What You Do Is Who You Are:
How to Create Your
Business Culture
Why do some companies fail while others endure and succeed?
Ben Horowitz
, a leading venture capitalist and management expert, thinks that the answer to that question is the right (or wrong) business culture. In his book “What You Do Is Who You Are” he studies 4 very strong cultures of the past and describes how to apply their lessons in a modern company.
Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture slave revolt – the only successful slave revolt in human history.
Samurai code bushido that enabled the Japanese warrior class to rule the country for seven hundred years and still exist in the modern Japanese culture.
Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire.
- Shaka Senghor, sentenced to 19 years in a Michigan, who ruled a prison gang.
The stories of whose cultures are very interesting by themselves, so we highly recommend to read the book. But what if you are only interested in how to create a business culture?
Here is the main outline of the book on how to create your business culture that works.
Cultural design. Make sure your culture aligns with both your personality and your strategy.
Cultural orientation. People learn more about what it takes to succeed in your organization on that day than on any other. Don’t let that first impression be wrong or accidental.
Shocking rules. Any rule so surprising it makes people ask “Why do we have this rule?” will reinforce key cultural elements.
Incorporate outside leadership. Rather than trying to move your company to a culture that you don’t know well, bring in an old pro from the culture you aspire to have.
Object lessons. What you say means far less than what you do. If you really want to cement a lesson, use an object lesson.
Make ethics explicit. One of the most common and devastating mistakes leaders make is to assume people will “Do the right thing” even when it conflicts with other objectives. Don’t leave ethical principles unsaid.
Walk the talk. “Do as I say, not as I do” never works. So refrain from choosing cultural virtues that you don’t practice yourself.
Make decisions that demonstrate priorities.
Why does the culture even matter? Because the author believes that companies - just like gangs, armies, and nations - are large organizations that rise or fail because of the daily microbehaviors of the human beings that compose them.
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