Book 187 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Culture is NOT a Strategy!

Book – The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

Book Description: Where does great culture come from? How do you build and sustain it in your group, or strengthen a culture that needs fixing?

In The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle goes inside some of the world’s most successful organizations—including the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, IDEO, and the San Antonio Spurs—and reveals what makes them tick. He demystifies the culture-building process by identifying three key skills that generate cohesion and cooperation, and explains how diverse groups learn to function with a single mind. Drawing on examples that range from Internet retailer Zappos to the comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade to a daring gang of jewel thieves, Coyle offers specific strategies that trigger learning, spark collaboration, build trust, and drive positive change. Coyle unearths helpful stories of failure that illustrate what not to do, troubleshoots common pitfalls, and shares advice about reforming a toxic culture. Combining leading-edge science, on-the-ground insights from world-class leaders, and practical ideas for action, The Culture Code offers a roadmap for creating an environment where innovation flourishes, problems get solved, and expectations are exceeded.

Reflection:

I really enjoyed the Culture Code! I thought it did an excellent job of systematically breaking down the foundational elements of culture building, and then providing some concrete ideas to get you thinking on how you can start your own culture or transform an already existing culture.

I’ve long been personally fascinated by the unique human phenomenon of culture and culture creation for quite some time. Culture, at its best, is the combination of all of the unique traits of humanity (consciousness, imagination, language, words, creativity, community, and purpose) coming together in a beautiful symphony to produce a collective output that has the ability to change the world and power our species forward in ways we literally can’t even imagine.

Culture is the natural antidote to the Selfish Gene. Culture breaks down siloes, barriers, and unites. Culture is what convinces a bunch of people to work together to kill a mammoth and eat for a year vs. hunting squirrels individually and eating for a day. So far, it appears that humans are the only animals that have figured out how to truly harness the power of culture and that is why we dominate this world.

For me, specifically, I’ve seen first-hand the power that an intelligently designed culture can have on a group of people in my professional career time and time again. I work in the high-tech industry. This particular industry has become the gold standard for systematically adopting culture as a business strategy to blitz scale organizations from literally an idea to a superorganism of 1,000’s of people working toward a common objective seemingly overnight (think Facebook, WeWork, Google, Salesforce, AirBnB, Uber, etc). That is the world in which I’ve spent my entire career, and where I’ve personally witnessed some of the most amazing and powerful cultures that I’ve ever belonged to in my life. These companies made us feel like what we were doing wasn’t just a job, but a shared purpose. These were places where it truly felt like we were a family, like it was one for all and all for one, where lifelong friendships were developed, sometimes marriages and families were formed, and most importantly where we felt the work was meaningful and fulfilling.

Sadly, just as quickly as a lot of these cultures arrived and brought purpose to so many people, they disappeared almost as fast. This is devastating when this happens, I’ve also witnessed this firsthand as well. A company is acquired, goes public, or can’t sustain growth expectations. When that happens, all the warm and fuzzies I discussed before disappear as quickly as they came. The illusion to revealed and you are left staring at just another job with a bunch of random people. Never before in human history have we witnessed the creation and dissolution of such powerful cultural movements so quickly or regularly. I’ve been pondering why this is happening for years now, and I think I have finally come to understanding after giving it a lot of thought.

Here’s the problem…culture is not a strategy!

Manufacturing culture for profit will never work long term. Culture isn’t stupid. If your true underlying motive of a culture is built on a lie, it will always be revealed in time and the house of cards will come crashing down. Culture isn’t a game, culture is a leaving, breathing entity. Culture is a path to fulfillment, purpose, and collective growth, not some science project. Respect the power of culture or it will rip your heart out if you don’t. There is nothing worse than obtaining meaningful relationships and meaningful work only to seem them disappear in an instant. Let’s use culture to lift us up and not tear us down.

Question: What cultures have made the biggest impacts on your unique journey?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle