Leadership Isn't For Cowards: How to Drive Performance by Challenging People and Confronting Problems

Chapter 4

Is Culture Overrated?

Now that you’ve defined your values and the impact you want to have, let’s talk about how to use those ideas to influence culture.

Your organization’s culture is the way it feels to work there. It is best shown in the stories people tell about you and the way the organization operates. The way customers are treated and how your organization interacts with local communities are also clear indicators of company culture. Do you make it easy for customers to do business with you? Do your employees know that they are respected and appreciated? Culture goes beyond just what it says on some pretty picture posted on the wall. It is about what actually happens every day.

It is pretty simple to be courageous here. You must listen to the stories people are telling about you and your culture, and then you must influence the stories. You must create a space that triggers the kind of story you would be proud to hear at a dinner party.

What words would make you proudest in the stories your followers tell? Think of four or five words. Categorize them as either scientific or artistic. Which one of the two categories seems more important to you?

Let me share the single most egregious example of cultural failure I have ever experienced. My firm was asked by a CEO to come to his company and help “deepen the outstanding culture.” What exactly does that mean? I didn’t know then and I don’t know now. Our team finally decided that the best way to help them would be to help ...