Culture That Works

Culture
that
Works
HOW GETTING SERIOUS

ABOUT CULTURE UNLOCKS
NEW PERFORMANCE
Culture
that
Works
HOW GETTING SERIOUS

ABOUT CULTURE UNLOCKS
NEW PERFORMANCE
Many of us are envious of the cool organizational cultures

that companies like Google, Zappos, and Netflix have created,
but were missing an important point. Culture is not about
being cool or even about having happy employees. It is
about reinforcing what drives the success of the enterprise
and subsequently being able to adapt the culture (sometimes
one process at a time) as markets and internal dynamics
shift. In this Snippet, Ill show you how to do that.
Published by
CHAPTER 1:
Beyond Foosball
There are a lot of clichs out there about
organizational culture:
``
Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
``
People leave the culture, not the company.
``
Your culture is your most valuable

competitive asset.
Culture that Works: How Getting Serious About Culture Unlocks New Performance
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And in 20 years of working with

organizations as both an internal and
external consultant, heres what Ive
learned:Those clichs are all true.They
may overstate the case a bit (they are
clichs, after all), but I have seen these
points play out in real life, time and
time again. A company has very clear
intentions and plans about how they will
compete, or how they will attract and
retain the best talent, yet their culture
ends up incompatible with these plans
in important ways, and in most cases its
the culture that wins and the plans (and
results) that lose.
Whats doubly frustrating is that, in
many cases, before you hit this rough
patch, your culture seemed to be cooking
along just fine. You were attracting
the best talent, and you were beating
the competitors. You had created the
proverbial cool place to work. So what
went wrong?
Well, nothing really. Its just that the factors
that drive success for your company
changed, while your culture didnt.
Remember, culture isnt about being cool.
Its not about foosball tables, vacation

policies, or posters on the wall.Culture
is about what is deeply valued in the
system,andheres the important
partmaking sure what is valued is
connected to what drives success for the
enterprise.Too many organizations either
fail to make that connection to begin
with or fail to adapt when the conditions
change. But, either way, the result is a weak
culture, and that has serious implications
for competitiveness these days.
In todays economy, having the best
product or making the perfect strategic
move doesnt buy you much time at the
top. The competition, just like everything
else these days, moves faster than it used
to, so that competitive advantage you just
secured will very quickly deteriorate. This
is why a strong cultureone that keeps
you clearly focused on the ever-changing
landscape of what drives successhas
such competitive power. When everyone
in your organization deeply understands
your values and what behavior drives
results, you will start seeing results that
outperform the competition.
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Clarity is the Key

Being clear on how those values connect
to success is the key. Zappos, for instance,
became one of the culture cool kids
by figuring out that, for its business,
incredible customer service (specifically
responsiveness) was the single most
important driver of success. Every single
employee at Zappos, as part of his or her
orientation program, goes through the same
two-week customer service training that
the companys phone operators go through,
and every new hire must also spend two
weeks actually answering customer phone
calls. Yes, even the corporate attorneys
spend two weeks answering phones!
Netflix is another company that is
disciplined about its cultural clarity. Its
slide deck on culture has been widely
shared on the internet, and beyond
just sharing its core values (judgment,
communication, impact, curiosity,
innovation, courage, passion, honesty,
and selflessness), the presentation translates

each value into more detailed, behavioral
descriptions for holding people accountable.
For selflessness, for example, Netflix
identifies the following behaviors:
``
You seek what is best

for Netflix, rather than best
for yourself or your group.
``
You are ego-less when

searching for the best ideas.
``
You take the time to help

colleagues.
``
You share information open

and proactively.
Thats pretty clear. And Netflix makes no

bones about the fact that you will be fired
if you behave in ways inconsistent with
the culture.
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The Accidental Culture

I can already hear the grumbles. Yeah, but
were not Zappos and were not Netflix.
This is true, and, for the record, I am not
recommending that you try to become
them, because you cant.You just cant
copy a culture. You have to create it.
And that is the opportunity here. Many
organizations fail to actually create their
culture. They inherited it. It evolved
organically. It followed the personality
of the founder. Cultures, both good and
bad, seem to be accidental. Yes, every
organization has a culture, but a scarce
few can even articulate what it is, let
alone point to the specific steps they have
taken to create it, change it, or sustain
it. And because things are changing so
quickly,any culture that is evolving on its
own is falling behind, causing a drag on
performance, rather than enhancing it.
If you want the results, then you need to
work on culture.
Unfortunately, this is frequently where
people give up. Culture work is too hard.
I dont know where to start. I tried some
changes and they didnt stick. I dont have
the time or money for a three-year culture
transformation project. Sorry, but Im not
buying these excuses any more.
Culture work is not as hard as you think

it is, and that is precisely why I have
written this (very short!) book.
``
Think culture is too fuzzy

a concept?
I give you a workable one-sentence
definition in Chapter 2.
``
Think values are too

touchy-feely to work in
the business world?
In Chapters 35, I show you what
they look like in tangible ways at
successful companies.
``
Think change is too hard?

In Chapters 68, I break culture
change down into bite-sized chunks.
If you can change a process, you can
change culture.
Im not over-simplifying, and Im not

sugar-coating. Ive stripped this topic down
to 10,000 words so the companies that
want to leap ahead can stop wasting time
debating the semantic difference between
vision and mission, and start creating
more powerful organizations that outperform the competition today. Lets go.
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CHAPTER 2:
What Culture
Really Is
One reason organizational culture does not make the
priority list of leaders is that it is hard to define. Its
squishy. Its complex. Sometimes its even contradictory.
Employees will experience your culture in different
ways and even describe it differently. With all the other
challenges your business faces, I can see why culture
takes a back seat. It turns out, however, that the complex
nature of culture actually drives its power.
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As I said in the introduction, having the

best product or making the perfect strategic
move doesnt buy you much time at the
top. The competition moves faster than it
used to. As Rita Gunther McGrath wrote
in Harvard Business Review, the landscape
has shifted from looking for that longterm, sustainable competitive advantage to
managing more of a portfolio of transient
advantages, moving from one short-lived
advantage to the next.
Sounds hard, doesnt it? Thats because
it is. But this is where culture comes in.
Like most organizations, your competitors
have typically ignored culture. Theyve
been focusing on strategy and operations
(understandably), and culture simply
became a luxury that they would get
to once they achieved some success.
But remember,the whole point of

