The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty (6 page)

Few employees ever met Jobs in person, but if they had, would they have been able to hold their own with Steve—really go toe-to-toe with him—or would they have wilted
into a blubbering mess? Apple wants employees who have a confident and fearless attitude toward customers, managers, and other superiors. The philosophy started with the most fearless employee of all—Steve Jobs himself.

Jobs’s top executives understood that they had to treat Jobs with respect but that they were also expected to push back on his ideas and argue their points. “I realized very early that if you didn’t voice your opinion, he would mow you down,”
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Tim Cook told Isaacson when he was still Apple’s chief operating officer. “He [Jobs] takes contrary positions to create more discussion, because it may lead to a better result. So if you don’t feel comfortable disagreeing, then you’ll never survive.”

Although Jobs could be sharp in his criticism, his behavior was oddly inspiring because in many cases with his team, he wasn’t being mean to be mean. He was challenging them to push beyond their self-perceived limits. Jobs believed that by expecting people to do great things, they would do great things. If a person was calm and confident and Jobs could see that the person was passionately devoted to the user experience, he would respect that team member and his or her opinions.

In one YouTube video that recently surfaced, Jobs is seen holding an internal meeting with employees at NeXT, the computer company he built after leaving Apple in 1985.
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He talked about the importance of “reiterating” the vision, which he did a lot. Again, we see why all inspiring communications begin with the passionate pursuit of a bold, intoxicating vision. During the meeting, one employee took Jobs to task for a punishing production schedule. The meeting took place in 1986, and Jobs was concerned that a failure to deliver the product in the spring of 1987, eighteen months away, could lead to the company’s failure. The employee argued that compromising the quality of the product to meet a subjective deadline didn’t make sense. The woman was strong, forceful, articulate, and knowledgeable. Jobs looked at her, nodded, and had a comeback. The conversation grew heated but gave others the confidence to voice their opinions as well. By the end of the exchange, however, everyone was laughing, getting along, and feeling inspired about their new product.

Fearless does not mean insubordinate, obnoxious, or rude. Those are not the qualities you want to see in people on your team. According to Gary Allen, who maintains an extensive Apple Store blog, “Fearless feedback means that anyone at any level can provide constructive feedback to any other employee at any level. Not surprisingly this ties back to the original hiring process which we know focuses on creating a team, not on a person’s technical skills. In the hiring phase you must evaluate whether prospective employees can both give and receive fearless feedback.”
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How do you hire friendly, but fearless employees? A résumé will not reveal fearlessness. A traditional job interview with contrived questions like, “What’s your greatest weakness?” will not reveal fearlessness. True confidence is revealed through conversations with hiring managers and employees.

“First and foremost, Apple is looking for a ‘type,’ not a person with vast experience and knowledge,” says Gary Allen. “If you are a team player and can fit into Apple’s work ethic and philosophy, the company will teach you anything you need to know to meet their job performance goals. You do not need retailing or computer repair experience to be hired.” You do, however, need passion, spirit, and a collaborative attitude.

Apple has a three-step hiring process that can last more than one month. A description of each step in the process follows.

The first step is to put a group of candidates in a room with other candidates, hiring managers, and Apple Store employees. According to Allen, the interviews are very informal and there does not seem to be a standard set of questions for the interview. Sometimes candidates are asked simple questions such as, “What is your favorite ice cream?” These questions are meant to see who speaks up, how well they project, and how confident they are in front of others. Wallflowers are quickly weeded out. The larger group is broken up
into smaller groups of about four to five people and asked questions about how they would respond to a potential situation: for example, a customer comes in with an iPhone that doesn’t work. How would the candidates handle it? The answer is less important than how the candidate arrived at the answer. A “know-it-all” might not last to the next round. The person who doesn’t know the answer but who interacted with the group and even asked for help is the one who stands out. Apple is looking for people who exhibit the traits of a team player. A very small percentage of the larger group gets called back for step two in the hiring—or the weeding out—process. One applicant who went through the process posted this description on his blog:

The meeting was held at an Apple store after it had closed for the day. There were about twenty applicants there. Once we had all arrived, store management performed introductions and told us they were going to be hiring some of us to fill various positions. We were asked to go around the room, introduce ourselves, tell why we wanted to work for Apple, and something unique or interesting about ourselves. Next, they surprised us by giving us five minutes to create an “About Me” page in Pages that included a picture of ourselves. At this point I was feeling pretty good because I have quite a bit of experience with Pages and most of the people there, even though they had called themselves Mac fanatics not ten minutes ago, barely even knew what Pages was.
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Now think about what had just happened. Ten minutes earlier some people in the room were bragging about how much technical knowledge they had about Macs and the programs. But recruiters were not looking for technical know-how; they were looking for confident team players who were also humble enough to acknowledge what they didn’t know. Fearlessness is not arrogance. Arrogance covers up insecurities. Fearless applicants speak up in a group without trying to impress the group with how much they know.

