Ducks in a Row: It’s About Culture, Stupid
by Miki Saxon
Lou Gerstner (IBM) says it best, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.”
Dick Clark (Merk), Rex Tillerson (ExxonMobil), Robert Iger (Disney) and Steve Jobs (Pixar) all agree, as do a host of other bosses.
There’s no getting around it—everything comes down to culture.
The millions of dollars spent developing strategy provide no value unless the strategy is implemented.
“I wouldn’t say that their strategies are useless, but if they added a separate ‘people’ process on the strategy process they would be a lot more effective.” That process is execution, which many consultants and academics have largely ignored because it is seen as merely tedious detail.
Culture embodies more than a company’s values; it embodies the company’s ability to execute.
Too many bosses treat building culture also as tedious detail—exciting to visualize and discuss, but procrastinating the hard work required to create and sustain it.
Bosses who ignore the tedious details jeopardize their careers and put their companies at risk.
Flickr image credit: Max Klingensmith
