Sorry, but you can’t just create a company culture
Culture is such a buzzword in business these days. We talk about it to our customers. We look for employees that fit it. And we look for jobs where the culture matches our own preferences and values. Companies of all sizes want to grow it, shape it, and foster it. But what exactly is it?
First off, you already have a company culture. It may be good, or it may be bad. You may love it, or you may hate it. But it definitely already exists.
In 2009, I attended South by Southwest Interactive, and I had the privilege of listening to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s keynote about company culture. At the time his views were fairly radical, and Zappos culture and its supporting hiring and onboarding practices were new and different.
Reinforcing and fostering the Zappos culture was at the core of their business operations. As new employees were hired, they were offered multiple opportunities to accept a lump sum and leave the company if they weren’t aligned with the culture, weeding out those who were just there to collect a paycheck. The end result was a team that shared the same values, which led to being able to work better together and better customer service — which led to success as a business.
As word spread about Zappos and other companies throughout the dot-com startup space, company culture…
