Culture On Purpose
by Miki Saxon
Back in 2013 I wrote a post about intentional culture quoting Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson.
“If you don’t create a culture at your company, a culture will create itself. And it won’t be good. I sometimes hear people say ‘We don’t have a culture at our company.’ They have one. But if it hasn’t been nurtured, if no one has spent on any time on it, you can assume it’s the wrong culture.”
It’s well recognized that good culture doesn’t just happen — it requires conscious intention from day one and never ending vigilance ever after.
Sustaining culture requires a tough stance on hiring and a willingness to walk away from candidates who aren’t aligned with and enthusiastic about your culture.
However, no amount of vigilance and effort assures that the resulting culture will be what is termed ‘good’.
Whether the intentioal from the top or is allowed to rise from the ranks, the culture will reflect the values of the source and will be propagated by attracting candidates with similar values.
Uber’s bro culture reflects Trvis Kalanick’s values.
Zappos reflects Tony Hsieh’s.
For a great read on intentional culture and how to do it, check out Making Culture a Tangible Metric by Eric Blondeel and Moufeed Kaddoura, co-founders of ExVivo Labs.
Hat tip to the CB Insights newsletter for sharing this article.
Image credit: Richard Matthews
