collaborate? Do people schedule meetings to hash things out in person, or do they toss ideas around virtually over email and Slack? Do people share what they are working on with other groups and solicit feedback, or do they hold their work close to the vest, avoiding input since it creates more work? Are major decisions made only when there is strong consensus, or does a senior person simply decide the best thing to do then expect the team to follow? Do people seek or avoid conflict? When there is a tough decision to be made, do people get together and hammer it out? When a difficult conversation is needed, do people have it or avoid it? Do people complain about other teams behind their backs, or do they seek them out and resolve differences? Does the team promote from within? Are team members being trained on the business so that as it grows they can grow with it, taking on roles with more responsibility? Or does the company expect to hire new managers from the outside once more “adult supervision” is required? How structured is the company? Does the company have a clear set of goals and objectives the team is working towards? Is it clear who is responsible for which work? When changes to the plan happen, are they carefully considered and communicated, or are they made on a whim? Does the company make fast decisions, or does it delay and spent time considering options and building consensus? Who is rewarded? Are promotions and kudos given to the people who jump in and perform heroics when there is a crisis, or to the steady and reliable performers? Do the folks working in customer-facing roles get most of the kudos, or the ones behind the scenes making the trains run on time? Is challenging the status quo a fast track to more responsibility, or a good way to get smacked down and silenced. As your recruit thinks about all of these factors, she is considering your company's values, norms, and expectations. She is thinking about how the company gets work done, who makes the decisions, and how people are rewarded. What she is considering is, of course, your culture. And you have one, whether you know it or not, All companies do. This leads to a few implications to culture and how it is shaped: Culture is largely defined by the people. Most of a company's culture is simply an outgrowth of the people who work there. A company with mostly introverted people probably will have a quiet and considered culture. A company with a large sales team will probably have a more customer-centric and more extroverted culture. A company full of insecure or distrustful people will have a political or even toxic culture. A company with people who hate conflict will probably be indecisive and passive aggressive. A company with experienced people will draw more on best practices and previous experiences instead of rethinking things from first principles. Culture is set by the leaders. The leaders design the org chart and put together the team. They decide who to reward and promote. They either welcome feedback and challenges or are threatened by them. Their behavior sets an example to the rest of the team, and the rest of the team models it. This is why cultures at small companies often simply reflect the personality of the founders. Culture is set early and is hard to change. When your team arrives to work on Monday, they are generally going to behave the same way they did on Friday — it takes a deliberate act to change people's habits. When your team hires new people, they will usually hire people who fit into the culture. And if your team is homogenous, it will have more trouble adding diversity later. Culture is not HR. A great HR leader can help the company's leaders think about the culture they want, find ways to move the culture in the right direction, and monitor progress, but the culture of a company is set early and is set by the leaders. Most small companies don’t have HR anyway. Culture is not foosball and free beer. A great office environment can help attract and reward the people you want to join, but the culture is set by how the company does its work. So what can a founding team do to make sure their startup has a great culture? Do some soul searching. The culture will reflect the founders’ personalities, so the founding team needs to think through how they can be careful to expose their attributes they want people to emulate and keep the ones they don’t under control. They need to discuss with each other the culture they want to build and make sure they are in agreement before starting the company. They need to talk about adding more co-founders or early employees to counter-balance their own personalities. Start early. Culture starts to develop the day the team starts working together. It’s not something that can be added in later. The team needs to think about it from day one, monitor it carefully, and build the culture deliberately. “We’ll fix it later once we are up and running” does not work. Hire carefully. The biggest lever a company has to move its culture is who they hire. Startups should interview for cultural fit just as much as they interview for skill. They should check references carefully and ask those references questions about the candidate’s character and work style. The founders should reach out to a variety of networks to get more diversity of thought and background vs. simply hiring people they happen to already know. And although human nature is to hire people like ourselves, the right answer is often to seek out those who come from different backgrounds and will challenge the culture to grow and expand. Lead by example. Founders are under a microscope. Very small behaviors, like what they choose to talk about, who they reward, and how they respond to feedback and criticism spread quickly and set the culture. Track your “actual” culture and your “aspirational” culture. Too many teams have an offsite, write down some cultural values, laminate it on a poster, then tell their team, “this is our culture.” Teams roll their eyes since the reality on the ground is nothing like these values. Founders should instead be clear about the gap between today’s culture and the culture the company aspires to, then be clear how they will close the gap. Manage it. Recognizing and rewarding people should be partially based on each team member’s contribution to the culture. During 1-1’s, managers should ask questions about how the team is working together and building values the team wants to see. When gaps appear, managers need to work on solving them vs. hoping they resolve themselves somehow. In extreme cases they may even need to fire people who do something radically counter to the culture, especially disrespecting a co-worker or customer. Question it. As companies change, cultures need to change. What worked before may not work in the future, so the team needs to keep asking both if the current culture is working but also how it needs to change as the company grows. Most of all, culture is a living and breathing thing - it changes every day. A team can never completely control it, but they can be deliberate about the culture they want to build, understand the culture they have, and always strive to improve it, even when that means difficult or uncomfortable decisions. Good luck!

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