Snap’s billionaire CEO says he intentionally sets up new hires to fail on their first day with this test

Snapchat CEO and cofounder Evan Spiegel has a rather unconventional way of welcoming new hires. Instead of a routine first day filled with office tours and paperwork, he throws fresh talent straight into the deep end - challenging them to brainstorm and pitch a brand-new idea within minutes into their first day at their new job.

Spiegel recently discussed this unique approach on The Diary of a CEO podcast, explaining that the goal is to remove the fear of failure early on. “When you have no context for what the company is working on, no idea what’s going on, how on earth are you supposed to come up with a great idea? I mean, it’s almost impossible,” Spiegel admitted.

However, this seemingly daunting task is intentional, aiming to instill a culture of creativity by embracing failure.

According to Spiegel, most ideas presented by new hires on their first day are not great, but that is part of the process. “99% of ideas are not good, but 1% is,” the billionaire CEO of Snapchat noted. “We really abide by the concept that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”

Most important trait

Beyond fostering creativity, Spiegel also revealed what he looks for in a great hire. While intelligence and creativity are important, he emphasised that kindness is essential for building a good work culture. “We learned over time that actually, wow, kindness is the essential ingredient if you want to have a creative culture,” he said.

Spiegel also pointed out that there is a difference between being nice and being kind. If an employee has something stuck in their teeth, a nice person may ignore it to avoid making them feel awkward. However, a kind person would point it out, he said.

“We always differentiate between kind and nice,” he said. “I think it's really kind to tell somebody that they have something stuck in their teeth. You have something stuck in your teeth you want to know about it, right? it might make you feel awkward – certainly as the person pointing it out it's a little awkward.

“If you want if you just want to be nice you pretend nothing's going on... But if you're really being kind and you want to help that person you say ‘You know, you got something stuck in your teeth,’” he explained.

(Also read: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel’s savage LinkedIn update trolls Meta’s copy-paste strategy)