The man behind the “no asshole” policy: Derrick Morton, co-founder of FlowPlay

People are lonely and Derrick Morton co-founded FlowPlay to keep them entertained. FlowPlay is a virtual world technology and game developer. It’s a platform where people can play games and create avatars to chat online with others.Derrick started on a completely different path: film school. He worked in the creative industry for a short period before realizing he had more to offer; so he got his MBA and three years later he created FlowPlay. With revenues at $42 million, he recently sold it to a casino group and took on the role of President in the company. In this episode, Carol and Derrick delve into a unique talent strategy Derrick uses: the “no asshole” policy. The policy must be enforced by him personally and has been successful, he says. Listen to the episode to hear more about it and how the company managed to differentiate itself from the over 100,000 competitors by selling luck rather than tokens.They also discuss the challenges he faced as a first-time founder, like the pressure he felt knowing people now relied on him for their salary. “It was the first time I had been responsible for people’s lives and livelihoods,” he told Carol. Derrick opens up about the change in culture he needed to make when his team was agreeing with his ideas, leading to some failures. He implemented what Carol calls a “culture of feedback.”Learn more about Derrick Morton and FlowPlay.You can find more information on all our episodes at Vertical Elevation, and you can find Carol on Twitter @carolbschultz or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolbschultz/.