Matthew Hudson | January 31, 2009
Autonomy is defined as the right to self-govern. It connotes an atmosphere of independence and freedom to create the rules and build a new structure. This process works, but at what cost?
There is a phenomenon in nature similar to this situation. Whenever you fire a gun into a field full of birds, the birds fly wildly out of the field in many different directions. The mass chaos seems to be coordinated because interestingly enough, none of the birds ever run into each other. But do the birds avoid crashing into one another because of their care for each other and the good of the team, or is it out of a desire to protect themselves and do what is best for the individual?
As we study corporate culture, we cannot help but study the behaviors of animals like described above. We often hear employees tell us they wish their companies gave them more autonomy. so we have to study this word and see if it has a positive impact on their culture or a negative one.
Guess what we found - People have to want to be autonomous! Managers have to want their people to be autonomous! We rarely find this to be the case. What we do find is the Executives want autonomy. so they put out the edict and declare their company autonomous. But, as we know from reading this blog, the cycle of culture development will seen eat this edict for lunch and it will be relegated to the hall of “programs of the month.”
Category: 3rd Degree Shower Burn, Corporate Culture |
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Matthew Hudson | January 27, 2009
There was an older gentlemen taking his daily walk through the park when he happened by the little league field when he decided to stop and see some of the action. He took a position standing behind the dugout of one of the teams - the Red Sox. He noticed that the game was already in full swing and scanned the dugout of the Red Sox team. He noticed that they were a little quiet and down, except for one little boy near him who was cheering and spurring his team on. He looked to the scoreboard and saw the score. He was surprised to see that the Red Sox were down 20 to nothing. Well, that explained the dugout of Red Sox players, but what was the story with this happy one? He asked the boy how it was going. “Well, the boy said, this team is pretty tough, but I think we got a chance!” The old man was surprised by the boy’s response considering the lopsided score. Got a chance, thought the man to himself, how could this little boy say that? Wasn’t he looking at the score board? He decided to probe further into the enthusiasm of the little ball player. “I must say, you seem to be in pretty good spirits,” the man said. “You bet!” said the boy. “But how can you be so excited with the score so bad?” asked the confused and doubting gentlemen. “Heck, said the little boy, we haven’t even been up to bat yet!”
Don’t you wish your corporate culture had this type of optimism? When we are working with companies on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) we often times talk about the difference between attitude and optimism. As we all know, you cannot hire or fire someone based on their attitude. But you can predict their behavior based on their EQ. Got you thinking? Check out our penumbra.com site for more.
Category: 3rd Degree Shower Burn, Corporate Culture |
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Matthew Hudson | January 23, 2009
There was a small West Texas town that was typical America. Everything was fine until one day when someone decided to open a bar in that small town. The local church was outraged by this new business and set out to have it closed. They picketed, put up flyers, and even had weekly prayer vigils where they would pray that God would destroy the bar.
Well, one day it happened. Lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground! The bar owner decided to seek justice for what had been done so he got a lawyer. The lawyer filed suit against the congregation because they had prayed the bar would be burned down and it did. Well the church, not to be outdone, also hired a lawyer and the battle was on. The bar’s lawyer argued that the church was responsible because they had prayed for the destruction of the bar and their prayers had been answered. The church’s lawyer shot back that it was an act of nature, not a result of the church. The church lawyer said it was purely coincidental and the church could not be held liable.
The judge was about to retire to his chambers to make his decision, but before he left, he looked at the two lawyers and the crowd in the courtroom split neatly down the middle - churchgoers on one side and bargoers on the other. (There were probably some that weren’t sure which side to stand on!) He shook his head and said, “This will be the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I am not sure what to make about all of this. But I am sure about one thing. The bar owner believes and the church doesn’t!”
By the way, that is not only a cool story, its true! Sound like your culture?
Category: 3rd Degree Shower Burn, Corporate Culture |
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Matthew Hudson | January 19, 2009
At the opening ceremonies of EPCOT Center at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, FL, there was the usual glamour and fanfare typical of a Disney event. As they conducted the dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony, though, there was one person noticeably absent. It was Walt Disney. Walt had died before the completion of his dream from health problems. It was up to his wife, Lillian, to handle the ribbon cutting pomp and circumstance. After the ceremony, a stream of reporters flocked around Lillian to ask questions about EPCOT. One reporter commented on Walt’s absence asking, “Isn’t it too bad that Walt wasn’t here to see this?” And Lillian looked at him and smilingly said, “Honey, you just don’t understand. Walt saw this first!”
What a great story about the truth in dreams and vision. We have long discussed the importance of vision in leadership principles in this blog. Tom Peter’s in his book “In Search of Excellence” profiled several successful companies to determine what the foundation of that success was. In each case, it was a strong vision. Walter Bennis in is book “Leadership” also wrote about the catalyst for a companies success - when the vision is born.
But the true defining moment of greatness for a company is that moment when the vision translates form paper into the hearts and the heads of the people. Because it takes people to make any vision a reality. When Martin Luther King gave his famous speech many years ago he said, “I have a dream!” What he was really saying is I have a vision! For he could see the future and he dedicated and sacrificed his life to helping others see his vision. And today, his vision is becoming reality. Through people. Now that was a leader.
Happy MLK Day!
Category: 3rd Degree Shower Burn, Corporate Culture |
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Matthew Hudson | January 15, 2009
Recently, we created an experience for a client at a trade show. What was illuminating about this project was the study of the other booths at this show. It never ceases to amaze me how much money people spend on advertising and branding their company. After years of following this phenomenon and walking the thousands of trade show booths, it has become very apparent.
There is a direct correlation between corporate culture and ad spend.
The biggest issue companies face is not that their product does not live up to expectations, its the experience with the company that falls short. Take Apple for example. their out-of-the-box experience on a new product is tremendous. And their technology is way cool. However, their biggest Achilles heel is their culture at retail. Too many people who look down on you or lack patience with you when you do not understand. And let’s face it, it is not the difficulties of Vista that confuse us - its any OS on any computer. The Baby Boomers especially are just trying to catch up.
So the arrogant air about many of the Apple employees is turning people off from the brand. “Ah, but you say, they are doing wonderfully well in this economy. Doesn’t that disprove your point?” Not in the slightest. It might if there was not an Apple commercial every time I turn on the TV. In the early days of Apple, they did not rely on TV and advertising to sell their product. But today, they are - to compensate for their culture.
Think about it before you pass judgment on this entry….
Category: 3rd Degree Shower Burn, Corporate Culture |
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