Step two involves candidates sitting in front of a five-member panel made up of managers, trainers, and employees who work in the “red zone,” the front part of the store where the sales take place. Again, the panel will ask some technical questions, but it’s perfectly fine if the candidate doesn’t know all the answers. Apple customers are demanding. It’s nearly impossible to predict all of their questions and concerns. An arrogant candidate stands little chance of getting through the next round. The panel is looking for some technical knowledge, the confidence to ask for help, and the commitment to make sure the customer walks out of the store with a smile on his or her face. Managers are judging whether the candidate can go toe-to-toe with Steve Jobs, but they also want to determine that the potential employee can offer a Ritz-Carlton level of customer service.

Candidates who make it to round three have a good chance of being hired. Managers might bring a candidate to the third round simply to reassure themselves and their staff that the new employee has passion and the right attitude. If you’re knowledgeable but lacking in passion, you might not make it to the Apple sales floor. In this stage a candidate might be asked questions about her success in a previous job. Again, the answer is not as important as the way the question is answered. A candidate who takes all the credit for his success will not be as impressive as the person who credits the team. “More than anything, this personal interview attempts to judge your suitability to the team, not your technical or sales skills,” says Allen.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shined under Jobs because, according to Walter Isaacson, he was “calm and decisive when in command, but he didn’t seek any notice or acclaim for himself.”
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Apple employees have confidence in themselves and are self-assured enough to ask for help when they don’t know the answer to a question. Going toe-to-toe with Steve Jobs simply means that an employee believes in something and is willing to fight for it. Some hiring managers at Apple will purposely disagree with a candidate’s
opinion even if the hiring manager involved completely agrees. They are looking for fearlessness. Does the candidate get rattled? Does he or she fold? Again, they are not looking for people who have all the answers, but people who will defend their point and not be shy to ask for help when they need it.

In 1981 the original Macintosh team gave out awards to people who best stood up to Steve Jobs. According to Isaacson, “If you were calmly confident, if Jobs sized you up and decided that you knew what you were doing, he would respect you. In both his personal and professional life over the years, his inner circle tended to include many more strong people than toadies.”
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Don’t hire toadies. Hire fearless employees instead.

What does fearlessness look like on the sales floor? In a word—ownership. You’ll notice something on the Apple sales floor that is highly unusual in other retailers. If you approach an employee with a problem or question, the employee must own the problem and see that you are cared for. This tactic rarely happens anywhere else. I once approached a friend who looked very tired and agitated. She had just returned from a “big box” electronics retailer to buy a wireless router. “I’m furious,” she said. “I stood there for ten minutes and four different people—four people—all told me that ‘it’s not my department.’ They literally just walked away leaving me to figure it out for myself.” This would never happen in an Apple Store, and it would never happen in a Four Seasons. Both brands hire friendly, but fearless employees who take ownership of the problem and will not let it rest until the customer gets resolution. Cowardly employees will pass the buck. Fearless employees ask for help if they don’t have the answers. A fearless employee owns the relationship from beginning to end. No obstacle will get in the way of creating a satisfying relationship between the customer and the brand.

Fearless employees do the right thing for the customer, and they do right for the team. Shortly before his death, Steve Jobs said he didn’t want Apple employees to ask, “What would Steve do?” Instead he wanted them to do what’s right. Former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona agrees with that philosophy. “I really care about having an atmosphere where my players care about doing the right thing,”
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Francona said shortly after leading the Red Sox to the World Series Championship in 2004, the first time the club had won a World Series in eighty-six years. “For me it would be silly to walk around like a drill sergeant,” said Francona. Instead Francona cultivated a clubhouse culture where, despite some big egos, players understood the ultimate direction of the team, respected each other, and were confident about doing what’s right for the team instead of gratifying their own egos. The players respected their coach and were fiercely loyal to each other on the field.

When you create an atmosphere where good players want to do the right thing—in retail or in sports—it doesn’t guarantee that you will win “the championship,” but it will guarantee that you are putting your team in the best position to win.

The clothing store chain Men’s Wearhouse has fostered what it calls a “fearless and energized workplace.” During a one-day trip to Los Angeles to meet with a client, an
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producer called me unexpectedly to schedule an important interview that would air on a national program. I had not packed a suit or a tie for this trip, and I really felt like the topic required more formal attire. So I did what thousands of other men must have done that day—dropped into a Men’s Wearhouse to buy some nice-fitting clothes that look good without breaking the bank. I purchased two coats and two ties, all while the car was waiting outside. The driver didn’t have to wait long. It took all of fifteen minutes from the time I entered the store.

As soon as I walked into the store I talked to the first salesperson I saw, Sam. I told Sam my predicament, and Sam, being a
fearless employee, said, “I don’t even have to measure you. You’re a 42 regular. Come this way. I know exactly what you need.” Sam realized we didn’t have time for small talk. His goal was to satisfy the customer and to make him look his best, all in fifteen minutes.

The Men’s Wearhouse hires for fearlessness. According to the store’s philosophy, “The emotional atmosphere within a retail store environment can make or break that store’s ability to reach its financial goals. Store appearance and product knowledge are certainly important, but customer comfort and satisfaction during the shopping experience hinge on something else: our store must feel emotionally energized.”
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Store appearance plays a critical role at Apple, but it’s the experience that customers have in the store with employees that makes the difference for Apple, Men’s Wearhouse, or any other retailer known for exceptional customer service.