Leadership in Action: Inside Out: Transforming Your Leadership Culture

POWER OF CULTURE

Mike is a vice president at a prestigious financial organization. “A group of vice presidents were planning a special, all-day meeting at headquarters, bringing in VPs and directors from all our locations,” Mike says. “We needed to use the largest conference room in the building and had to get special permission to do so.”

Permission in this case was not simply an issue of scheduling. The large conference room was on the top floor of the building and was used almost exclusively by senior executives. The VP and director offices were on the floors below, with employees lower in the ranks filling the middle floors and the ground level occupied by administrative and support operations. The furnishings in the building, too, changed ...