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Golden Oldies: Ducks in a Row: the What and How of Culture

Monday, January 27th, 2020

Poking through 14+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

I wrote this in 2015, but when it comes to company culture five years is a blink of the eye. The boss’ MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) that drives the actions that create culture, whether the result is good or bad, has been developing since they were born, although it’s not set in concrete and can change — but only if they choose to.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Steve Blank wrote a great post about changing culture in larger organizations. It’s a must-read for anyone in business, government or non-profit who is looking to juice innovation in their organization.

Blank agrees that there are four components to culture.

Two McKinsey consultants, Terry Deal and Arthur Kennedy wrote a book called Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life.  In it they pointed that every company has a cultureand that culture was shorthand for “the way we do things at our company.” Company culture has four essential ingredients:

    • Values/beliefs – set the philosophy for everything a company does, essentially what it stands for
    • Stories/myths – stories are about how founders/employees get over obstacles, win new orders…
    • Heroes – what gets rewarded and celebrated, how do you become a hero in the organization?
    • Rituals – what and how does a company celebrate?

He goes on to explain what needs to be done for “innovation to happen by design not by exception.”

While I agree with everything he says, I believe he left out a most critical component.

In reality it should be a subset of values/beliefs, but it is rarely thought about by bosses — they either do it or do the opposite automatically.

It can be summed up in four words, don’t kill the messenger—Pete Carroll, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, is a master of this mindset.

To be truly innovative means trying new stuff and a part of trying new stuff is accepting that it won’t always work.

Corporate culture in general and many bosses individually can’t seem to wrap their minds around the idea that some things will fail — it’s the dark side of the ‘but me mindset’ at work.

What they, and anybody setting out to change culture and encourage innovation, need to understand is that it only takes killing the messenger, i.e., responding negatively to the person who brings bad news, once to negate whatever progress had been made and put the effort back to square one.

Flickr image credit: Eirik Newth

Ducks in a Row: Values Revealed

Tuesday, March 19th, 2019

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29237715@N05/8532404954/

Yesterday’s post reminds us that culture stems from the boss’ MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and that MAP reflects their values.

A point that that seems easily forgotten.

Values aren’t what you say, they’re what you do.

This was illustrated in an article about Larry Page’s end run around the Alphabet board initially approving Andy Rubin’s $150 million exit package without board involvement.

Arrogant to say the least.

I sent the article to a number of people and asked them who is more arrogant, Page or Zukerberg.

Zukerberg won the “Most Arrogant” title hands down.

One response garnered applause from everyone.

That person used the nickname ‘Zuck’.

Then wrote again saying, “Or maybe I should say the Zucker…”

Seems appropriate. Adding “the” (same as you-know-who) and it’s even more apropos if you change the first letter to ‘F’.

Values aren’t what you say, they’re what you do.

A principle that becomes clearer with each new revelation.

Call it founder striptease — although it’s just as common in politics and religion.

Image credit: Noel Reynolds

Ryan’s Journal: What Makes Work Worth It?

Thursday, July 26th, 2018

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leesean/7021431279/

I work for a channel partner within the software industry. One reason I chose to work at my current job is the fact that we align with the customers needs, find a product that fits and help implement it. I appreciate that we go to market not because of a marketing brochure, we go to market with the clients needs first.

I had an opportunity today to learn about a new vendor that is in the space I focus, workload automation.

A big word for an industry that runs everything from your bank transactions to the Starbucks app (true story). This vendor is new to me but fits a segment of the market that we are not currently meeting. It does most things that our customers need and the company seems ethical.

I say all of this to tell you it gave me some hope today. I am in a position now where I am helping to shape the direction of my company and leave a mark.

Is that enough to go to work? I find that having purpose helps a lot. It gives greater satisfaction and focus when you have purpose.

Of course, my family helps in this regard, but family doesn’t always help with burnout. Sometimes it contributes when you’re getting woken up several times a night by the baby! Money can help sometimes, too, but I find it ultimately empty. It leaves you wanting more and never satisfied.

For me, I have found what gives me the most purpose is when my input is desired, I  heard and I contributed.

What gives you purpose?

Image credit: leesean

If the Shoe Fits: Kickstarter, PBC — a Winner’s Choice

Friday, May 13th, 2016

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mDo you have values?

Do you clearly articulate them your team?

Do you strive to incorporate them into your company’s culture?

Do those values include building a sustainable business, kind to the environment, gives back to its community and actively contributes to the wellbeing of its workers?

Will you stay true to those values while growing, when both eyes are on the revenue/profitability of your company?

If so, you could apply to be recognized as a Certified B Corp, like Warby Parker, Etsy, and the Honest Company.

B Corp status is a step in the right direction — but…

When push comes to shove it’s not legally binding.

Public Benefit Corporations (PBC) are a step above and beyond.

And Kickstarter just joined their ranks.

