Corporate culture success stories
by Miki SaxonImage credit: duchesssa
There’s no time to post about all the interesting articles on corporate culture that I find, so I thought I’d offer several up with a few notes.
Wow! A founder who not only knows the front-line people (read: those the customers see) are the key to success, but puts his founder stock where his mouth is. No, not some high tech hot-shot in Silicon Valley, but Robbie Lee, CEO and founder of U.S. Dry Cleaning Corporation, the nation’s fastest-growing chain of dry cleaning operations.
According to Deborah Rechnitz, chief operating officer, “Robbie believes very strongly that our front-line employees are the key to our success. He also wants them to know that the company values their efforts and that they too can participate in the success of the company.”
Michigan isn’t the first place most people think of when cultural innovation is mentioned, but that’s what Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor has successfully fostered.
“Inside Menlo’s offices above a coffee shop a few blocks from the University of Michigan’s central campus, there are no walls.
- No cubicles.
- Nobody working long nights.
- Nobody working weekends.
- No offshoring of work to programmers in India or other countries.
- And nobody telecommuting, sort of counterintuitive for a technology firm in the era of virtual offices.
- And if a client is a cash-starved entrepreneurial start-up — is there any other kind? — Menlo might just cut its usual rates for custom software by 50% in return for equity in the client’s business or royalties from its products.”
Casino’s are the last place you expect to find good culture, but apparently Caesars gets it right.
“It’s something you hear over and over about Caesars in its birthplace; good people, the place runs right; the staff make good money. Not the best money, like they raked in back in the good old days . But still among the best.”
Many Canadian companies also have their cultural act together, among them are…
- “When people have passion projects or interests . . . there is a culture here that they’re not shy or unwilling to come forward… It’s that kind of flexibility, out-of-the-box thinking and attention to corporate culture that truly differentiates a company from competitors” explains Chris Bedford, president of Calgary-based branding agency Karo Group.
- “Creating an open dialogue where employees truly have a voice and are listened to also makes a profound difference. “We’re constantly hiring,” he says. “Not only are we overstaffed, but we’re cherry-picking the best people and it all comes because of the reputation,” according to Bruce Rabik, chief operating officer of Rogers Insurance Ltd.”
There are great lessons to be learned from these cultures and the people who create/enable them. And if you want to implement similar ideas in your company, I’m willing to bet that every one of them would take the time to address your how-to questions.