culture is to drive the success of the
enterprise.Waiting to work on your
culture until after you become successful
actually condemns you to a perpetually
mediocre culture. This, in turn, weakens
your ability to succeed. Its a negative
flywheel effect.
Focusing on culture not only removes
this negative flywheel, it can replace it
with a positive one if you do it right. And,
unlike products and strategies, which can
be quickly copied, the culture advantage
has more power. The fact that it is complex
and challenging only means that any
advantage you gain over your competitors
will be tough to match. So, how do you
secure this kind of advantage? It starts with
understanding what culture really is.
A Definition
I have boiled down my definition of culture to make it as clear and actionable as possible:
Organizational culture is the collection of words, actions,

thoughts, and stuff that clarifies and reinforces what a
company truly values.
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To explain, Ill start with the last

word:values.Culture is ultimately about
what is valued. That can include flowery
values statements if you like, but to be
honest, those statements arent where the
power lies. Enron had nice statements in
their lobby about things like integrity and
honesty, but that wasnt really valued at the
end of the day, was it? It turns out making
your numbers look good at all costs was
valued, so thats what people did.Your
culture is the collection of things that
clarifies and reinforces what is really
valued by the system.
And that means its complex. I listed
four things in the definition that create
your culture: words, actions, thoughts,
and stuff. The first three are brought to
life by you and your people. Culture is
a complex combination of what we say
it is, our behaviors, and the underlying
assumptions and thinking behind it. As
you might expect, those three areas are
often inconsistent, which is one reason
why culture can be so messy. It becomes
something that you have to piece together,
recognizing youll find some contradictions
along the way.
For example, well say we value customer
service, but well also say we value
being strategic and focused on the long
term. Those values are nice, but at times

are quite opposed to each other. One is
proactive and one is reactive, and to figure
out where the culture really stands on
that contradiction, youll have to assess
several things at once. Its the combination
of what people say and what they do that
will ultimately determine how those two
values are balanced.
Additionally, you have to factor in the
stuff. Forgive the technical jargon here, but
stuff just means the non-human parts of
culture. Tangible things like office layout,
office location, office decor, dress code, what
types of computers you use, etc. These also
reflect what is valued, so they have to be
included in your analysis of what your
culture really is.
There are more eloquent definitions out
there, and there are definitions that either
go deeper or broader, but I use this one
because it facilitates action. Words, actions,
thoughts, and stuff give you things you
can work with. They give you areas where
you can experiment and change and learn.
And they keep the conversation about
values moving, rather than stuck down a
path that leads toward a boring new set of
inspirational postersbut no improvement
in performance.
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A Time for Action

So, now Ill ask you to think about your
culture. Think about the words, actions,
thoughts, and stuff that clarify and reinforce
what your organization truly values. And
dont limit yourself to a culture that sounds
cool or represents only your ideals. Get real
about what is. What is valued? What is
rewarded? What is discouraged?
Not so clear? Well, now is the time for
you to figure this out, and the rest of this
book can help. It starts by digging more
deeply into the idea of cultural values
(thats the next chapter), and then we will
explore how values and culture mix at

the two organizations I mentioned in the
introduction: Zappos and Netflix. These are
notbest practices, or even case studies.
They are illustrations of the connection
between values, culture, and performance.
And after the Zappos and Netflix
discussions, well spend a few chapters
digging into how you can make those
connections at your organization. Because
clarity means nothing unless it leads to
action that makes a difference.
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CHAPTER 3:
Values In
The Real World
Culture starts with values, for the simple (but powerful)
reason thatvalues drive behavior.We choose our
behavior based on (a) what we value and (b) what we
perceive is valued by the systems and communities
to which we belong. So, before you go out and try to
create a culture or change the one you have, you need
to get clear on values inside the organization.
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I think most business leaders intuitively get

this. Unfortunately, this tends to generate
a frustratingly predictable result: the
wordsmithed company values statement.
Consider, for example, this excerpt from
thevalues statementfrom a remarkably
successful company, Microsoft:
As a company, and as
individuals, we value
integrity, honesty,
openness, personal
excellence, constructive
self-criticism, continual
self-improvement, and
mutual respect.
Sounds nice, doesnt it? Well, thats the
problem. Its nice, and agreeable, and
aspirationaland probably meaningless to
the people who work there.
Dont get me wrong, those are all great
values. But whodoesntwant those things?
When you use high-level, aspirational
values in your values statement, you appeal

to everyones ideals, but you dont help
them make decisions and figure out what to
do in the course of business. Think about it:
What about that list actually distinguishes
Microsoft from its competitors? How would
adhering to those values actually drive
success? Remember,the whole purpose
of organizational culture is to drive
the success of the enterprise,so the
values that define your culture need to be
connected very directly to those factors.
Now, maybe Im being too hard on
Microsoft. Ive never worked inside that
organization, so it is entirely possible
that it does a fabulous job of connecting
that list of lofty values directly to
improving organizational performance.
But Im skeptical. Ive seen too many
values statements just like this attached
to companies with either contradictory
behavior or mediocre performance (or
both). Im guessing the values statement
committee could only get consensus on the
most high-level descriptions. Or perhaps
it is simply trying to inspire and engage
workers by identifying broad-based human
values that we all share?
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Either way, its not adequate. Shared

values are nice, buta truly powerful
culture needs values that actually guide
employees in making choices about their
workplace behavior.Whole Foods, Inc., for
example, has acore values sectionof its
website that is more than 1,000 words and
is divided into seven sections, including
We Support Team Member Happiness and
Excellence, and We Create Ongoing WinWin Partnerships With Suppliers, not to
mention the not-so-warm-and-fuzzy We
Create Wealth Through Profits and Growth.
Each section spells out in detail what it
means. For example, in supporting team
members, it talks about how Whole Foods
provides open and timely information
(including sharing salary and bonus
information internally, by the way) because
the organization feels that knowledge
is power and that team members need
information relevant to their jobs to excel.
In the supplier section, it talks about farm
to fork transparency regarding production,

planning, ingredients, and safety to ensure
that Whole Foods brings safe and highquality products to market. These types
of statements are clear and connect what
Whole Foods employees believe and value
(transparency and openness in this case)
with what they actually do, and that makes
it real.
Those are cultural values in the real world.
The aspirational values are woven in, but
they translate more clearly into behavior
guides as well. Thats where it gets more
interesting, and that will be the focus of the
next few chapters. I mentioned both Netflix
and Zappos in the introduction as two
other very successful companies that have
doubled down on the culture factor, and
they are also good examples of companies
that have translated their cultural values
down to the realm of behavior, actions, and
decisions. Thats our next stop.
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Values In Your World

