How a Conscious Company Culture Propels G2’s Unicorn Success

Dec 17

Some under-the-radar tech news caught my attention last week. It didn’t garner the same media attention from when G2 announced its $157 million Series D, propelling the company into the exclusive Unicorn Club two months ago. However, it does provide powerful insights into why G2 became a unicorn.

G2 founder and CEO, Godard Abel, announced Priti Patel joined G2 as the Chief People Officer. He explained that she was no stranger to G2 because she had been coaching the executive team on conscious leadership for the past couple of years. This decision was also an inflection point for the rapidly growing software marketplace that counts 60% of the prestigious Forbes Cloud 100 as customers, among a host of other impressive business growth metrics and business accolades.

I pondered. Is creating a conscious company culture critical to G2’s unicorn success? That’s an important question to answer.

There is certainly evidence this was possible. According to Gallup’s recent study, the right culture can lead to 33% higher revenue by attracting the right talent. And, in full disclosure, my independent research in Purpose First Entrepreneur supports it.

However, I admit I have cognitive bias on the topic. So I wanted to learn more from Godard. How was he building a conscious company culture and what impact did it have on the bottom line? Keep in mind, this isn’t Godard's first rodeo. He founded and built Big Machines and SteelBrick, which he successfully sold to Oracle and Salesforce respectively. With this type of success, you might expect him to rest on his laurels.

But Godard continues to push the envelope. Below, he shares with me the leadership wisdom he’s picked up during his two decades of entrepreneurialism and personal evolution.

You practice conscious leadership. How did that come to be?

Over the years, I learned I needed to better enjoy the entrepreneurial ride that I was on. The thing is, founding a company can consume you and cause anxiety because whether or not you are successful is going to affect the lives of your employees, your investors, your partners and so on. It’s really easy to feel the weight of the world in this role. Then a few years ago, I discovered Jim Dethmer’s style of conscious leadership, which has helped me deal with the anxieties of leading a company. Now I can enjoy the highs and lows of it all.

What does conscious leadership mean to you?

It means being a self-aware leader; giving the leader the ability to grow, learn and enjoy the ability to be in this role. More specifically, you are either being “above the line” or “below the line.” Being below the line is about closing yourself off from learning and listening to others; it’s too much righteousness. Being above the line is what I greatly prefer because it’s about growing, learning and being open to evolving your opinion. So, mastering the skills of being above the line is a key to being a positive leader. And drilling down a little further, it’s about breathing and being in the moment. This meditative practice helps me overcome anxiety while recognizing the humanity in all of us.

Does it eliminate anxiety?

We are not immune to negative feelings because we are conscious. I don't believe conscious leadership in and of itself eliminates anxiety, but it instead allows you to see the anxiety so that you can process it better, real-time, and maybe even befriend it at times, which makes you more equanimous in even the most high-pressure situations. I believe that is the superpower of being a conscious leader.

What impact have you seen?

While it's not a one-to-one correlation, our business metrics are better, and I don’t think that’s just a coincidence. More importantly, it’s evolved our C-suite hiring, and now we are hiring better people than we would have otherwise hired because we have a core philosophy built into our culture that drives success in a healthy and positive way. The kind of people we want to work with us will naturally appreciate those kinds of ideas. After all, only conscious people can build a conscious culture.

And now you offer a conscious leadership coach to your entire executive team, right?

Correct. I brought in Sue Heilbronner as our conscious leadership coach several years ago and doing so changed the trajectory of our company culture and leadership team. It opened up our communication, helped us be more intentional in how we operated, and fundamentally changed the level of talent we brought into the organization as well. That mindset is why we brought Priti on board; she will make conscious leadership training regularly available across our company.

What’s your message for startup founders and other business leaders who are trying to get better at running a company?

Take time to invest in your culture and leadership principles because this is essential to attract great talent. Companies that do this will be set up to thrive. Companies that don’t invest in culture and leadership will see it catch up to them at a certain point in their growth.

Ultimately, people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to feel connected to the purpose and people within an organization. You cover this in your book, Purpose First Entrepreneur.

Purpose helps people tackle tough challenges alongside great colleagues. It is what attracts and motivates top talent and what allows companies to build "talent density.” It’s something that I learned from reading Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ book, No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, which I highly recommend to other business leaders. Additionally, to attract and retain great talent, provide your team with the vision for where you want the company to go and share the guiding principles for how you expect them to show up for each other and the business along the journey. Then let them operate with the freedom and responsibility to figure out the right ways to get there. Under the Netflix model, this is called 100% responsibility. It’s amazing how this simple approach can have an outsized impact on an organization’s trajectory.

How important is culture to recruiting?

Recruiting isn’t easy for any technology company today, so you want to establish your brand as an “employer of choice.” And that really starts by internally walking the walk and building a culture that’s genuine, sustainable, and ultimately, enjoyable. For example, we recently launched new leadership principles at G2, many of which are based around the core principles of conscious leadership. We’re also investing in training to support our leaders in learning and living these principles.

What does a founder need to do to make this leap?

Company leaders at the highest levels need to listen and be open to feedback. The CEO and the entire executive team needs to be vulnerable and open to hear that feedback on a regular basis to create trust across the organization. Conscious leadership is only helpful with clear openness and willingness at the highest levels.

There you have it. Godard’s emphasis on conscious leadership over the past few years has not only impacted G2’s company culture but also the bottom line. With the recent Series D round, the company is accelerating its talent acquisition, onboarding and development. Now with Priti Patel on the team, we can continue to expect great things from the culture at G2.

A company culture that reflects conscious leadership, self-awareness and open communication is one to be desired. Whether you are a leader who can employ these principles or an employee who wants more of it at your own organization, we can all learn from G2’s example.

This story originally appeared in Forbes.

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