When Culture Is Overrated: How Executives Dare To Call-Out The Giant of Culture

Too many leaders believe they have a culture problem when they don’t. Here is how to identify the false narrative of culture, call out the one-dimensional giant it has become, and take back the power true culture can have in your company.

“We used to say we have a communication problem. Now we say we have a culture problem.”

Joe Lewis

Malcolm Gladwell, journalist and business thought leader, wrote a book called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. He retells the classic underdog story, a young shepherd boy versus an undefeated, warrior giant.

Slingers had a leather pouch attached on two sides by a long strand of rope. They would put a rock or a lead ball into the pouch, swing it around in increasingly wider and faster circles, and then release one end of the rope, hurling the rock forward. Slinging took an extraordinary amount of skill and practice. But in experienced hands, the sling was a devastating weapon. Paintings from medieval times show slingers hitting birds in mid flight. Irish slingers were said to be able to hit a coin from as far away as they could see it, and in the Old Testament Book of Judges, slingers are described as being accurate within a “hair’s breadth.” An experienced slinger could kill or seriously injure a target at a distance.

Goliath was used to killing up close. David would never give him the chance; Goliath didn’t stand a chance. Goliath was the underdog. And David buried him.

Which brings us to Culture.

I’m a big fan of cultivating culture in business. I wrote about the power of culture just a couple weeks ago here.

But I’m a big fan of real culture, not projected culture.

In recent years, culture has taken on gigantic proportions. It is being trotted out as the cure-all for anything from recruitment to retention to equality to solidarity. It looms over us.

Where once we said we have a communication problem, now we say that we have a culture problem.

We have taken culture, dressed it up, and paraded it as the answer to our every battle. And all the while, we have reduced it to a vulnerable, one-dimensional warrior.

What Culture Is

True culture is how we do what we do. Ideally, a healthy culture is how we do what we do that upholds an individual’s value, and upholds shared corporate values. I bring up the idea of a healthy culture, because some companies have an unhealthy culture.?

You can’t not have culture. It’s always a question of what kind.

Many universities have adopted as their motto the Latin translation “To be, not to seem.” It represents true culture: how we do (being) what we do (doing). In every healthy person and organization, doing flows from being.

But the culture of late, which we have shaped into giant proportions, is what we do in order to seem. It’s a projection.

How do I know this?

For one, leaders have worried over the last couple of years that remote work results in a lack or loss of culture. It is one of the reasons there is a call to return to the workplace.?

They believe culture is something that is “stationed.” Anytime you can confine culture to a place, it isn’t culture. It’s dress-up.?

I also know this because culture gets reduced to activities, or it gets classified as a work environment. Work environment is important, but it isn’t culture.?

I once worked for a company in which you were either in the construction side, sales side or support side. Every Monday morning started with an all-hands meeting in which recognition was given to great service or sales, and each meeting ended with prayer requests and prayer.?

When I started there, I was told that part of the company culture was to promote a sense of all sides of the business working together, for each other, and Monday morning meetings were a critical part of that (and if you didn’t like prayer, be respectful of those who did).

Would you be surprised if I were to tell you stories of criticism, gossip, sales back-stabbing and manager abuse? No, you would not. Nor would you be surprised at the high-turnover rate they suffered.?

The crazy thing is, I had never seen a better onboarding process as it related to understanding the company’s mission, values and practices. But it didn’t translate into culture.

Culture is not an environment, it is an essence. It permeates. It is not a form, but it is intrinsic in any form. Culture doesn’t care if workers are in one place or scattered; it finds a way.?

Calling Out The Giant

Let’s return to what culture is: How we do what we do that upholds an individual’s value and shared corporate values.?

The next time someone suggests that you have a culture problem, sling a couple stones with two questions:

1. How are we currently promoting the value of an individual?

2. Can we demonstrate that we have invested time, energy, ability and money for each of our corporate values? (Can we measure them?)

If you can answer those questions to your satisfaction, you don’t have a culture problem. Too often, people want to hide behind the giant of culture, promoting worthless activity, rather than do the hard work of being something they are not yet. You may not have a culture problem; you may have a development problem.

I once led an organization of which it was said, “That is the kindest, most professional office I have ever experienced.” And it was. Every leader embraced kind professionalism, and we hired looking for it, and it permeated all we did. It was our culture. We couldn’t help it.?

I now lead CIO Mastermind. We have a culture. Every member in every group is a lifelong learner and a generous giver of expertise. A person won’t get in otherwise. It’s our culture. We don’t do anything to manufacture it, but we can do all kinds of things to build on it.?

You are a leader. Culture flows from you. You can’t call it out of thin air, but you can be it and you can build on it.

Anything less is a giant waiting to fall hard. Take it down.

Next week: How To Attract Better Talent Through Reverse Interviews