Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage

Chapter 1Know Thyself

Know thyself.

—SOCRATES

THE LEADERS OF CORPORATE Canada don’t usually stand on their chairs and cheer—and certainly not at stuffy awards dinners.

But this was no stuffy awards dinner. From the get-go, we had deliberately gone in the opposite direction for our Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures awards gala: we wanted the night to be fun. More important, our objective was for the program’s annual winners to “show off their culture” at the event—to bring out their teams and celebrate. And boy, did they ever …

So there I was, in February of 2010, in the sold-out ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, standing on my chair like the rest of the 500 willing participants. From the stage, Patch Evans, CEO of Goodlife ...