The tale of three macaroons

Those who know me, know I'm all about company culture; I want to stop people having one of "those days" if I can help it. So what the hell have three macaroons got to do with company culture?  

Passionate about creating work environments where people love to bring their best selves to work, and improving bottom line results as we go (created by the productivity, creativity and innovation that come from getting your company culture right), I had an idea years ago about running a Summit.

My vision was to pull together the people who I’ve personally connected with, found inspiring, and get them to share their real life stories and strategies about company culture so we all benefit. Something tangible, from those actually doing it, in big and in smaller companies. Not a 'pitch-fest', or nice-to-know textbook theories shared by consultants, but a day when people connect, are inspired, learn specifics, and then get busy changing lives, businesses ... and their results. 

A Summit is born

So what's the point of having an idea, and not doing something about it?

Buoyed up by the knowledge that Tony Robbins started his programs with just an audience of 50 friends in his lounge room, and the fact we all have to start somewhere, the Company Culture & Disruptive Leadership Summit was finally born in 2016 with the help of my now business partner, and fellow company culture consultant, Diane Gray (we’ve just launched Changing Change International (CCI) and relaunched our Culture Incorporated? model – exciting times ahead).

We ran what was a regional summit in NENW in December 2016, with a water theme. 

Business owners and leaders often described their work lives like holding their breath underwater … in part challenging themselves to see how far they could go, others holding their breath hoping the worst would pass, others feeling like they were drowning, and some having the time of their lives, being kids again, floating to the bottom of the pool and marvelling at how sights and sounds were so different from another perspective; they brought their child-like wonder to work with them.

And now it's time for another Summit. This is where the macaroons come in.

Our Summit Culture17 is on 1 March in Sydney’s CBD, and this time we wanted another theme. So, with another nod to being disruptive (no boring corporate pics for us!) this time we chose macaroons. 

We love macaroons for a start – getting a tray of them is definitely going to make us smile, just like creating incredible work environments – you know the environments where you look forward to being there, and when you walk in you can actually feel the difference. I felt that when I worked with Business Chicks and I still rave about them to this day.

Macaroons are also that interesting combination of crunchy and soft (if done right) and not too sweet – that balancing act, getting all the elements just right, like the right tension between supporting and challenging your team members to bring out their best. 

And fittingly, there are three macaroons, because one macaroon is never enough. And our culture attunement model Culture Incorporated?(attunement because it goes beyond simple alignment) focuses on three key areas:

culture + systems + people

These three areas need to be in tune with each other for transformation to occur – and for it to last. 

So there you have it; the tale of three macaroons; the story you never knew you wanted to hear.

Want to know more about us or the Summit and who's speaking? Get in touch.

Author: Julie Alexander for Changing Change International (CCI) and cultureincorporated.com.au

Julie Alexander & Diane Gray are the founders a global consultancy partnering with successful business leaders to produce breakthroughs in critical areas of their business. By creating shifts in thinking and behaviour fundamental to success, unleashing disruptive leadership and empowering people to create dramatic shifts in performance, their Culture Incorporated? program transforms company cultures so that team members thrive, solid bottom line results are attained and sustainable competitive advantage is achieved. Culture, Systems, People.

Culture and business performance specialists, writers of blogs, facilitators, speakers, trainers, coaches and mentors. You can get to know them on Facebook and Twitter.