Creating Culture
“I wish I could play guitar.”
Any reasonably competent performing guitarist has heard this comment countless times. One one level, it’s a nice ego stroke; on another, it’s excruciating to hear.
“Thanks. It’s really fun. Do you want to learn how to play?”
“Oh, no,” often comes the humble reply. “I have no talent.”
“It’s not talent. It’s just practice. Do you think Jimi Hendrix popped out of the womb playing the Star Spangled Banner?”
I know I used to say that partly fueled by frustration and often a bit of anger.
What appears as a compliment is really a lack of appreciation for the value of work over “natural” ability. It’s one of the reasons that people who are at the top of their game become resentful of their biggest fans. And no, I’m not suggesting I’m at the top of the guitar game, but even I have seen this dynamic over and over again echoed by people who are far more talented (as in committed to practice) than I am.
A friend of mine used to talk about the three different types of attitudes: creating, consuming and criticizing. I like the idea of “attitudes” versus immutable traits or fixed personality types. It suggests that these are practices we can master over time.
When we are creating, we tend to do our best work with inspiration from other creators, encouragement from generous consumers who value our creative output (or efforts), and critics who believe our work could (or should) be better. And we move from one attitude to another constantly throughout the day. One moment we’re creating and another were criticizing. For most of us, we spend the majority of our time consuming what others have created for us. And we tend to spend so much time in consumption mode that, like fish who don’t realize they are in water, it’s easy to believe that we are swimming in a world that, to paraphrase Steve Jobs, was created by “people no smarter than you.”
This is true in what we call “culture” as well. Most of what we experience as culture is the result of what others have created for us over time through their interactions with one another. The integrity of a culture is the way it stays cohesive over time. Criticism allows us to distinguish one culture from another and that distinction is what gives each a unique identity such that we are member of one culture and an “outsider” to others.
Most organizations have multiple cultures that are often highly critical if not antagonistic to each other: the “suits” vs. the “worker bees,” the sales people vs. the “bean counters,” the “carpet dwellers” vs. the “hairnets,” etc. Being critical of another culture (a worthy opponent) can drive healthy competition where each group becomes more creative, steps us their game, and develops a greater sense of belonging. Criticism disconnected from creating tends to lead to justifying exclusion or even violence against a shared enemy.
And it’s easy to criticize criticism forgetting that the most productive criticism is based in the belief that the world (our culture, ourselves) can get better. It can often be a force for getting us up from the consumer couch to create more value.
Each moment of spent in the creating attitude (Is this new?) gets richer with feedback from the consuming attitude (Is this valuable) and the criticizing attitude (Could this be better?)
The same is true with culture. Culture is something we create, consume and criticize. Over and over again.
So, how do we create better cultures? The same way that the great Pete Townshend became the great Pete Townshend: “I pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday.”
