Why talk Company Culture? What’s it Worth?
Companies like to talk on measurables and deliverables, and so talk on company culture often gets pushed aside. However, one of my first clients here in China was Adobe, as they know that the unmeasurables are more valuable than any might think. I think that is why they are soon to be a Fortune 500 company.
As a company grows, the need to legislate all behavior rises and finally everyone feels the weight of the bureaucracy. Companies that succeed in climbing to greatness realize that the only way to overcome legality or chaos is to focus on culture. Oh, I know some fall into good culture, but that does not last or survive the move to China.
Culture fills the gaps between mandates and everything else that happens. It makes behavior automatic.
Every company has a culture. If you do not purpose to build a culture according to values that are honorable, then values that are not so honorable will rise quietly to fill the gaps. However, these unnamed values in a company can and usually do cost them many percentage points off the top line of their income statement. These actual values also cost them many more off the bottom line.
Love is hard to measure in a marriage, but I suggest we should invest in it. Passion is hard to measure well in a business, but you can see it in people’s faces. It is not instant work or simple to make happen, but it is so worth it.
Any thoughts to add?