10 Thoughts on Company Culture
“I think company culture is great. It motivates me to do my best work when I’m in the office, and also makes talking to people easy. When there’s a set culture in place, there’s no surprises. It’s great!
“Company culture is the foundation of any working organism. Just think — if an NFL locker room were devoid of its raw, unadulterated culture, wouldn’t we all just feel incredibly awkward slapping each other with wet towels every day? That’s precisely what culture is. It removes the awkwardness from the modern work week.”
“Before getting to the agency world, I had always thought of company culture as a thinly stretched piece of rubber holding together the internal organs of an agnostic machine that creates hollow substance out of nothingness. Now, I realize that good work is good work, all-around. Let’s just hope that rubber band doesn’t snap back, since then I’ll probably have to go back to school! Lol!”
“I was asked the other day by one of my clients, ‘what makes your team work so well together’ and I couldn’t help but smile. Culture is one of those things that only a lucky few of us have been fortunate enough to grasp and use to our advantage. Without it, my team wouldn’t be constantly posting about every work-related problem or realization they come across during a typical week. To me, that’s crowd-sourcing; that’s real problem solving; that’s devoting yourself to delivering kick ass work!
“When I came from India to work in digital, I thought to myself of the rich cultural heritage I would be leaving behind but soon realized that I would be graciously accepted into a new one. Culture isn’t prejudiced, and it isn’t close-minded. Well, it might be for those of us who don’t ‘get it,’ but I get it and I’m nearly 50! This is my new home!”
“There’s just three things you need to know about any company culture. One — It should never change. Two — If it changes, it means you are losing ground. And three — When you lose all sense of identity, you’ve basically become TJ Max. You never want to become TJ Max.”
“Google wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for company culture. Culture is what keeps people coming back to work, and it’s what people constantly think about when they go home to kiss their sweetheart and tuck in their kids at night. It’s who we are, and so if you don’t wake up every morning to look yourself in the mirror to say, “I am Google, though and though,” well, then I probably wouldn’t want you working for me anyway. Those are just the facts.”
“If it weren’t for company culture, I’d probably have to re-examine the entire reason I’m working in this industry in the first place. You know, I really should have started that band when I had the chance.”
“The culture at my office is so great. Since we are a beauty and cosmetics company, it’s really awesome to see people take such pride in their physical appearance, which really does manifest itself in the work each day. Beautiful people + great work = frantic Sunday night emails. I think that’s powerful.”
“Culture. Innovation. Leadership. Strategy. These are all words. In truncated form.”
