“Is having a sacred playbook an asset that companies should preserve at all costs, or does it become a liability holding companies back as the world around them changes? Is there a point at which a company’s size, growth, and industry-spanning tentacles make a unified culture of decision-making and inventing impossible?” These questions, posed in […]
The failure of most DEI efforts result from the approach most commonly employed by companies. Reliance on programs and targets—such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and hiring quotas—without addressing the fundamental values and culture of the organization, only leads to additional bureaucracy rather than a genuine sense of belonging. While dedicated programs and metrics are […]
Celebrating my 20th anniversary of being an independent practitioner! As I reflect on my journey, I’m convinced that “culture” is as important for solopreneurs, coaches, and freelancers as it is for companies of thousands. Check out my thoughts on brand-culture fusion and why it matters for people who are self-employed. Let me know what you […]
Your core values can’t simply be words on your website or on a poster in your office; they must be used. Learn how Amazon uses its core values in my new post on LinkedIn: Do You Use Your Core Values Or Just Talk About Them? related: Do Your Core Values Have Teeth? Fusion: How Integrating […]
The principles in my book, What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest can be applied to employees, employee experience, and employee engagement. For example, in WGBD, I explain that Great Brands Avoid Selling Products. Instead of simply focusing on selling products or services to customers, great brands […]
Social media influencers and AI platforms are changing the way we connect with customers; they are also changing the way we use brands. Today brands are not only marketing outputs and strategic inputs. They are – or at least they should be – cultural cornerstones. Here is why. related: Prepare Your Culture for a Recession […]
If you’re struggling to build a cohesive company culture, you’re not alone. Where and how people work varies so much now that culture-building seems more difficult than ever. Instead of trying to control or quash the different directions your culture seems to be headed, provide clarity and focus to the variations. In this Smartbrief on […]
Your Human Resources and Compliance/Risk/Ethics departments might not be the first to come to mind when you think about culture-building, they can – and should – influence it significantly. And they are only two of the many groups within your organization that must be engaged in culture-building. As a leader, you may spearhead the definition […]
Treating your employees like family sounds nice, but makes no sense. In fact, trying to run your organization as a family – or even merely saying that you do — will hold you back, and may even backfire. Your company is not like a family because: You have to let people go. You must set and […]
“Bruising.” “Relentless.” “Painful.” “Frequent combat.” “Burn and churn.” No one would fault you for thinking a company with a workplace culture described in these harsh terms is destined for failure. Yet, one such company recently nearly doubled its operating income, increased its annual revenue by 27%, and turned in its 8th straight quarter of profitability. […]