Ducks in a Row: the Secret of Success—FIT
by Miki SaxonFit.
Fit makes your clothes look great; fit makes your shoes comfortable; cultural fit drives success, whether corporate or personal.
Just as one-size-fits-all doesn’t apply to great fitting clothes or shoes; it doesn’t apply to company culture—think Zappos and Intel.
Some great people love highly political environments; they consider politics a game and thrive on playing, while others shrivel and die in that situation.
A good friend interviewed at Apple when it was young and hot. She wanted to know about the work, but the interviewers only talked about the campus gym and Friday beer blast, which turned her off.
The true secret of success, both individual and corporate, is fit.
- For companies, the kind of culture is less important than whether the people hired are a good fit—not to the propaganda, but to the cultural reality.
- For individuals, it’s not really about free massages, catered lunches and foosball, but about how well the company’s values match their own.
Another bit of stupid is the idea that startups/small companies have great cultures, while large, established companies are boring and regimented.
In fact, if you really listen, you can hear the assumptions behind the media chatter on culture—assumptions that a little thought renders ridiculous.
Time spent evaluating and testing cultural fit always pays off, whether you’re a hiring manager or a candidate.
Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/