Before you read about them, take a minute
to think about your own organization. If
you have a values statement, then break it
out and do a tough, honest evaluation. Is
it high level, or is it connected to success
drivers? How could you dig deeper and get
more specific in ways that would generate
better results while still capturing peoples
attention and aspirations? And if you dont
have one, then start working on a rough
draft. Describe your ideal culture. What
should this organization truly value in
terms of behavior, approach, and focus of
employees, regardless of job description?
Describe it in action in your organization.
Tell some stories. Brainstorm different
words to describe it. Get creative and
push yourself.
As youre thinking, make sure to
evaluate this ideal culture in terms of
four different continuums:
``
Decentralized/Centralized
``
Transparent/Private
``
Together/Separate
``
Learning/Doing
Well talk more about these factors and

what they mean throughout the next
several chapters. They are continuums, so
its not about either/or. Your organization
will be somewhere in between the
two extremes. Where you place your
organizations ideal culture is up to you, and
there is no single, right answer here. The
trick is being able to justify your answer.
If you said you were on the centralized
side of the continuum, how does that
connect to your organizations success?
Youll have to answer that same question
on all four continuums. Remember (Ill say
this a lot),you need to connect culture
with what drives the success of the
enterprise,so youre not choosing an ideal
culture based on what sounds nice or even
matches your personal values. You have
to connect these with the nuts and bolts
operations. This is about values in the real
world.
Well get back to your organization in a
couple of chapters, but first lets explore
Zappos and Netflix.
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CHAPTER 4:
Zappos: Its Not

About Happiness
The online retailer Zappos is arguably the premiere
poster child for company culture in todays business
world. Zappos started selling shoes online in 1999,
which was toward the end of the first dot-com bubble.
Not only did Zappos survive the bubbles burst, but it
managed to grow from $1.6 million in sales in 2000
to $1 billion in sales in 2008. Thats almost a factor of
1,000 (and two years ahead of its schedule, no less).
Selling shoes. Online.
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How is that possible? Well, it seems culture

was a big part of it. There are plenty of
business articles and blogs out there that
extoll the virtues of the Zappos culture, and
CEO Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay, by the
way) wrote a book in 2010, titledDelivering
Happiness, that tells the Zappos story, in
which culture plays a very prominent role.
In the book, he explains how and why he
put so much of his own time and attention

into building the culture at Zappos. By
2009, Delivering Happiness, became the
brand promise of Zappos, and its vision
and purpose statements were simplified to
Zappos is about delivering happiness to the
world. In the book he actually talks about a
few happiness frameworks that he pulled
from scientific literature.
Cause or Effect?
But heres the rub: The Zappos culture
isnt really about happiness. It has 10 core
values, and happiness isnt mentioned once
among them. I point this out because I think
it is critical to debunk the myth that links
corporate culture and being happy. The
myth goes something like this: Employee
engagement happens when you have a
positive culture where everyone is happy
and friendly and cohesive. Thats not true.
I think were confusing the results of a
strong culture with the attributes of a
strong culture.
In reality, the happiness we notice is a
by-product of a corporate culture that
engages people around the success of the
enterprise and their own development
at the same time. Hsieh actually studied

the science of happiness and realized
that basic pleasure, which we often
associate with the feeling of being
happy, is really just the first step.
Touching peoplespassiongenerated
much more happiness, and connecting
to a higherpurposeraised the bar even
more. Hsieh realized that if he could build
a business that enabled a smooth flow
between the passion and purpose of both
customers and employees, he knew hed
be delivering happiness, and he knew hed
be successful.
It turns out that, in the case of Zappos,
the sweet spot for doing that is customer
service. Hsieh figured out early on that if
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youre selling shoes online, then delivering

what he called the WOW through
customer service was going to be a
primary driver of success of the company.
So, that is the core of the companys culture:
customer service. In fact, he once described
Zappos as a customer-service company
that just happens to sell shoes.
How does that happen at Zappos? Well, it
does things differently than other online
retailers, like letting its customer service
reps in the call center spend as long as
they want talking to the customers (the
record is over 10 hours for one call). The
call-center employees needed thedecision

making powerin order to deliver the WOW,
so Hsieh gave it to them. He also realized
he needed to let them truly be themselves,
be adventurous, embrace change, and
learn how to do more with less, so he
changed the way things were done at
Zappos so his people could do those things.
These are some of Zappos core values (be
yourself, embrace change, do more with
less). Those values are focused squarely
on enabling amazing customer service. It
turns out when your culture drives success,
happiness is just the result.
Happy or Human?
Hsieh believes that the alignment between
the organization and the core values is so
powerful that, to some extent, it doesnt
matter what values you choose. If you do
the alignment right, youll see the results.
Heres where I disagree. I certainly agree
you shouldnt just copy the Zappos values
(dont get me started about best practices),
but I think your choice of values definitely
does matter. It matters in the visible
way that the values you choose must
connect to what makes the organization
successful (in Zappos case, customer
service), but the values also matter in the

way they connect to employees as human
beings. And I dont mean the high-level
aspirational values from the last chapter
(respect, excellence, etc.); I mean values that
tap into the power of what it means to
behumansomething organizations have
been missing for decades.
Im not sure Hsieh realized how much
Zappos got that right in its cultural
values. In the last chapter, I asked you
to think about values that might drive
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your culture and specifically where

they might fall along the continuums of
decentralized/centralized, transparent/
private, together/separate, and learning/
doing. Now Im admitting that I have a
preference toward the first word in each
pair:decentralized,transparent,together,
andlearning. Notice that Zappos seems
to be going in that direction as well (it
becomes even more evident if you read all
of Hsiehs book).
These are ideas that come from a different
book I wrote, along with Maddie Grant,
titledHumanize. In the book, we argue
that organizations over the last century

have typically undervalued qualities
like the ones above that Zappos is now
embracing, and thats why Zappos (and
Whole Foods, and a host of others) are
succeeding. It doesnt require adopting these
ideas in the extreme, but by moving in this
direction we unlock some power that has
been lying dormant in our organizations.
Again,culture is about driving the success
of the enterprise,and these four directions
are important paths to consider as you
figure that out.
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CHAPTER 5:
Netflix: Its Not

