I love the quote “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” There seems to be a lot of confusion about its real origin, so I’ll just acknowledge that it is not mine. But it has certainly been my experience. We have ups and downs with our culture. Sometimes we hit rocky times and things were not great. Sometimes we made a bad hire. But when those storm clouds blew in, we always saw it quickly and tried to resolve it quickly because I believe a business’s culture is everything.
A company’s culture is about values, about how you treat people, about what you believe. Culture is about long-lived tradition. Own your culture. Provide empathy. Provide compassion. Have high expectations. Demand results.
Regardless of your position of authority or lack of authority, take ownership of culture. Become a missionary. Build on the good things. Protect the values.
Show people your authentic love of your company’s culture. If you do, your power soars.
The power of truth is startling. If you hear something you disagree with, you are obligated to speak out. If you don’t, your team loses the opportunity to learn something.
If you do not, you open the door to passive-aggressive behavior, which means negative undercurrents exist without you talking about them. Have the guts and grit to ferret out passive-aggressive behavior. The only thing worse is an asshole.
You know when someone is holding back. Don’t allow it.
We do a lot of conference calls in our business. After we hang up, we immediately call our team members back for a quick regroup. We always open that second call with the question addressed to one of the newest, least experienced team members, “What did you think?” It’s a sink or swim moment, because the newbie is put on the spot. How they react tells you volumes, and I am usually impressed. If the answer is not insightful, then the entire team immediately knows what knowledge gaps need to be filled. If the response is insightful, the entire team wins. The new member is rewarded with respect and their trust goes up.
Ask the newbie what they think. You might be surprised.
Beware of people who are intimidated by people smarter than themselves. They are the second most dangerous people in an organization, right behind assholes. People who are intimidated by smart people instinctively hire less capable people because they worry about being upstaged. Left unchecked, someone in a hiring position who lacks the self-confidence of dealing with smart people will dumb down an organization. I have seen people actually hide résumés of people who scared them.
Never fear hiring people more capable than you. That is the definition of success in business. Hire smart, talented people, and all the boats rise.
I believe more than half of the challenges that women face at work are a result of a lack of guiding principles in their workplace—especially around team conduct. Here are my rules on how teams interact:
Follow my Rules of Order, and a lot of your problems will go away. If you have an obligation to participate, you cannot be offended by the microaggression of not being asked. Buck up and speak! I believe it is usually good to have a specific team leader that moderates discussions, but that does not absolve other team members of holding everyone accountable to the rules.
I am afraid that a lack of a good mentor is too often used as an excuse for why women do not excel in business. Women need mentors and men do not? Really! Do not sit around and wait for a mentor to magically show up. Own your own success. I have had five mentors in my career; that is one about every six years. You will be lucky if you encounter two or three.
However, when one appears in your life, seize the opportunity and make it a great experience for both of you. Having a mentor who is willing to spend time with you is a validation of your competence. If you had not already done the hard work and built your knowledge and skills, the mentor would not waste their time on you. Take it as a compliment and work hard to give back to your mentor more than you take.
Whom will you mentor next?
Much of what people hope for from a mentor should actually come from their boss, supervisor, or team leader. It’s called leadership. Leaders are paid to lead and they should be accountable. Mentors are occasional volunteers. Leaders are a scalable resource. Mentors are not.
Have high expectations of your boss and take equal responsibility for the relationship. Be engaging and inspirational. Find a way to help. Raise your hand for the tough projects. Become a most valuable player.
Help your boss be better.
Confront problems head-on. Deal with them and make sure everyone learns from them. Not confronting issues is kind, but not nice. You are not doing anyone a favor by not confronting problems—and what’s worse is that you often will cause harm to the overall emotional health of the team.
No one has ever called me nice.
Your personal power depends on your willingness to draw a line in the sand. It is your responsibility to maintain a positive, healthy environment. If you have someone who is negatively impacting your team, you have a responsibility to intervene and try to resolve the issue. But if that does not work, you have an obligation to shoot the asshole. Negative energy drains team spirit; it is a dark rain cloud that does not go away.
Never tolerate an asshole.