Bold Strategies. Brave Cultures. You need both to succeed.

Slow, tough, conservative, uncertain, ambiguous, difficult, cautious.

?For the past year, there has been a steady list of descriptors for the world’s leading economies. None particularly flattering. Or comforting for the folks trying to make a living inside of them.

Regardless of the economic environment, be it stellar or be it sour, Wall Street still demands growth from our Captains of Industry. And Wall Street aint picky about how that growth is achieved. Mass layoffs. Budget reductions. Hiring freezes. Halted projects or projects with reduced scope. Of late, the latest Bright Shiny Object Strategy – aka AI – has gained momentum and veracity. None of these strategies are inherently wrong. But, if we’re being honest, none of those options are going to deliver real growth. If you, your Board and your Shareholders are satisfied with small, tiny, incremental growth, then have at it.

However, what I’m watching more enthusiastically are two organizations that have chosen a different approach to drive their growth. Something that feels, in this moment, a little braver and a lot bolder.

Starbucks has brought in a new rockstar CEO Brian Niccol in a bid to re-energize the flat growth that organization has endured for several years. The announcement caused a 25% Day One stock price surge or $21.4 billion in market cap for the organization. Based on Niccol’s salary details, he could be on his way to $100 million in bonuses if he hits all his targets in Year 1.

Here in Canada, retail giant Loblaws is piloting an ultra-discount store concept under their No Name banner. In a direct response to Canada’s tough economy, consumer anger and spiralling prices, the pilot aims to determine Canadian’s appetite for a ultra-discount grocery banner that would be similar to European banners Aldi and Lidl. That means slashing operational costs to the bare bones. Interestingly, Loblaws already has a “No Frills” banner in their portfolio which means they’re creating an Even-Less-than-No Frills option with this launch.

Both announcements should be celebrated. Both are efforts to make bold steps to drive growth opportunities for their respective companies.

?In both announcements much has been made about operational excellence. For Starbucks, the hope is that Niccol will run the exact same playbook he ran at Chipotle where he used technology to streamline time-consuming tasks and modernized mobile ordering and digital pick-ups. For Loblaws, it means a ruthlessly keen eye on every operational dimension – shorter hours, reduced inventory, no or few name brands, reused fixtures…and interestingly no self-service areas which I presume is to reduce technology costs and employee time spent addressing the frequent customer frustrations with that notoriously fickle tech. ????

However, the sticky squishy part for both Starbucks and Loblaws is, therefore, the next part of the story. The part where the dust settles on the PR-releases and the media feeding-frenzy on CNBC “Squawk Box”

The part where the humans in the organization will have to lean in and execute against the bold, brave strategy.

The part where the commitment of the Culture meets the intellect of the Strategy.

The part where that new Strategy requires embedding new behaviours and new decision making into the existing Culture.

?Sadly, too many business folks still look at Culture as this amorphous cloud floating over their organization. Some invisible, ill-defined state, grounded in shared values, that is impossible to quantify and agonizing to modify. A feel-good exercise oriented toward making sure every employee feels happy, joyful, seen, heard and appreciated.

It isn’t.

Culture, to paraphrase my friend Geoff Marlow’s delicious definition, is how individuals engage in three activities to create value for their organization – sense making, decision making and action taking. Critically, those inherently human activities need to be deeply embedded and widely distributed across the organization. In the strongest, most admired Cultures they are.

So, for Nicoll’s and Starbucks, this new strategy requires some very different ways of behaving and making decisions across the organization. Deciding where to trim a menu of 170,000 items (the menu customizations possible in a regular Starbucks) after decades of capital investment and employee training in hyper-personalization. Changing the mindset of a generation of baristas trained to be coffee experts and to deeply engage with guests, into folks focused on a tsunami of mobile orders, often to the frustration of the hapless souls who wandered up to the counter to order and have a friendly chat. Reorienting an entire organization into a hyper-efficient, volume-driven production line when, for decades, Starbucks employees took pride in delivering a much-appreciated 3rd place of respite and solace between home and work?

For Loblaws, assuming this pilot is successful, this will require similar introspection and modification of their culture too. What level of service will store associates deliver to the customers in-store and how do we ensure they don’t "over-service" those customers because time is money? Will this new store require an entirely new breed of associate and how do we find, attract, hire, train and retain them? What does future "collaboration" look like with the franchise owners of the 666 No Frills stores across Canada, owners who likely fear their customers abandoning them in droves? What’s the plan if the Canadian economy continues to spiral – or if it miraculously turns around – what are we going to do with this deep discount concept then?

Bold strategies make for stirring executive speeches and gushing PR releases. However, the real magic, the real leadership – and the real growth - lies entirely in the execution of those bold strategies.

And that’s still the domain of your People and your Culture.

?Specifically, the ability of your culture to make sense of the new strategy and to understand how and why it differs from the strategy they were executing before. And be willing to enthusiastically get behind it.

The ability of your culture to make new and different decisions from those they made previously. And feel confident and psychologically safe in making those new decisions.

The ability of your culture to behave and act in new ways that drive the strategy forward. And not fear there will be negative repercussions for doing so.

So, Captains of Industry, in your desire for new growth, is your current culture brave enough to execute on your bold new strategy?

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I'm a career marketer that believes that corporate culture is the most under-leveraged competitive advantage any organization has.

I'm delighted to partner with the amazing team at Innovisor and share stories and practical advice on how to address change, transform culture and unlock the real potential inside your organization - your people.

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