The Culture Paradox and How to Meet It

By Craig Carr, Co-Founder, The Culture Dynamics Group

Years ago, at grad school, my soon-to-be-famous professor had a few points to get through our thick, young heads.?

"Remember this," he declared intensely, "Culture is not your friend."?

He was fond of weaving this alert into his lectures, which were brilliant.

In great detail, he would describe how culture was like an OS running in the background of our lives.?

"The people who came before you invented the society you live in," he professed, "and?there is 100% certainty that the culture they created was to serve their needs and interests, not yours."

I remember a few of us arguing that his point of view was cynical and left us feeling like victims.??

We weren't wrong but on shaky ground.?

Prof was ready for us...?

"You put culture on like a suit. How well you wear it shows everyone how you fit into the tribe.... Or not."

Our effort to diminish what we saw as a takedown of our culture was getting into territory we had never seriously questioned.

The man with the off-the-charts-IQ slowed his delivery to emphasize the point he wanted to land…?

?"Most don't question their inherited suit until it's too late. They approach the yawning grave and only then wonder whose dream they were living and whose promises they kept."

* * * * * *

I share this because about two years ago, this memory came back when I was going through a stuck period and contemplating what was next for me.

At the time, I was framing what I wanted to do next as "My Third Act" and revisiting some foundational personal work to hopefully gain a new perspective.

Remarkably, my brilliant coach got around to two questions that hit the target.

She asked, "Whose dream are you living?" "Whose promises are you keeping?"

To answer those questions, I found myself thinking back to the Professor …

… And a day he must have felt extra generous because when he saw us getting lazy in our thinking he usually came after us like a Zen master with a wake-up stick.?

Whack! Take that for encouragement!

I was probably looking out the window like a fifth grader while he was making a plea that we show gratitude and respect for the generations that came before us.?

His passion perked my attention.?

"For a hundred thousand years, your ancestors survived through glacial ages, drought, and disease. Sitting here, you cannot imagine the harshness of their lives and what they went through so you could exist."

Then he landed the plane on our brains…?

"It would be an absolute tragedy if – after 5000 generations and all that tenacity - yours??was the generation that drove the enterprise off the cliff."?

* * * * * *

I thought a lot about this, and in the essay I wrote to pass the course, I made a case for trusting the cultures our forebears "made it up as they went along."

I didn't say culture WAS my friend, but I didn't exactly say it WASN'T, either.?

I understood the professor's warning to be alert to the harmful influences of culture's hidden dynamics.?

Still,?I took a stand that to survive,?human beings would have to trust each other, and the only way to do that was to build healthy cultures.

I got an A on the paper, but this was Philosophy 101...?

I didn't have a clue what to do in the real world to build healthy cultures and "save the enterprise."

* * * * * *

Today, decades later, I like to believe my clarity of purpose has evolved.?

The mission of The Culture Dynamics Group is aligned with the aspiration of leaders growing profitable businesses AND helping make life better for others.

If that meets your interests, I invite you to follow our business page and engage in the conversations and networking we will host.??

Our goal is to collaborate with leaders to reveal, discern, and resolve the complex "people-side" issues that covertly threaten companies moving too fast for their own good.

We train leaders in the principles of Systemic Intelligence?,??an essential new paradigm of skills and strategies necessary to design cultures where people want to belong.?

We believe that when an organization's culture is healthy, people in those systems live better lives.?

For starters, in coming posts and articles, we'll discuss:

• Why do some patterns seem intractable and don't respond to training, hiring, firing, or lavish perks.
• Why intractable, recalcitrant problems recur and get worse.
• Why culture building is as essential to a start-up as attracting funding and retaining talent.
• The Top 20 Hidden Dynamics every leader must know by heart and be able to address the day they see any one of them for the first time.?
• The Four Principles of Systemic Intelligence that can be applied to any problem at any time to understand what's going on beneath the surface.?
• Understanding current meta-trends (like Quiet Quitting, The Great Resignation, Psychological Safety, Burnout, Me Too, etc.) from a systemic perspective and how to strategize your company response.?

And much more…

Follow The Culture Dynamics Group.?

Together, our movement matters.?

* Craig Carr?works privately with executives and organizations to build great cultures and reinvent troubled ones. Sometimes called a "Culture Doctor," he and his team analyze, diagnose, strategize, and install resolutions that "flow and ripple"with positive impact throughout the organizational system.?

In addition to his work with leadership teams and culture dynamics, he specializes in coaching two types of executives: those who must lead change and make hard choices and those who are high performers on the verge of burnout or disengagement.?

Unsurprisingly, that can often be the same person.