• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Leadership

It’s Time to Stop Making Fake Friendships at Work

By
Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 20, 2016, 9:00 PM ET
Young woman listening to colleagues talking
lizenzfrei o.digi f.mediumPhotograph by Westend61 via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question: How do you build authentic relationships at work? is by Ryan Smith, CEO and founder of Qualtrics.

I’ll never forget the time when a complete stranger came up to me and said, “Hey, Ryan. I don’t know you, but let’s go have an experience together.” And while it sounds really creepy, it wasn’t. The point he was making was simply that authentic relationships come from going through experiences with other people, not from water-cooler conversation or mid-day coffee chats. We ended up hiking through a Mexican jungle and eating one of the most memorable meals of my life. It’s an experience I will always remember, and that stranger has become a very close friend over the years.

Anyone who lived in college dorms their freshman year knows exactly what I’m talking about. Relationships come from shared experiences.

It’s no different in the workplace. Now, more than ever, employees are looking for an experience, not a job. That’s especially true of millennials, who are expected to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025. They want experiences at work that give them a story they can tell for a long, long time. There is something about the experience of chasing a big vision, learning how to execute, and persevering through enormous challenges that creates relationships unlike any other.

See also: It’s Time to Give Your Employees More Freedom

Just ask famous groups like the Paypal (PYPL) Mafia, the Yahoo (YHOO) Alumni, and the Google (GOOG) network. They all came from those kinds of environments. The relationships they built during the lean and scrappy times are the kind that last. These alumni weren’t just friendly coworkers or classmates. They were battle-tested. They had seen each other at their scrappiest, most creative and driven times. They also undoubtedly saw each other at their worst and their best. Those experiences build strong, lasting relationships.

We know something about that at Qualtrics. We bootstrapped for the first 10 years, and spent the first six in the basement. During that time, we had our fair share of tough, lean days. But I wouldn’t trade those for anything. The relationships I built then are some of the strongest I have to this day. You don’t have to be in the basement together to form that kind of bond or to engender it among your employees.

As we’ve moved from a basement startup to a multi-billion dollar business, we’ve had to evolve. But that doesn’t mean moving on from the things that got us to where we are. We’re still focused on making sure that everyone at our company has the experience of building something big and working on hard problems together. To make that work at scale, we’ve had to add another element, which is a key part of authentic relationships: developing a culture of feedback. For us, that means radical candor.

Radical candor is a framework developed by one of our board members, Kim Scott. Her framework describes the different attitudes people take when giving feedback. Some people are so afraid of offending someone that they withhold helpful feedback. Others are too aggressive because they care too much about an issue and not enough about the person. Kim instructs us to bridge the gap by telling people they have to “give a damn.” When your colleagues know that you genuinely care about them and their success, the criticism you dole out is never gratuitous, but always in their best interest.

 

Creating a culture of radical candor isn’t easy. It requires that everyone in the organization be bought in. Everyone has to “give a damn” about the company and about everyone in it, from the top executives to the newest interns. That kind of culture is critical to personal and organizational growth and to building strong work relationships. It means that you know your colleagues want you to succeed and that, win or lose, you’re in it together. With that mindset, you’ll know any criticism comes from a place of encouragement because everyone is working toward the common goal of creating something great that will truly help others.

In the end, all relationships are built off of shared experiences. So give your team the opportunity to chase big goals and try new things, and do it within the context of a radically candid culture. When people give a damn, you’ll see them do amazing things; and they will forge incredible relationships every step along the way.

About the Authors
By Ryan Smith
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bethany Cianciolo
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

Jason Lemkin
Successwork-life balance
This investor won’t back startups unless staff are in the office 6 days a week: ‘Not because I don’t have empathy, because they’re going to fail’
By Preston ForeJuly 2, 2026
51 minutes ago
rn
CommentaryCryptocurrency
Former Iran director at NSC: Crypto legislation is a ticket to sanctions evasion
By Richard NephewJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
Trump stopped talking about these media stocks, but his portfolio didn’t stop trading them
InvestingDonald Trump
Trump stopped talking about these media stocks, but his portfolio didn’t stop trading them
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
m
CommentaryManufacturing
McKinsey chairs: Building a more resilient industrial base may require $2 trillion in investment
By Eric Kutcher and Shubham SinghalJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
t
PoliticsWhite House
A truck-bed coating company, a UFC birthday party, and an algae bloom: Inside Trump’s $14 million Reflecting Pool fiasco
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 2, 2026
2 hours ago
Current price of Bitcoin for July 2, 2026
Personal FinanceCryptocurrency
Current price of Bitcoin for July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
2 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
Politics
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 1, 2026
23 hours ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
Success
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.