About Slide Decks
In the Zappos story we learned about connecting cultural
values to the success of the business (not just the values
that sound good), and I also pointed to the power of
choosing cultural values that connect deeply to what it
means to be human. To be clear, however, culture is not
only about choosing core values. In fact, I would argue
thatyou dont really get to choose your culture.
You choose how you allow your culture to grow.
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Clarity on the values is critical, of course,

and there is choice involved in that, but
culture is a living, breathing thing. It is
created and re-created continuously by
everyone in the organization through their
words, thoughts, and actions. So in addition
to clarity, you need to make sure the ideas
behind your culture are communicated
effectively throughout the system to
ensure the culture grows in a way that is
consistent with the values. Ideas get put
into practice, which helps develop the ideas.
Thats how the culture comes alive.
But as soon as communications becomes
an important part of culture, I get a little
nervous, because suddenly culture runs
the risk of becoming a branding exercise.
Now, I may be ruffling the feathers of the
marketing folks here, but Ive always hated
the word brand. I understand the concept,

of course, and it makes sense, but a core
tenet of traditional branding is the idea
that you create a brand through marketing
and messaging. The Gen-Xer in me hates
that, because I feel like Ive been swindled
throughout my life by brand promises that
were never delivered. When I see people
getting excited about brand, I get nervous,
because Im afraid they will focus more on
the brand messaging and less on the reality.
You just cant do that with your culture.
Not if you want it to be successful, anyway.
Tony Hsieh of Zappos actually says that
brand and culture are two sides of the same
coin, andbrand is really just a lagging
indicator of what the culture really is.In
other words, its your culture that creates
your brand, not the other way around.
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Communicating Your Brand/Culture

And that brings us to Netflix. Netflix is a
very successful company that completely
disrupted the video-rental business by
eliminating late fees and shipping DVDs
directly to customers homes. Not too long
after that, it disrupted its own business by
doubling down on streaming video. But
Netflix has also received attention for its
culture and, specifically, for some of its
communications about culture.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings shared
aPowerPoint slide deckon Slideshare
that was originally an internal document
used in orienting new employees to the
Netflix culture. It now has nearly 5.5 million
views. The 128 slides do a great job of
communicating the essence of the Netflix
culture. As I pointed out in the introduction,
Netflixs cultural values are clearly
described in terms of behavior, and I think
thats why its so powerful. But values are
just one part of the presentation. Hastings
presents six other elements of the culture,
and for each one the actions behind the
principles are always clear.
For example, under the aspect of High

Performance, Hastings takes a hard line
on demanding high performance from
employees. Internally, Netflix has adopted
whats known as a keeper test for
managers. Its a simple question: Which
of my people, if they told me they were
leaving, for a similar job at a peer company,
would I fight hard to keep at Netflix? The
rest, Hastings argues, should get generous
severance packages to make room for
higher performers.
Ouch.
But Hastings makes the case for this
approach as a driver of success. He also
connects the idea to the other elements in
the culture, like freedom and responsibility
(which are easier to give when you are
disciplined about high performance).
Throughout the presentation, Hastings
makes convincing arguments about how all
these things together drive the success of
the enterprise.
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Ideal Versus Reality

My favorite part is thathes not just telling
you how it should be. He is telling you how
it is.He talks about which types of people
thrive at Netflix and which dont (and
why). He talks about the difference between
measurable hard work versus measurable
high performance (performance is valued;
hard work is not). All of this describes
what is actually happening at Netflix, not
an aspirational vision of what he wants
Netflix to be.
Thats a critical distinction. Theres nothing
wrong with inspiration, and Im sure thats
one reason why this deck is so popular.
But heres what makes me nervous: Other
companies are now putting out their own
inspirational culture slide decks, and Im
worried they will lose sight of the reality
and focus more on the aspirational brand.
Dont fall into this trap. Remember how
leaders at Netflix (and Zappos, for that
matter) have crafted their communication
about their culture in a way that honors
the reality, and not just the brand promise.
They show how their culture is derived

from the way all their employees are
actually behaving.They speak the truth
the whole truthabout how things are
done there, even if its not popular or
perfect. They co-create the culture with
their employees, rather than telling them
exactly how its going to be. And they
take the time to reflect on the reality
and everyday behavior so they can be
disciplined about connecting it back to
the success of the enterprise. Note that
this approach reflects the four principles
that I have been talking about in each
chapter:decentralized(behaviors of
everyone in the system),transparent
(the whole truth),together(co-created),
andlearning(reflection).
And if Zappos and Netflix can do it, quite
frankly, so can you. They are no more
human than you are. So, lets start looking
at your culture, so you can start creating
one that actually drives success. The first
issue to confront: change.
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CHAPTER 6:
Change Is
Not Optional
Before you dig into this chapter, take a minute to write
down your current thoughts about your company
culture, based on what youve read so far. Are you
clear on what is valued, or needs to be valued, in
order to drive success? Can you weave together
the aspirations with the actual front-line behavior?
And how clear have you become about where your
organization should be along the four continuums of
decentralized, transparent, together, and learning?
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As you jot your thoughts down, recognize

that you are doing a very basic version of a
culture assessment. Youre starting to flesh
out both the current state of your culture
and where you would like it to be.
Let me guess: You dont quite have
everything nailed down as well as
Zappos and Netflix have, do you?Your
cultures current state and desired
future state probably dont quite
match.Congratulations, youve just started
your culture-change journey.
Youre not the only one, of course. Culture

has been taking the back seat in a large
number of organizations for a long time.
And to be honest, even the companies
that have it all wrapped up in a bow will
quickly realize that they live in complex,
dynamic systems, so what worked from
them a few years ago may not be working
that well today. Even the process of going
through the basic stages of company
growth will require change from one
successful culture to another one, in order
to address the changing conditions. This is
just how the world works.
In short, change is not optional.
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Trauma-Free Renewal
But that doesnt mean that your change
must be traumatic. Part of our perpetual
frustration with and resistance to
organizational change is connected to
how traumatic it is. We wait for things to
get really, really bad and then launch a
big change effort. We mobilize significant
amounts of resources and energy to push
through a transformation project. It leaves
everyone exhausted, behind on their work,
and frequently feeling more like victims
of change rather than the creators of it. No
wonder so many change efforts fail.
Instead, we should be shooting for
whatGary Hamelcalled trauma-free
renewal. We should be more like the
human bodyreflexively reacting and
renewing ourselves as changes in the
system impact us. This includes culture.
We need to learn how to continuously
change our culture to meet the needs of
our changing environment. This doesnt
mean making an about-face every time the

wind blows. Consistency is important. But
even Zappos has some play in its culture
from year to year. It hasnt changed its core
values, but every single year it produces
a Culture Book, that is made up of actual,
unedited statements from employees about
what the culture means to them. No two
culture books are exactly the same.
So, lets figure out how to change our
cultures, without all the trauma (and
drama). Its still going to be hard work,
of course, but I want us to make culture
change the kind of hard work that we all
actually like doing. The kind that we make
room for in our schedules, because we
know its important and we know it makes
a difference. Lets liberate culture-change
work from the eye-rolling, here-we-goagain, not-another-leadership-boondoggle
category that its been stuck in for years.
Lets just roll up our sleeves and do it,