There’s a profound distinction between a “public benefit corporation,” or PBC, and a “B Corp,” co-founder Perry Chen told me during a recent visit to Kickstarter’s Brooklyn headquarters. Both are for-profit companies who wear their missions on their sleeves, but B Corps have no legal responsibility to uphold their values. PBCs, on the other hand, have a legally binding duty to provide benefits to society. One is an accreditation, like “Fair Trade,” the other is an entirely rethought corporate structure.

Put another way, if a PBC puts maximization of shareholder value — the true north of Wall Street — ahead of the public benefits it declares in its charter, it can be sued by its shareholders.

“A value is only a value if it’s non-negotiable,” Chen told me. Kickstarter’s values are now codified in a legally binding document. They’re literally non negotiable.

What are those values?

In section one, the company restates its mission — thereby enshrining that mission in its legal foundation. The second sections lays out the company’s values, taking aim at five highly political corporate issues: Selling user data to third parties (it never will, unlike Google, Facebook, and pretty much most of the Internet), clarity in “terms of services” (it won’t seek legal gains just because it can, unlike, well, pretty much the entire Internet), political lobbying (it won’t lobby unless the issues aligns with its values, regardless of potential monetary gain — unlike … you get the picture), taxation (it won’t employ the “esoteric tax management strategies” beloved by giants like Apple, Uber, et al), and environment (the company is committed to reducing its impact across the board).

Most businesses incorporate in Delaware where the legal PBC framework was signed into law by Gov. Jack Markell in 2013.

Public Benefit Companies are a relatively new legal entity — Delaware, where many fast-growth startups incorporate, created PBCs just three years ago. Besides defining a public benefit as “a positive effect (or reduction of negative effects) on one or more more categories of persons, entities, communities or interests (other than stockholders in their capacities as stockholders),” Delaware’s code allows new PBCs to make “further commitments” beyond the state’s legal definition.

Method, Plum Organics, Alter Eco, and New Leaf Paper are all PCBs.

Kickstarter could just have easily chosen the road to unicornism, but chose their values instead.

What will you choose?

Image credit: HikingArtist

If the Shoe Fits: Let Carl Sagan Help Guide Your Culture

Friday, July 25th, 2014

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mWhen you talk abut cultural guideposts to engineers they often hold their collective noses and chant “fuzzy, fuzzy.”

Given that they prefer algorithms to concepts, providing direction from a source they respect may be acceptable in lieu of hard data.

Enter Carl Sagan, whose credentials are as solid as they come, and his The Rules of the Game.

To be useful, culture needs to embody a company’s values, in order provide guidance to ethical and moral questions, as well as human interactions.

Not only do Sagan’s Rules address all three, but the short essay in which he explains them is written with the same care ad skill he lavished on his books and work.

TABLE OF PROPOSED RULES TO LIVE BY

The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Silver Rule Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.
The Brazen Rule Do unto others as they do unto you.
The Iron Rule Do unto others as you like, before they do it unto you.
The Tit-for-Tat Rule Cooperate with others first, then do unto them as they do unto you.

Introduce the rules by sharing the essay with your people.

If you run into resistance, overcome it by pointing out that Robert Axelrod, whose undergraduate degree is mathematics, evaluated the Rules positively in the light of the prisoner’s dilemma (game theory).

Typically, the Tit-for-Tat Rule garners the highest rating, because it makes so much sense.

And the Silver Rule provides terrific guidance to both new and experienced managers.

Thank you (again) Carl Sagan.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Ducks in a Row: When Trust is not Enough

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19936622@N00/468264/

How would you respond if you were head of a global professional company with more than 1,400 partners, 18,500 employees and a culture built on values, trust and honor when the values were ignored, trust was broken and the organization dishonored by someone at the highest level?

That was the challenge that Dominic Barton faced shortly after he became head of consulting firm McKinsey.

The values that Marvin Bower, its longtime managing director, instilled included putting the clients’ interests above the firm’s, providing independent advice and keeping confidences. These ideas were imparted from one generation to the next, mentor to apprentice. But after Anil Kumar’s arrest [he pleaded guilty] in late 2009, Mr. Barton, who had been elected to head the firm just months earlier, decided that the honor-driven, values-based system was not enough. What the firm needed was some rules.

Powerful people do not take kindly to rules and nobody takes kindly to rules that result from someone else’s actions—especially when they impact one’s income.

Ethical people like to believe that defining values and modeling them across the organization from the top down is enough.

It’s not.

An exceptional CEO I worked with who detested politics believed it was enough that his senior staff couldn’t use politics to get ahead with him. What he refused to recognize was that even though the political games didn’t work on him they wreaked havoc on those below the game-players.

This is especially true in the current world where greed, whether for wealth and/or power, is epidemic and “enough” no longer has any meaning.

But to work, the rules must apply evenly to everybody, at all levels, including the rule maker.

Flickr image credit: Andrew Scott

Saturday Odd Bits Roundup: Two Inspiring Stories

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

I have two special stories for you today, the kind that make you realize that there really are rays of hope piercing the hypocrisy so prevalent these days.

