Long story short: This is not Luke’s body.
Full version: Are you sure you wanna know?
Luke Hansen, our CEO, is going to be speaking at an event in April and they wanted a nice, professional headshot of him to put in their programs and advertising materials. A simple ask, right?
Wrong. Nothing is ever simple with Luke.
Instead of throwing on a suit jacket and taking a quick headshot, Luke insisted that Caleb, our Swiss Army Knife, photoshop his head onto a businessman’s body. Yes, for real.
So Caleb went hunting in the treasure troves that are stock photo sites for a businessman with the approximate measurements of our founder and CEO. This is how we spend our days.
Caleb stumbled upon this lovely gent and decided he was The One. And so began the expedition to transform Luke Hansen, Garbage Human, into Luke Hansen, Founder and CEO.
Now, the reason we’re sharing this story with you isn’t to tout Caleb’s prowess in photoshop or to expose Luke’s laziness, but rather to give a glimpse into the daily life here at CompanyCam.
The story of this silly, dumb headshot paints a pretty great picture of what we value at CompanyCam, surprisingly enough.
We’ve got a set of basic core values that define our company culture here, and we thought this headshot was a nearly perfect embodiment of those values.
Everyone has a Voice
We don’t subscribe to the hierarchy method of doing business. Sure, there are people who are “in charge,” but we value input from everyone on our team. Whether it’s a summer intern with an idea or the CEO himself saying he wants to photoshop his head onto a stock photo, we listen. Sometimes against our better judgement.
Get Shit Done and Make It Work
While we’re all about having fun at work and fostering an environment where you’re working with friends instead of strangers, we also all have jobs to do. Working in a startup is demanding. You’ve gotta be flexible, strategic, quick on your feet, and above all else — you’ve gotta turn out a solid product. We don’t let deadlines, no matter how tight, escape us. We don’t lie down when something doesn’t pan out. We get all the information, get shit done, and make it work with what we’ve got. And we’re doing a pretty good job so far. So when your boss asks you to photoshop his head onto a stock photo in the next 20 minutes so we can send it out to be published, you get that shit done.
Do the Right Thing
This is kind of the universal golden rule, but sometimes you gotta remind people of it. Doing the right thing can mean anything from asking for help when you need it, giving a little tough love when it’s necessary, or advising on issues of concern. It’s a crucial part of our culture that we can count on everyone to speak their mind and say what’s up, especially if they feel we may be heading down the wrong path (i.e. photoshopping your boss’s head onto a stock photo). And most of the time you’ll be appreciated for doing the right thing, but occasionally you’ll be completely ignored.
Grow the Individual
And finally, we want everyone who works at CompanyCam to constantly improve themselves and grow as an individual, whether it’s their skills that improve or just their general personality (we’ve taken in a few duds, read: Kyle). We love taking on new people, challenging projects, and random tasks that provide us with an opportunity to grow and push ourselves out of our collective comfort zone (like photoshopping your boss’s head onto a stock photo).
It should go without saying that we do things other than photoshop our boss’s head onto things, but we thought this was stupid enough to be entertaining and showcased our values in true CompanyCam fashion.