even if the culture gurus say we cant.
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There Are Many Paths,

but They All Involve Walking
It starts with clarity. You cant just declare
your culture to be dysfunctional and
then try to rally people around making
it somehow better. You need a clear
picture of what a strong culture looks
like.You need a clear understanding of
how that strong culture actually impacts
organizational performance.And you also
need a clear (and honest) understanding of
what your culture is right now. That will
enable you to focus your change efforts in
ways that make the most difference.
Theres no single path forward here. As I
will explain in the next two chapters, you
can take the more traditional approach
of doing an assessment up front and then
designing change programs based on the
results. (If youre the type that loves to plan
things, youll like this approach.) Or, you
can go more on your gut and pick the two
or three internal processes that are the
most glaring inhibitors of cultural strength,
start to change them, and learn as you go
along. They both work. Just remember to be
disciplined about the clarity.
If you want that assessment up front, then

push yourself on identifying what makes
your culture uniquely strong. Dont settle
for what that cool company uses, and
dont let the consultant tell you what your
culture should be. Hold yourself accountable
to making the best assessment of current
and future states as you can.
If you want to start without the assessment,
then be disciplined about your learning.
Its not enough to make the changes; you
have to reflect on their impact, talk about
their impact, and share their impact with
others in the system in order for the most
powerful culture elements to really emerge.
But whatever you do, do something.Your
culture must grow and change (just like a
human being, actually). Its a part of being
healthy. Change will certainly ebb and flow.
Sometimes its more about maintenance
than change. But dont take your eye off of
this flowing river for too long; otherwise,
when you hit that whitewater, youll get
thrown, and its back to change as trauma
all over again.
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CHAPTER 7:
The Assessment
Approach to Change
This may be over-simplifying a bit, but I have noticed
that when it comes to culture change, most people
see themselves in one of two camps: theplanners or
theexperimenters. The planners want to know where
theyre headed before they start moving. They focus
on goals, prioritization, sequence, and contingencies.
Experimenters, on the other hand, might feel tied down
by the plan. They want to try things and learn by
doing and are happier to just roll with it.
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As you might imagine, these two camps

take decidedly different approaches to
culture change. Which approach should
you take? Honestly, its your choice.Neither
approach has a monopoly on the most
effective way to do organizational
change.But you should be intentional
about your choice of approach. Think
about your existing culture and leadership,
for instance. Its quite possible that one

approach would be more compatible than
the other.
In this chapter and the next, I will talk
about both approaches, but lets be honest:
The planners like to go first! So, well
start with the assessment approach
to culture change.
Finding the Right Assessment

The first step is to assess your culture, and
Ill cut to the chase on this one:There is no
right assessment.Sorry to disappoint
you, but culture change is complex, and
each organization is unique, so dont expect
to find any valid science out there that
proves one assessment is better than the
others (including mine). I think there are a
lot of good assessments out there that will
provide value to you as you go down the
road of culture change. My sense is there
are more good ones than outright bad ones,
but unfortunately it will be hard to tell the
difference until you actually use them. (And
then its too late!) So, do some research to
find one that you think will be best for you.
Here are some aspects I think should be
present in an assessment:
Backed by theory
Maybe theory is too strong a word. A
hearty set of principles will probably do.
All assessments point you in a direction.
Theyve given thought to what matters,
and why.Make sure you are comfortable
with the underlying thinkingbehind that
direction or youll be disappointed with
the assessment. For example, as Ive made
clear in previous chapters, my assessment
measures along the continuums of
decentralized/centralized, transparent/
private, together/separate, and learning/
doing. That comes from the theory and
research behind my bookHumanize. Youll
have to make the call about whether or
not that framework (or any assessments
underlying framework) is going to work
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for your organization. But Im wary

of assessments that lack a grounding
in principles.
Balanced between descriptive

and prescriptive
The assessment can point you in a direction,
but it shouldnt tell you specifically
what to do. Look for a balance in how
the assessment describes what your
cultureisversus telling you how it thinks
youshould be. You need both sides to
develop strong insights.
Balanced between quantitative

and qualitative data
Both types of data are valid, and each
informs the other. On top of that, different
people tend to value different types of
data, so it helps to have both as part of
the assessment.
Leaves you in control,

not the consultant
of expertise and tell you exactly what to

do. Culture change is not one of them.You
want the assessment to shine a light for
you,help you see things you hadnt seen
before, and help you get clear on whats
important and what drives success. And
then you need to step up and plan the
action to make it happen. Make sure it
leaves you that control.
Fits with your culture (and

cultural aspirations)
This may sound like putting the cart
before the horse, but if youre getting
serious about changing your culture,
then you already have at least a basic
sense of the current state and future state.
Make sure the assessment is compatible.
An assessment that relies exclusively on
qualitative storytelling for data, for example,
may not have credibility in a science- or
engineering-based company. The goal of the
assessment is to facilitate action afterward,
so the assessment should be selected with
that in mind.
There are contexts where you want

consultants to reach deep into their well
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Planning and Implementation

Once you have the assessment results
in hand, youll be ready to plan and
implement some change. The assessment
should have helped you clarify what
is truly valued (based on what drives
success), and hopefully you now also have
some clarity about both the current and
desired state of your culture. Dont worry
if those two pictures are not 100 percent
complete. You can fill in the gaps as you
go along. But you should have enough
clarity to start the culture work, which
will include these areas:
Processes
As boring as it may sound, process change
is where I think you should start. There
are typically a few key processes that can
have a noticeable and significant impact
on the culture, and you need those quick
wins to build some momentum. Well talk
about which processes to focus on in the
next chapter.
Mindsets
Your current state culture is rooted in
the individual mindsets of your people
and their approach to how work gets done
and what is valued. Culture change will
involve actively changing these approaches,
particularly among leaders, managers, and
individuals of high status.
Language
Perhaps this is a subset of mindset shifts,
but culture change will be an abstraction to
your people unless you give them the words
they can use to make it real on a daily basis.
They will need some new languagea new
code, in a sensethat will keep the culture
change fresh in their minds.
Behavior
Perhaps this is a subset of it all, but nothing
changes unless behavior changes. Identify
the new behaviors and work them into your
efforts on processes, mindsets, and language.
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CHAPTER 8:
The Process
Approach To Change
I know this goes against the status quo, best practices,
MBA advice, and so on, but I will say it anyway:
You can change your culture one process at a time.
The planners among you may gnash your teeth, and
the experimenters (who probably skipped the previous
chapter anyway) may be rejoicing, but remember, I am
not claiming that this process approach is theonlyway
to do this. I do, however, think its time that we accept
it as a viable answer.
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In the process approach,the part where

