An Empowering Culture Thrives While a Hierarchy Becomes Toxic
One thing that had confused me for most of my corporate life is the idea of an “Org Chart.” The diagram has lots of boxes linked to one another. The way it works is very simple to understand: the higher you are to the top of the org chart, the more power, seniority and money you make.
What doesn’t make sense is aligning people based on perceived power/authority rather than letting leaders lead people because they have earned it and being comfortable with a relatively flat structure that promotes teamwork instead of authority.
Hierarchy promotes micro-management while a thriving culture whose focus is not hierarchy promotes people, which leads to much more tangible outcomes.
You may be given a title in a hierarchy, but did you earn it?
Will you use your title to build people up or micromanage them into the ground?
A leader chooses culture because it’s good for people, whereas a manager obsessed with a title chooses hierarchy because it’s good for them.
In a world where businesses are becoming more commoditized, there is one thing that you can sell for stacks of money and it is hard to recreate: culture.
So if culture is where the real money is and it’s why company’s like Zappos got sold to…
