CEO as Lactobacillus Acidophilus: 7 Steps to Building a Probiotic Company Culture
Helicopter view: Leaders can act like good bacteria in the guts of their organization.
Zoom in: to a CEO with shocks of brown and gray hair, walking down his creaky stairs at night, then his bare feet thumping down the cold tile of his dusky-gray kitchen floor. He opens the fridge and pulls out a cup of yogurt.
The CEO’s fancy yogurt came from a paper bag he brought home from a store down the street the weekend before, which came in on a wooden pallet from some distant state, where yogurt was mixed up in gigantic steel vats, strawberry and sugar and yogurt.
And bacteria. The little critters inside of everything that break things down, mess them up, and generally make the world work.
We need to be good bacteria in our companies to keep things well, much the same way good bacteria work to keep our guts well.
Will you be the bacterium that makes growth possible? And breaks down complicated things so that the company won’t become diseased?
What does life as a CEO-bacterium look like?
How do we build a probiotic company culture? Do we just mix in an instant super powder from the store, or do we call on an ancient recipe? Or both?
Seven Steps to Building a Probiotic Company Culture
Step 1 — Think like a bacterium.
Think small, not big.
Little things are the building blocks of bigger things.
Each little thing you do, at home and at work, will make a very big difference to the whole organism.
Step 2 — Don’t be bad.
This is the mission statement of the good bacterium.
It would be easy to turn to the dark side, and that could lead to disastrous consequences. Even death.
Don’t be bad.
Be good. It’s harder than it seems, but it will have an incredible ripple effect.
If you are good, others around you will become good.
Step 3 — Grow.
When you think like a bacterium — starting small, and working to be good — there’s nothing better to do than grow in a sustainable, smart way.
Grow your group of bacteria (your culture) to be similar to you, have a similar vision, and a similar worldview.
In your company, make smart decisions and grow when you need to grow in order to do the most good.
Step 4 — Teach.
If you coach, mentor, teach, train, and love your fellow bacteria, things will get better, and then things will become great. In the worst case scenario, you will be able to look at your colleagues and friends, and be happy with what you have helped others to become.
The best way for a bacterum to teach is to say, “be like me,” in a special, bacterial way.
Note: If you have a good recording of bacteria saying this, please email me.
Step 5 — Learn.
If you are a good bacteria, and you have the right culture forming around you, and even if you are a great teacher, you might still be up the duodenum without a paddle.
Unless you learn.
A great bacterium must learn.
This can be done for the bad, and lead to all kinds of scary super-bugs that wreak havoc and bring death and destruction.
And it can be used for the good.
If you learn, and then teach, and then grow, as a good leader, with the culture in mind, you could become unstoppable. And you and those around you might be happy.
Step 6 — Do good things.
There is nothing more important than action.
You can have good intentions, and a great team, and a perfect culture. But if you don’t take action, there will be no motion, no change, no digestion, no healing, and no growth.
Take action and do good things.
Step 7 — Replicate
If you are doing good things, fostering a healthy culture, teaching and learning from your fellow bacteria, and growing, the next thing to do is replicate.
Go forth and influence all bacteria.
Imagine what kind of world this would be if all (business) bacteria were like yogurt culture, not like a deadly super-bug.
The CEO licks the rim of the plastic container carefully, so as not to cut his tongue on the sharp plastic or the remnants of aluminum foil on the edge.
He doesn’t sit on the plush red couch in the living room for fear of falling asleep there.
Instead, he stumbles up the stairs and climbs as quietly as possible into the pile of silver pillows on the queen bed he shares with another human and a dog.
He falls asleep.
The dog gingerly steps down the pet-stairs leading off of the bed once the CEO begins sawing logs.
He dreams of dancing bacteria.
Dr. Kent Gustavson is the CEO of independent publisher Blooming Twig. He is a TEDx speaker, visibility strategist, award-winning writer, and has been featured on Entrepreneur, NPR, and other good places. He offers advice for a price via his page on Clarity.
Thanks to Gratisography for these amazing photos.