you figure out where youre heading
and the part when you make forward
progress happen at the same time.With
each step, you gain new clarity on your
destination, which then informs your next
step. The steps you take involve working on
specific processes that youve identified as
important to creating the culture that you
think will drive success.
This isnt a particularly new approach,
quite frankly. It is a derivative of concepts
likeaction researchandaction learning,
both of which are at the foundation of
theorganization developmentfield.
Theyve been around for decades.
The key to this approach is the way action

and learning come together. Youre not
going to change your culture merely by
improving random processes. You have
to add a layer of reflection, insight, and
learning to the process work in order to
continuously improve your understanding
of your desired culture and its connection
to the success of the enterprise.
But the bias here is action:trying new
things and learning from them.So, even
though you havent done a complete
assessment of your culture up front, you
certainly have a sense of whats needed,
and you move forward by picking some
key processes and working on them.
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One Step at a Time

Which processes should you choose? Sorry
to give you the traditional consultants
answer, but it depends. As I said before, this
is complex work, and your organization is
unique. Part of being a leader requires you
to figure these things out yourself. That said,
there are some areas that I think warrant
an initial exploration because they are
particularly relevant to shifting cultures.
Performance management
This process will most likely give you
the best return on investment when
it comes to shaping culture, for two
reasons. First, in most organizations, the
performance management processes are
horrible. I hate to break it to you, HR, but
even the ones you call best practices
are typically loathed by your employees.
And, generally speaking, if you youre
going to start changing processes, it
helps to pick a process that people hate
already. But the more important reason
is thatperformance management is
designed specifically to articulate what is
valued.Its a venue where we can say, This
behavior is okay, but that one isnt. And
while many performance review processes
might provide behavioral evaluation
when it comes to technical job duties,

they rarely make clear what behaviors
drive a powerful culture. But they should.
I have awhite paper on performance
managementthat goes into more detail
about how to design these processes more
intentionally, if youre interested.
Internal meetings
Its amazing how much of our culture is
unintentionally reinforced in the way we
do meetings internally. This includes staff
meetings, team meetings, all-hands meetings,
and supervisory meetings (which overlaps
with performance management), among
others.The way you run your meetings
should reflect and reinforce your culture.
If your culture values decentralization, then
dont let the supervisor create the agenda
each time. If your culture emphasizes databased decision making, then make sure
adequate data is shared and maybe even
discussed (online)beforepeople show up
to the meeting. Its also very important to
reinforce your cultures code, or language,
during meetings on an ongoing basis. You
will need to remind people of this (and
model that behavior), but you could even
tinker with the structure of the meetings
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themselves to provide opportunities to

discuss key concepts at each meeting.
Silo structure
Let me start by saying silos are good
things. They enable deep expertise, and
we dont necessarily want to bust them,
as the literature might suggest. But dont
let the need for deep expertise make you
blind to the impact silos often have on
culture. For example, I think successful
organizations are going to move toward
the together side of the together/separate
continuum, and that means more and
better collaboration. You can see this
theme in the business literature already.

Butsilo structures often present huge
impediments to collaboration.Each area
of expertise has its own language, its own
inside jokes, and its own way of doing
things, and outsiders struggle to fit in, so
they dont. Instead of collaboration, different
silos choose to do end runs and duplicate
effort. One nonprofit I know actually keeps
its departments on different floorsand
your access key-card only gets you onto
your floor of the building. Its almost
literally a silo! Moving a culture toward
workingtogethermore effectively requires
you to address these collaboration barriers.
Learning is Not Optional

As you dig into the processes, dont get lost
in the weeds, or else it becomes merely a
process improvement exercise. Remember,
youre working on culture here. That means
culture needs to be front of mind when
youre designing the process change, and
impact on culture needs to be examined

on the back end as well.Being disciplined
about learningis the only way you can be
successful at walking the path and setting
the direction simultaneously.
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CHAPTER 9:
Your Role In All This

I recognize that you, the reader, could hold a position
at any level in your organization, from the CEO to
the mailroom clerk. (Are there really mailroom clerks
still?!) And I want this book to be for every one of you.
I want people at all levels of the organization to step
up to the challenge of creating stronger cultures and
more powerful organizations.
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Unfortunately, much of the literature says I

cant do that. The bulk of what I read about
corporate culture is clear on one point:
Culture starts at the top. It is the CEO who is
the ultimate driver of corporate culture. The
CEOs behavior is scrutinized in detail by all
of us, therefore he or she must be the one to
make this happen.
So, forgive my cheesy conflict-resolution
language, but I think this ones a both
and. I am happy to acknowledge the
power of the CEO role in both defining and
sustaining culture. Its true that the CEO
behavior is scrutinized, and people in that
position do not have the luxury of having
their words or behavior overlooked, so they
should act accordingly. The CEO obviously
has some resources at his or her disposal,
too. Thats important.
But this does not absolve the rest of us from

our responsibility to create and sustain
a powerful culture.We are not required
to give these CEOs as much power over
culture as we tend to give them.At every
level of the organization, we can carve out
some important work to do on culture. That
is, in fact, our responsibility. This doesnt
mean we should disregard the CEO in our
efforts, but there is most definitely work
that we can do.
Here is my take on whats in store for each
level of the organization when it comes to
culture work:
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Executives
As I said above, most employees are giving
you, the executives, a lot of power when it
comes to culture. Dont squander it. Make
culture a higher percentage of your job
function than it is right now. One COO that
I worked with was devoting 50 percent
of his time to culture and wasachieving
significant business resultsin the process,
results he attributed specifically to the
culture work. I dont know what the right
percentage is for you, but Im guessing it
will be higher than whatever it is right
now. And for CEOs, I know you have a lot
of power here, but remember thatyou
dont have to equate your power with

control.It need not be exclusively up to
you to define, set, and enforce the culture.
In many cases, you can be more powerful
by simply letting your culture grow in
the way that your people want it to. In
that sense, you might accomplish more
by giving other people more time to work
on culture, rather than trying to do it all
yourself. But, obviously, it is critical for you
to visibly make culture work a priority for
the organization, or it will take a long,
long time.
Middle Managers
I am assuming that as middle managers,
youve come to terms with the fact that
youre not in charge. But that does not mean
you should underestimate your power when
it comes to culture change. Somerecent
researchreported in Harvard Business
Review found that middle managements
role was one of the key factors in
determining the success of a transformation
initiative.Managers in the middle have
a significant amount of influence over
processes, so focus your efforts there. If

