#58 with Patrick Harris, VP Global Agency Development at Facebook

"You have to learn how to make a friend before you can call him a
friend." #OnTheWayToNewWork #Podcast58 #TheNewYorkTapes Patrick
Harris has been working for 20 years in order to connect Madison
Avenue with Silicon Valley. In doing so, he actively accompanied
both - the development of the classic web search and the
development from search to the social web. He was the first
employee in the Global Agency Development team. He could co-develop
the New York location of facebook from 25 to 2,000 employees. The
decision to swap his corner office at Microsoft 7 years ago, for a
job in the facebook company had several reasons. From the first
moment, he felt that facebook was a mission-driven company that
links hacker culture with the drive to share, connect and form
communities. Above all, it was the employees of facebook who
convinced him of this. One of the most common phrases he heard in
his first months was the question: "How can I help you"? Facebook
helps its employees to build a sustainable career. An internal
program called FUEL is about developing an individual plan. There
are different components, and each team decides for itself whether
they use it. When communicating with his team, Patrick strives to
reach each of his direct reports as often as possible on their
preferred communication channels. So in his experience, there are
people who are more likely to belong to the category "phone guy",
whilst others prefer Messenger, Workplace or WhatsApp and others
again prefer it by mail. It does not surprise us that facebook
workplace is the most used channel. For Patrick it is the "natural
extension of our culture". In this episode, we talk to Patrick
about the 'meeting culture' within the facebook organization and
get to know some exciting "hacks" here. For example, Patrick and
his team are increasingly using "24 hour pre-reads" and he
encourages his people “to present the last page first”. Facebook
gives its employees the freedom not to go to meetings, if they feel
they can not contribute to or profit from it. There are (developer)
teams who have agreed on a "no meeting Wednesday". The offices of
facebook also have a special meaning behind them. For Patrick, who
flies 250,000 to 300.000 miles a year, it always feels like coming
home. Besides this fact, the office is always "unfinished by
design" to remind everyone that facebook is not finished yet. With
very personal insights into his working style, his way of learning
and communicating with his family, we come to an end and wonder
again how quickly time has passed. ' As always, you will find the
On the Way to New Work Podcast 58 (the first in the series "The New
York tapes") on: SOUNDCLOUD soundcloud.com/onthewaytonewwork
SPOTIFY spotify.onthewaytonewwork.com And ITUNES
itunes.onthewaytonewwork.com And all book tips here
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