LinkedIn Weekly Culture Report 01.19.20

Welcome to the weekly roundup of the most valuable content related to culture management on LinkedIn. We're scouring the platform everyday to find posts that help leaders build their skills managing culture and strengthening the employee experience.

If you see something during the week that should be featured here tag me (@RussHill) in the comments of that post and we'll review it! Let's get to this week's content:

Her Job is Managing the Culture of Truck Stops

When you think of organizational culture management the last place you'd probably visualize is truck stops. You probably also wouldn't guess that a company that owns truck stops and gas stations is #7 on Fortune's list of the largest private companies in America.

Jenny Love Meyer's dad, Tom Love, started Love's Travel Stops in 1964. Her title today is Chief Culture Officer. The company she helps lead operates more than 500 locations, has more than 20,000 employees, and generates north of $20 billion in revenue annually.

Jenny jumped on LinkedIn this week after the company announced the results they want to hit this year and had one thing on her mind: #culture.

The post was a great reminder that the conversation about culture begins AFTER the senior team has clarity and alignment around the Key Results. Once results are defined you look at the culture that's needed to deliver those results.

McDonald's New CEO Says His Priority is Culture

There were a ton of posts on LinkedIn this week about a memo Chris Kempczinski sent to McDonalds employees. He said after spending nine weeks listening and meeting with employees his top focus would be shifting the culture.

Kempczinski said the company needs to return to its core values. He may be right, but often values generate little enthusiasm and it can be hard to operationalize them. One of McDonald's values is "We operate our business ethically." Culture begins to move when stories are told about, and emphasis is placed on, the desired culture. How do you start a meeting at McDonalds with a story about how we acted ethically?

It's much easier to tell a story about Amazon's cultural belief ("Leadership Principle") of Bias For Action or Customer Obsession. It's hard to rally people behind things like Be Ethical, Have Integrity, or Deliver Profit. Aren't those kind of table stakes? When you define your organization's culture write out beliefs/principles/"real values" that are timely not timeless.

Walmart Talking Customer Culture as it Battles Amazon

His job is to take marketshare away from Amazon. Marc Lore is the President & CEO of Walmart's U.S. eCommerce. We were thrilled to see him talking about customer experience on LinkedIn this week. One of the things that's struck us in our work with Amazon is how much their culture truly is built around their first Leadership Principle of Customer Obsession.

Walmart's battle with Amazon certainly hinges in part on technological advances and there's been buzz lately about a new robot the Fortune #1 company is deploying to try fill orders faster. But, Lore's post shows technology alone won't get Walmart where they want to be in the eCommerce space.

Check out Lore's story about screwing up orders with spilt detergent!

Microsoft Asking What Skills Are Needed in Future Cultures?

Perhaps one of the most remarkable cultural transformations in the last five years has been at Microsoft. CPO Kathleen Hogan got onto LinkedIn this week and shared some of what she's been doing and thinking in helping lead that cultural transformation.

Hogan released what appears to be the first of more videos to come called People Talk. In episode 1 she turned to CHROs like Lisa Chang at Coke, Rhonda Morris at Chevron, Kiersten Robinson at Ford, Elcio Barcelos at Fannie Mae, and several other HR execs for help listing out the skills needed in the cultures of tomorrow's workplace. The video below is worth watching. We're looking forward to seeing where this video series is going!

These are just a few of the posts about company culture that caught our attention this week. There are always too many to mention. As always, tag us in the comments in any post about corporate culture or employee experience that you think is worth us considering in this roundup.

Here's a stat for you to wrap up this week.

How many people here on LinkedIn have the word title in their job description? Take a guess! As of this week that number is over 67,000!

We're thrilled to see that number. Now we just need to get all those people upskilled and trained on how to define and manage culture.

Make sure you follow me for daily Culture Hacks in the form of 1-2 minute videos and slides featuring tips on how to define and manage culture to deliver results.

And when your organization needs insight and assistance building and executing on your Culture Management Plan send me a DM on here or contact our firm: Partners In Leadership - the Experts In Culture Management.

----

Russ Hill is host of the Decide to Lead podcast and a senior partner at Partners In Leadership. He is an executive coach helping leaders manage their culture to build accountability for game-changing results.

Click the "FOLLOW" box below to see content like this in your feed daily.