A former Facebook employee who's now the president of Nylon Media says a corny poster he saw in the Facebook office taught him how to stand out at big companies
- Nylon Media president Evan Luzzatto worked at Facebook from 2011 to 2014 and said a motivational poster taught him to go beyond designated work responsibilities and help where help is needed.
- The poster read, "Nothing is somebody else's problem."
- "Even if it has nothing to do with your job, don't look the other way. Don't complain about it, don't gossip about it, go try and help fix it," Luzzatto said.
Career motivation can come from anywhere - even a motivational poster taped on company walls.
Facebook headquarters are known for having motivational posters around the office. Nylon Media president Evan Luzzatto worked on user operations at Facebook from 2011 to 2014, and said some of the posters were "corny corporate speak" - but one, in particular, inspired him.
"There was one that I really loved that was, 'Nothing is somebody else's problem' and that's something I try to take to heart in my career," Luzzatto told Business Insider. "If you see an issue, no matter the size of your company, no matter what your department is, no matter what your job is or where on the corporate ladder you sit, if you see a problem, go raise your hand and help try to fix it."
Read more: The 29-year-old president of Nylon Media spent his first 2 months on the job asking employees at every level the same questions
At 29 years old, Luzzatto has been president of Nylon Media for more than a year and said that in general, he doesn't see enough people addressing issues that don't pertain to their own work.
"Even if it has nothing to do with your job, don't look the other way. Don't complain about it, don't gossip about it, go try and help fix it," Luzzatto said. "And you don't have to go ask for a raise in order to go fix it. Just be that person that goes and helps."
Luzzatto tried to bring the poster's mentality to Nylon. He noted that lending your coworkers a hand has multiple benefits, from teaching you new skills to earning you a good reputation around the office. And the positive effects don't stop there: helping a coworker could be a good way to ensure that "they will advocate for you in turn, whether it's in that job, or the next job you want, or 20 years down the road," he said.
Luzzatto continued: "I think people don't spend enough time thinking about how the actions they take today might actually impact them five, 10 years down the road because they remember them a certain way for the things they contribute and how they worked with other people."