Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Strategy, Culture, and Identity Through Corporate Branding

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THE INFLUENCE OF EMPLOYEES AND THEIR CULTURES

Frederick Crawford, former CEO of TRW, the automotive systems supplier, liked to tell these stories:

There was a machine in the plant that was water-cooled. The water was discharged through a hole in the floor, and it splashed everything, the floor was a hell of a mess. A week or two after my meeting with the employees, the operator of that machine asked me to take a look at his invention. He had rigged an awning over the machine from canvas and wire that he had bent himself. The awning channeled the water so that it dropped down neatly into a pan. He had solved the problem. For the first time, that fellow had begun to think about the efficient operation of the business. I asked him why he didn't ...