the executives have given you a clear
direction for the culture, then consciously
retool processes to support the effort. If they
havent given you the guidance, then dont
wait.Proceed until apprehended,and start
retooling processes with desired culture in
mind. If you can get some new processes to
actually show results, then it will become a
much easier pitch to the executives to start
working on culture.
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Front-Line Employees
If youre reading this book as a front-line
employee, then youre not the type to just
punch the clock and follow orders. (And
good for you!) You care about culture
and dont want to settle for a mediocre
workplace. Its quite possible, then, that
you have bumped up against some limits
to making that happen (on your terms,
anyway). Dont give up. If youre rubbing
against the grain when it comes to culture,
keep trying to elevate that conversation,
even if it means finding people outside
of your immediate network to help you.
And remember, even at the bottom of the

organizational chart,the one thing over
which you will always have control is
your own behavior.Culture lives through
everyday behavior, so be disciplined in
yours. Choose carefully to support the
desired culture, whether the higher-ups
have articulated it or not. And learn how to
effectively give feedback to your peers (and
your supervisors, frankly) that helps them
focus on their behavior and the impact its
having on the system.
No Excuses
It doesnt matter where you are in the
system. There is always something you can
be doing to create a more powerful culture.
Youll probably face some resistance:
``
Im too busy.
``
Why are you rocking

the boat?
``
The status quo isnt that bad.
``
This will never work.
And thats when you will hit a very

important moment, actually, where you will
have to answer (for yourself) this question:
Is this work important to you?Does culture
matter to your work life?If the answer
is no, then the resistance will defeat you,
and youll go back to getting your real
work done. If the answer is yes, then your
landscape changes. Youll realize that youre
going to need to stand up for things that
werent necessarily on your agenda before.
Youll need to weave this work into the rest
of what you do. The choice is yours.
Choose wisely.
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CHAPTER 10:
The Inconvenient Truth

About Culture Change
I have been maintaining throughout this book that
culture change is something that is accessible to all of
us.It can be done, one process at a time, by people at
every level of the organization.I am intentional with
this message, because I want to liberate work on culture
from behind the bars of its too hard or my leaders
dont get it. No more excuses. Lets all step up and make
this happen.
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But I am also in touch with reality. I

have seen attempts to change culture fail
miserably. I have seen many organizations
who are simply too busy to be bothered
with culture or who think it doesnt
matterand they are going to stay that
way. Its quite possible that they will
stay successful as organizations, despite

not heeding my advice. (Gasp!)Im not
pretending that all this is easy, nor that
its a magic, silver bullet.But running a
successful enterprise should not be easy. It
should be good, satisfying, hard work. Just
like culture change.
You Can Handle the Truth

So, as this book is almost done, I want to
provide you with some important truths about
culture and culture change that will prepare
you for the inevitable bumps in the road.
You have multiple cultures

Throughout the book, I have been
referring to culture in the singular form,
as if there is only one, single culture at
your organization. Thats not true. There
are always multiple cultures, even in
very small organizations. Certainly most
departments have their own cultures, and
an individual team can also have a culture
that varies from the overall company
culture. This doesnt negate the existence
of an overall company culture, but it does
give you more to work on as you grow
and nurture your culture. Youll have to be
aware of the various subcultures.Expect
difference.This is good, actually, because
the contrast can help you clarify ways to

improve the culture. But be careful, because
theres a fine line between pushing the
culture to grow and tearing its fabric.
Youll need to manage that continuously.
Youre going to have to

fire some people
In organizations today there is a distinct
bias towards stability in employment. There
is an unspoken ideal that everyone should
work at the same organization forever,
or, at least, we consider such loyalty a
sign of organizational health. I think that
is misguided. I think the future of work
will not look like that, particularly as we
come to realize that the workplace is an
acceptable venue for pursuing personal
growth and development, not just making
stuff and pocketing profit. And that fits
with culture work, because as you get clear
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on what constitutes a powerful culture,

you will realize that some of the people
you have on board now are inconsistent
with that direction. Sometimes individuals
who used to be a good fit will grow and
develop in ways that makes them not a
good fit. And we have to be okay with
those people leaving. Do it well. Support
them. Heck, help them find a new job,
as one of my clients did with one of its
employees who was unable to support the
culture. But I thinkwe need to become
more comfortable with separationsin
our organizations, particularly once we get
clear on our culture.
Culture work is fragile

There are some change processes in your
organization that are fairly sturdy and
somewhat predictable. You can map them
out, and push through implementation, and
when the effort is clearly a priority, it tends
to happen. Culture change is not one of
those processes. It is disappointingly fragile.
Even when its a priority, it seems like a few
stubborn individuals can derail the effort.
Or, some external driver will generate an
almost about-face among employees who
had previously been making great progress
in creating a new culture. I find its better
if we just accept this reality and work
through it. Because of the complexity of
culture, derailments are going to happen.

Sopart of culture work that we need to
accept is the work we do getting it back
on track.This is one reason why you need
some staff (usually at a senior level) who
will devote a significant amount of time to
creating and sustaining culture.
Its hard to deal with mindsets

The word mindsets is the giveaway here.
They are not called mindflexibles, are
they? Cultures are rooted in the mindsets
of our people, and, by definition, people like
their mindsets to be stable. To be set. By the
time we have developed a clear approach
to something, we want it to stay stable,
because that helps reduce the amount of
complexity in our lives, and our brains are
wired to reduce complexity where possible.
Its like upgrading to that new software
operating system. For a while, youll stick
with the imperfect current version, rather
than face the unknown changes that
will come with the upgrade. So, to work
on mindsets, we will need to be more
comfortable with things getting a little
more personal at work, because thats where
the mindsets are accessed. And well have
to support each other in going there, which
is one reason why I think the popularity of
executive coaching is going to continue.
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The Truth Shall Set You Free

Gloria Steinem once said, The truth shall set
you free, but first it will piss you off. If you
recognize the power inherent in a stronger
culture (and by this point, I hope you do),
you should be willing to confront these
hazards on the road to culture change.
Youll face the truth, even if it means more
work (and even if it pisses you off). Youll

no longer tolerate consultants blowing
smoke in your face, or even colleagues who
play the Im too busy card.Youll do the
work of culture, because you care about
the success of the enterprise.Your culture
will thank you.
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CHAPTER 11:
The Future Is Now

