Mar 25, 2019
Culture is the hot topic of the day. Whether it be political, economical, business, at the gym, or even at home, culture is the new topic. It is a rather old idea that is newly recycled with a nice catchy word like culture.
I have just returned from a week long trip to West Point and was reading an article on the state of our economy and the solution was culture.
What do any of us know about the economy and how to measure it or even how to impact it. The economy as discussed seems to encompass everything and is an ominous thing, and culture as described is a nebulous smoke filled room of people and thoughts and activities.
But again how to measure both.
The Economy is:
Work force
Money spent and made and saved
Manufacturing, service, even government employment is a job (I find that odd) that someone would measure the economic engine on jobs that come from taxing and restraining the very engine.
Many other factors no one even can understand how to move any of them.
War moves the economy
Natural disasters move the economy
Humans are the immeasurable part, but have the most immediate impact (if one boss can figure out how to have people at his or her business actually do work and take care of themselves and have the desire to grow (then that company would move the economy). They will move it up to the point the people get comfortable, blame oriented, and scared, and fat.
Middle managers keep people on task is his only valid point worth digesting.
The military (culture is still being taught at West Point and the academies) learned this 200 years ago that training, leadership, and accountability wins even during battles when the enemy or the economy is beating Your ass.
Business is rediscovering this and calling it culture. Selection, Earn it, train to a basic needed skill, integrate new ideas only when they work, reinforce good behavior and actions and punish bad behavior. Duty to the mission, honor your word, Country above self. Good lord what would happen if companies had that type of culture.
Alas, that type of culture (selection, training, integrating, leadership of accountability, duty, honor, and country) is hard. It is hard because a culture of growth and working together is uncomfortable.
Culture is a round table of people who are all in and bring to the table commitment, training, leadership, and a desire to align with the people at the table.
A round table forces diversity of ideas, but demands unity in action. That is the huge difference in successful companies who have culture ( and case in point the military academies and even the SEAL Teams). In the SEAL teams all ideas are welcome, then a choice is made and everyone aligns with that one idea and makes one action out if it.
Seems like society doesn’t like the idea of unity of action but wants diversity of ideas and actions and cannot figure out why nothing has any short or long term impact.
Culture in this sense is rare but rather easy to create when accountability is the blood we all share as a unified Team. Non accountability is the blood spilt by unsuccessful companies that cannot unify toward action.