"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - but what purpose?

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” said the famous management consulting guru Peter Drucker. This by no means implies that strategy is not important – rather, it implies that the organization’s culture predominantly determines success regardless of how strong the strategy may be.

In my experience as a CEO of a young tech start-up and a Fortune 500 CXO, this “breakfast” argument does not complete the “nutritional needs for the day” for organizations. I believe that there are two more very strong organizational elements that ultimately underpin how organizations pan out in the long term – these are purpose and values.

?Purpose defines the “why” of your organization.

Purpose defines the “why” of your organization.

Purpose gives meaning to why you exist.

Purpose gives meaning to work.

Purpose inspires and provides a direction to where your company wants to go.?

Purpose for a company rarely ever changes – unless the company makes a fundamental pivot.

?Purpose is like the arrow of the compass that points to the True North.???

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Values provide a sense of what’s important and what’s right

?Values serve as ideals that guide decision-making and establish what is important and what is right.

?They are the fundamental core principles that the company is willing to “live and die” by.

?Values for a company do not really change.

?Values are like the directional markers of a compass-like NSWE.

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Culture is the underpinning social order of your organization

Culture is the collection of shared assumptions, business practices & processes, and group norms that make up the work environment.

Culture shapes attitudes and behavior.

Culture defines what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted or rejected within an organization.

Culture permeates multiple levels and manifests in collective behaviors, routines & rituals, visible symbols, stories & legends, structures & control systems and physical environments.

?Culture is how the organization collectively uses the compass on a day-to-day basis in the journey.

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Strategy is the formal logic and roadmap for achieving your organizational goals

?Strategy provides clarity and focus for decision-making and collective action.

?Strategy is about creating sustainable competitive differentiation.

?Strategy could be about doing something new, building upon what you already do and doing it better than your competition, or reacting opportunistically to emerging possibilities.

?Strategy can change periodically and needs to adapt to changing market forces.

?Strategy is the actual roadmap that an organization puts together to go from one point to another.

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?Purpose, values, culture and strategy must all come together for an organization to be truly successful

?For an organization to be successful in its journey, in my opinion and experience, it is imperative that all of these elements come together seamlessly

• The true north of the compass (purpose)
• The directional markers NSWE of the compass (values)
• How the compass is collectively used on a day-to-day basis (culture)
• The actual map for getting from one point to another (strategy)