So, this is it. The last chapter. You no longer have the
luxury of sitting back and wondering if you should
be doing more work on your culture. Soon you will
close this app and be faced with a choice: Either do
something about your culture, or dont. Both are valid
choices. I cant pretend to know whether or not you
need to do something now in your context.
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But please be honest with yourself as you

make your choice. I have been in situations
where I thought, This stuff can wait. Were
really swamped right now, and we have
this big [fill in the blank] to deal with, and
when all thats settled, we will have the
bandwidth to deal with culture.
No, you wont. Because when that time
actually comes, there will be a new [fill
in the blank] to deal with, and youll be
able to rationalize putting off the culture
work again.The only reason to delay
work on your culture is if your culture is
already very strong.And even then, the
respite will be brief. Remember, this is an
issue of competitiveness in todays world
of transient advantages. If your culture is
not strong, or its contradictory or fuzzy
or confusing, then you need to start
identifying low-priority items on your

organizations action list and eliminate
them to make room for culture work.
Alternatively, you could just hope that your
competitors are also too busy for culture.
Good luck with that.
Or you can step up and do this. Come up
with ways to change culture in all its
dimensions: words, actions, thoughts, and
stuff. Push for true clarity in connecting
what is valued to what drives the success
of the enterprise, and make sure that links
back to actual workplace behaviors. Do
your assessment up front, or tackle it one
process at a time, but either way, just do it.
Still, I know it can feel a bit overwhelming
at first. If you want to try to ease into it,
here are some pre-work steps you can take
to build the momentum.
Keep a Culture Journal

It can be on the computer or with actual
pen and paper, but at least once a week
write some reflections about your culture,
from your perspective. Write down things
you notice in meetings or walking around
the office. Write down things you notice
about your own reactions or your own
mindset. And dont forget reflections about
the overall business and what drives

success, because the culture must ultimately
be linked to that. Resist drawing firm
conclusions too quickly.Use the journal to
play with ideas.This way, when you start
talking to other people in the office about
culture, youll be able to cut to the chase
more quickly.
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Start Some Conversations

Schedule some specific conversations with
other people in your organization about
culture. It can be informal, and if youre
intimidated by raising the issue with those
higher up than you on the org chart, then
just start with your level. If youve been
journaling, you might be able to provide an
agenda for the conversation with people.

Butyou need the interaction to fully develop
the ideas.These should be open-ended
conversations at first. Dont expect a whole
lot of assignments and to-do lists, but look
for some clarity that will help you elevate
the conversation within the organization.
Read Some More

There are a lot of good resources out
there on organizational culture. From the
academic/consulting side, I think the best
source on the topic isEdgar Schein, and
hisCorporate Culture Survival Guideis
my favorite book on the topic. As you might
have guessed, I like Tony HsiehsDelivering
Happiness, where he tells the whole
Zappos story, with a lot of detail on how he

worked on culture. And as Ive said, there
are a lot of consultants out there working
on this topic. I have acategory in my
blogdedicated to culture, and you can find
many, many more articles linked in the
Twitter conversation on #corpculture by
clicking on the discoverable below.
Get Some Help

At some point, youll be like the fish that
cant recognize its own water, and thats
when an outside perspective is going to
help. There are times where its hard to
articulate aspects of your culture when
youre in the middle of it. So, bring in a
trusted colleague to help you talk through
some of the issues. Bring in a consultant
to facilitate the management-team

conversation about it. Bring in someone to
do an initial assessment. It may be hard
at first to open up this conversation to
someone from the outside (even just outside
of your department), but it can greatly
speed up the process.
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The Time is Now

Whatever you do, do something. I hope I
have made the case strongly enough that
culture has become an issue of competitive
advantage. By shifting your culture in the
direction of decentralized, transparent,
together, and learning, you will tap into the
power of what it means to be human and
find new agility, engagement, and results
in the process. You will also make strides
in becoming the employer of choice as
the youngest generation, the Millennials,

becomes a more powerful force in the
workplace. They were raised amidst these
human principles and will have a harder
time adjusting to the traditional ways of
doing things. And theyre not going to wait.
That makes this particular time one of the
most potent in recent history for using
culture for your competitive advantage.
Lets not waste this opportunity.
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About this book

I have published this book in two different formats. The first is the one youre looking
at right now in PDF form. Heres the link to share with others who you think might be
interested in this book.
I also published this book within the Snippet platform. Snippet is an app for the iPad
and iPhone where you can read and interact with ebooks in a very interesting format.
For example, in the Snippet version of this book, I have inserted audio and video clips
into almost every chapter where I can explain a little more of the thinking that went
into writing the book. You can also highlight, share, and take notes within the app.
Get the Snippet version here.
About Jamie
I am a consultant, speaker, and author who helps organizations
create cultures that attract the best talent, customers, and
partners. I bring twenty years of experience in conflict
resolution, generations, diversity, social media, and leadership to
my consulting work.
You can find me and my books here:

Company website: workxo.com
Blog: jamienotter.com
Humanize book
Generational Diversity ebook
We Have Always Done It That Way book
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Culture

HOW GETTING SERIOUS

HOW GETTING SERIOUS

Many of us are envious of the cool organizational cultures

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

People leave the culture, not the company.

Your culture is your most valuable

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And in 20 years of working with

Its not about foosball tables, vacation

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Clarity is the Key

and selflessness), the presentation translates

You seek what is best

You are ego-less when

You take the time to help

You share information open

Thats pretty clear. And Netflix makes no

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The Accidental Culture

Culture work is not as hard as you think

Think culture is too fuzzy

Think values are too

Think change is too hard?

Im not over-simplifying, and Im not

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As I said in the introduction, having the

But remember,the whole point of

Organizational culture is the collection of words, actions,

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To explain, Ill start with the last

term. Those values are nice, but at times

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A Time for Action

explore how values and culture mix at

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I think most business leaders intuitively get

values in your values statement, you appeal

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Either way, its not adequate. Shared

to fork transparency regarding production,

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Values In Your World

Well talk more about these factors and

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Zappos: Its Not

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How is that possible? Well, it seems culture

put so much of his own time and attention

at the same time. Hsieh actually studied

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youre selling shoes online, then delivering

call-center employees needed thedecision

service), but the values also matter in the

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your culture and specifically where

that organizations over the last century

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Netflix: Its Not

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Clarity on the values is critical, of course,

the word brand. I understand the concept,