Special because they highlight two very different people and their accomplishments against the odds.

First is the story of a company and its employees who really do live by the professed corporate values. The employee is Jim Sinocchi who broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down. Instead of walking away, Sinocchi’s employer created a position for him; he is now director, Workforce Communications at the corporate headquarters. That was 28 years ago, long before passage of the ADA or advent of politically correct actions. The company? IBM.

The second is definitely a story of our times.

Management Today named Kate Craig-Wood one of its 35 Women Under 35 2009: Heroines For Hard Times. Here is what they say about her.

“Craig-Wood began her career at Arthur Andersen. She co-founded web and IT hosting provider Memset with brother Nick in 2002 – it now turns over £2m. In 2008, transsexual Craig-Wood won a NatWest Everywoman award. She was the first woman to tandem skydive onto Everest.”

What’s the big deal?

Kate Craig-Wood was born Robert Hardy Craig-Wood.

If they can do it, so can you!

Image credit: MykReeve on flickr

What Are Values?

Monday, June 29th, 2009

What would your reaction be to an executive who, when asked about company values, replied, “What do you mean by ‘values’? Do you mean ‘value’? I don’t understand what you mean by ‘values’.”

That was Sir Alan Sugar’s response at a recent conference when asked if he’d ever sacked someone because their values conflicted with the company values. (In case you’re wondering, Sir Alan is the counterpart to Donald Trump on the British version of The Apprentice.)

Based on what we’ve seen lately, Sir Alan has a lot of company.

So I have some questions for you.

  • How do you establish values in your company or in your life?
  • Do you depend on a set ideology or do you determine them yourself?
  • Are your values absolute or are they flexible? Why?
  • Are they sustainable?

I hope that many of you will take the time to respond and add your own thoughts.

Hat tip to the Leadership Hub for this quote.

Image credit: Arenamontanus on flickr

Corporate Culture in a Frigid Business Environment

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

The global environmental climate may be warming, but the global business climate is frigid, with even colder weather ahead for business in the next few years.

Without a doubt, most companies will face declines in sales, escalating bad debts, elimination or reduction of credit lines, forced reductions in labor, and significant internal adjustments in work assignments. How will your corporate culture withstand the upcoming business ice age?

Corporate Culture Snapshot

Corporate culture statements focus on “people values,” in contrast to corporate mission/vision/business statements, which focus on business objectives. A quick survey of corporate culture statements shows that many companies identify their employees as their most important asset. They also list their most important values as virtues as integrity, teamwork, accountability, and innovation.

For the sake of this post, let’s accept that the company actually means these good words.

How do you, as a business leader, honor these values in the current frigid business climate? More importantly, can your corporate culture actually help your organization to weather this storm?

The Situation

You are the leader/manager of a team of 25-50 people—a department or even an entire company. At the emergency leadership planning session last weekend, your sales team presented a revenue forecast 20-35% below last year. Your finance team predicted that bad debts will triple this year and credit will be unavailable, which means you need to find an additional 10% cash in your operations.

Worse yet, your employee payroll costs will grow by 3%, driven by increases in unemployment insurance and other state/federal payroll costs. Employee costs are 65% of your total expenses, so no matter how creative you are you know that the solution must eventually include reductions in employee expenses.

The Challenge

In stressful situations most people and organizations tend to circle the wagons, collapsing inside a small group of senior execs who run the business. Cultural values such as integrity, teamwork, and innovation are great for the boom times, but in difficult times our instinct is just the opposite. Our cultural statement that “people are our most important asset” rings hollow when we know that we must reduce employee costs by one third. How can we expect teamwork when reductions will inevitably pit team leaders against each other for inadequate resources? Who will volunteer to leave the team? Fear can constrict communications and limit feedback.

The Process

Ironically, your corporate culture statement may point the way to an effective process. If people are, in fact, your most important asset, communicate with them right now.

They are already talking with each other, already guessing about the challenges facing the organization and guessing at the possible solutions, which can start rumors that are usually far worse than the reality.

Bring them into the process at every level by opening the communication channels. Describe the challenge in as much detail as possible and in as many different forums as possible—send group emails, set up group meetings, and meet personally with the key people on your team.

Share the uncertainties also. Of the three common corporate virtues—integrity, teamwork, and innovation—the responsibility for integrity falls most heavily right now on you. Tell the truth to your team. Don’t wait and don’t hide in the uncertainties.

Structure the challenge then ask your team for recommendations. Your corporate culture emphasizes teamwork and innovation. Now is the time to count on those virtues as your team develops solutions.

The Solution

The solutions will be unique for each team and for each situation.

While each solution contains a set of action steps, the larger and most valuable elements of the solution are team ownership and acceptance. Grass-roots solutions developed by the teams almost always gain greater ownership and acceptance than top-down solutions imposed from above. However, grass-roots solutions are almost always messier.

How will your organization tolerate and accept a number of grass-roots solutions, each unique and each with distinct peculiarities? That is one of your challenges as a leader.

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