People First Leadership: How the Best Leaders Use Culture and Emotion to Drive Unprecedented Results

CHAPTER 1

CULTURE AND ITS RESULTS

Culture is not part of the strategy. Culture is the strategy.

—Jim Collins, bestselling author and leadership expert

 

CULTURE OR STRATEGY? CULTURE IS THE STRATEGY

In this first section we will draw a distinction between strategy and culture—in other words, the “hard” variables and the so-called “soft” variables. We use the term hard variables for any elements that have to do with numbers and strategies, those variables that have to do with business design: how we’ll compete, how we’ll be financed, what the value proposition will be, how much we will spend on marketing, and how we’ll allocate this spending. As for soft variables, they have to do with people, leadership, culture, emotion, values, and behavior. ...