I’m reaching out to Brand Autopsy readers in hopes one of you can help me find a copy of the Motley Fool’s employee manual from the late 1990s. This particular employee manual was (or is still) called, The Fool Rules! A Global Guide to Foolish Behavior.
Back in the day, November 1998 to be exact, Inc. Magazine ran an article about the Motley Fool’s irreverent approach to their employee handbook. I was intrigued when I read it then and I am still intrigued after reading it again.
So … if you have any insight into where I can get my grubby mitts on a copy of The Fool Rules! … please email me -- john(at)brandautopsy(dot)com. (Note, I have sent an email to the Motley Fool requesting their assistance in finding a copy.)
Why do I want a copy of the Motley Fool employee handbook? Hmm … go ahead and read this snippet from the Inc. article and I bet you’ll want one too. Dig?
The Fool Rules! is, for my money, the model employee handbook. It's short, clear, and very funny--in other words, untainted by lawyers. "It was written by a small group of Fools," explains David Gardner, who founded the Motley Fool with his brother Tom. "They gave it to me. I added the jokes and corrected a few typos, and we published it."Keep in mind that we never planned to start a company in the first place. We were just cranking out a newsletter. The idea that someday we would have employees, not to mention an employee manual, never even occurred to us. One day we looked around and said, 'Gosh, we have people working here.' Sometime around 1997, we realized we should have something in writing that explains what we do, how we behave, and what we believe in."
In about 20 TV Guide -sized pages, the handbook covers just about everything a would-be Fool might want to know: it includes a mission statement, core values, employment policies, and pay and benefits practices, as well as guidelines for appropriate Foolish behavior. There's also a two-page overview of the company structure, describing what each of the various departments does. Those two pages actually give you a pretty good idea of how the company works. More important, they broadcast a sense of respect for the contribution everybody makes.
What's most striking about The Fool Rules! is its tone, which is set in the foreward: "Let it be said that this handbook cannot and does not cover every single little thing about working at The Motley Fool. For subjects not covered ('Why are there so many bald guys at this company?...') ask your supervisor....Just keep in mind that the meaning of life issue is a philosophical one and can really only be answered by you."
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