Company Culture in the Autonomous Era

We’re excited to introduce the early members of Team NeXTnet – our Fantastic Five and Beaker. They are a collection of extremely talented people and a very special bird that we have been fortunate to work alongside over the years. You will notice two on the list bear the same last name as two other team members; and that brings us to the subject of this blog.

At NeXTnet, we love it when family members (spouses, children, parents, partners) express interest in being part of our team and adding value as interns or employees. Such things are considered taboo at many pre-Autonomous Era companies. We’re challenging the status quo when it comes to building out Team NeXTnet.

A role you will never ever see at NeXTnet is “Chief People Officer” and the many accoutrements of that title. We have learned over the years that people in such roles are responsible for CYA operations at the company, at the expense of employees; amidst feel-good Company Values brochures, fancy slogans, tchotchkes to remind employees of the hollow slogans, lectures and training on Performance Improvement Plans, Employee Evaluation Systems, warnings about the disastrous employment consequences resulting from an office romance, etc. ad infinitum.

Respectfully, we think this is insipid and will not work in the autonomous era; period.

What you will see at NeXTnet is a “Team Performance Coach”, much like an athletic coach who helps athletes achieve their best, vs. being punitive and reprimanding.

What you will also see at NeXTnet is a spirit of "getting it done": delighting customers and treating everyone around us as we would want to be treated. At NeXTnet, we believe in the concept of Servant Leadership and practicing it.

We don’t like bureaucracy or fancy titles; we like the classic HP concept of Managing by Wandering Around.

As co-founders, our job is to do whatever it takes to help our fellow team members make the company successful. And we believe in recognizing people for their accomplishments. At NeXTnet it’s very much OK to make mistakes, learn from them, and do better the next day.

If you’re an expert in developing AI applications as they relate to network infrastructure, we would love to connect with you; please contact us.

And please join us in welcoming the Fantastic Five and Beaker.