Company Culture is King

Yes, I know that all my friends who work in finance and banking are saying this is blasphemy!  Everyone knows the correct saying is “cash is king,” right?

Okay, well hear me out – companies that have a strong culture that is truly evident within their leadership and employees, financially outperform their competitors time and time again. To set a baseline for everyone, here is a level setting definition for us, “corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact internally and handle outside business transactions.”

What makes most companies with a strong culture successful is that they have a compelling Vision, Mission, Purpose, and set of Principles or Core Values. They may not have each component mentioned above, but they have several of them. The vision, mission, and values are the blueprint or ethos of the company. The biggest thing is that these companies not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. The vision, mission, and values are used daily, weekly, and monthly in running all aspects of the business.  

Great companies use their vision, mission, and values as their “north star” by which they actively manage their business. It becomes their DNA and differentiates them from their competitors. They recruit, promote, and even terminate employees using their principles or values as the guiding star to make employee decisions. They will routinely use their vision, mission, and values in strategic decisions around M&A activity, geographical expansion, product diversification or other key growth initiatives. Conversely, the real litmus test is when a possibly great business opportunity is vetted against a company’s vision, mission, and values and a decision is made to not move forward with an apparent opportunity because it does not fit in with or compliment the company’s culture or DNA. 

If you’re now saying, okay, when I really look at my company or a client’s company and they aren’t where they need to be from a cultural perspective or they don’t have a vision, mission, and values that are part of their DNA, what do I do? A few things you can do, depending on your role in the organization, you can either set up a strategic planning session for your leaders (if you are the boss) or you can recommend to the boss that there needs to be a strategy session to discuss where the company is currently, and where you want to go over the next 2-3 years. The agenda will have to discuss creating a vision, mission, and principles or values for the organization. If you need help facilitating a strategy session internally, hire a good outside facilitator.    

Yes, we do know that cash is very important in running and growing a business, but the X factor for high performing companies is a great corporate culture that is an output of a compelling vision, mission, and core values.