Corporate Culture some thoughts

Where does it come from and why do we need it?

Some CEO's believe they can define the corporate culture of their company - we argue that they can't.The reason for this is that corporate culture - like any other type of culture is a product of behaviors, norms, values, history and leadership style. If you want to develop a certain corporate culture it doesn't help you writing it down in a powerpoint presentation - you have to live it out.Just look at your family. The culture you have in your family isn't written down - it is something you learn to fit into as a child by looking at the other family members and other families. It is no different with organisations. If you have to write down your culture it usually means you don't have it. KLM has a slogan for the time being: "KLM - The reliable airline". An airline is only reliable if you as a passenger has experienced them as reliable. In that case there is no need to write it down. On the other hand you have experienced the airline as unreliable the slogan will only contribute to build an untrustworthiness.

The Corporate Culture is extremely important

You can't define it and you can't change it over night, but it is extremely important for your company. It is the corporate culture that prevents your people from leaving the company on a rainy day. It is the corporate culture, which is the foundation for the service you give to your clients and by that the customer loyalty and profitability. If your people are proud of working with the company they express trustworthiness and authenticity which has a positive influence on both customer satisfaction and the employee satisfaction.Obvious you might say, but then please explain to me why so many companies don't get it right. It is not only about financials. You are profitable if your clients are happy, and they are happy if our employees are happy and they are happy if there is a general accordance between what you say and what you do as a manager.

How do you develop the corporate culture?

And sometimes it might be a good idea having someone from outside to draw the cultural baseline based on the customers- and the employees perception of the company. You will most like become aware of core competencies and values you didn't' know you had.When we have determining the corporate culture baseline, we have an excellent starting point for a change process. We can change the corporate culture in a company by implementing changes to the leadership style, communication strategy, appraisal systems and by assessing the cultural friction within the organisation. We measure the results on customer- and employee retention

Interested in hearing others stories on Culture and changing it

Extracted from an article by Dr. Finn Drouet Majlergaard

Slainte

Gordon

Sage words on not trying to know everything

A friend shared this with me...sage words indeed

I don't know.

Why is it so hard for people (including both entrepreneurs and VCs) to say these three words?This past week I had two distinctly different meetings with entrepreneurs. They both were successful serial entrepreneurs. Both were exceptionally smart. Both had good ideas.The first entrepreneur, however, thought that they were expected to know the answer to every question. There wasn't a question I asked that he didn't have a definitive answer to. He knew what their pricing model would be. He knew why Google would never compete with them. He knew what their consumer churn would be three years out (despite the fact that they hadn't launched yet). Whenever I tried to discuss the different risks in the business, he told me why they didn't exist. The second entrepreneur, had a different approach. He definitively stated answers when he had them, but when he didn't know he said so. When asked about his pricing model, he said "well, we're considering a few different options depending on the outcome of some tests we're running..." When asked about cost of customer acquisition, he said "well we don't know what our numbers will be...but here's our model based on other comparable companies." When asked about risks, he identified several -- and then we discussed how to reduce/eliminate them.I've come to believe that a key investment criteria is founder credibility. And, I think the second entrepreneur was far more credible. No one expects a pre-launch company to have all the answers. (In fact, we get scared if you think you have them). As I've previously discussed, rather than have an entrepreneur sell me on why they are 100% correct, I'd much rather understand how they are attacking the different risks facing the business.And, by the way, the same applies for venture capitalists. I often feel that during company pitches -- and board of directors meetings -- we're expected to have an immediate opinion. Should we double our marketing budget? Should I hire this person? Will this strategy work? While it's OK to offer opinions and thoughts, I think it is also appropriate to acknowledge uncertainty. Why do people feel pressure to have an answer for every answer?I don't know...

written by Josh Kopelman, Managing Director of First Round Capital

Slainte

Gordon