138: Darcy Marie Mayfield - Benefit from Remote Workers by Codifying Culture and Engineering Serendipity

Darcy Marie Mayfield is a specialist in culture architecture and experience design. Darcy shares her experiences in hospitality at Airbnb and designing systems to codify and scale company culture at early fully remote organizations. She discusses how initiatives like Tulsa Remote have revitalized cities by attracting remote workers and fostering local collaborations. From engineering serendipity to creating consistent rituals and empathetic leadership, Darcy offers actionable insights into creating inclusive, connected thriving communities and environments for remote and distributed workers and teams.

 

 

TAKEAWAYS

 

[01:27] Darcy’s early and enduring passion is hospitality and helping people feel they belong.

 

[02:34] At Airbnb, Darcy pilots early remote work initiatives to explore flexible work models.

 

[04:06] Darcy leaves Airbnb as they lack remote work flexibility and moves to a rural area.

 

[04:23] TaxJar’s leadership wants to take the company fully remote, so Darcy joins for the challenge.

 

[05:10] The vision is to build a strong company with a strong product and strong profits while people enjoy their lives.

 

[06:00] Darcy works with academic researchers to study and codify culture in a fully remote organization.

 

[06:56] How do you architect culture where there are no physical walls?

 

[07:40] Codifying culture for scale involves understanding the founders’ DNA and origins.

 

[08:56] Deep listening sessions to co-create with employees and reveal how values show up.

 

[09:20] Transitioning from an SMB to a mid-market culture means balancing collaboration with structure.

 

[11:16] During the pandemic, TaxJar’s remote model enables significant growth and low attrition.

 

[12:05] Darcy wants to help people and prove remote working works, but it gets exhausting.

 

[14:06] To normalize family-friendly environments, TaxJar’s CEO has to set the example.

 

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