Transformation Framework: Vision & Culture

For an idealistic, pragmatic, and disciplined enterprise, visionary corporations’ cultures are surprisingly binary. They have a high expectation for employee “fit”. In fact, “some employees get ejected like a virus.[1] Visionary organizations are not characterized by their flexibility and accommodation of different styles and preferences. Rather, they have a strong culture, a successful model, a means of accomplishing goals, and they select employees accordingly.[2] Visionary cultures normally include a “fervently held ideology,” “indoctrination,” a “tight fit for employees” and a sense of “elitism.”[3]

The significance in this seemingly brash approach is that it a strong culture is not a cult of personality.[4] Rather, culture is built such that all individuals and organizations exhibit those common traits and characteristics that strengthen the enterprise, its ability to pursue its vision and values, and accomplish a mission designed to deliver a social contribution. More specifically, eleven of the eighteen BTL companies had strong ideals regarding training, thirteen had a specific idea of the right employee “fit,” thirteen had a sense of elitism regarding industry competitors, and fourteen exhibited historical

Stimulate Progress

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Preserve Core

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Operational Autonomy

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Ideological Control

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Figure 19. Culture’s Role in Preserving the Core & Stimulating Progress

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Source: Collins and Porras, 174.

cultism.[5] Particular examples of this include Marriott’s “service dedication,” Nordstrom’s mantra “everyone starts at the bottom” and Disney’s insistence on “magic.”[6]

[1] Last, 121.

[2] Last, 122.

[3] Last, 122.

[4] Last, 135.

[5] Last, 290.

[6] Last, 121.