Culture wars.

Why companies fail at building a cohesive culture that drives innovation and growth.

The Japanese have a saying, “The fish stinks from the head down.” When I coach corporate or organizational leaders, the last thing they want to hear is that corporate values and thus culture begin and end with them.

Leaders set the tone in every organization; from how they dress, to how they walk, talk, engage, isolate, share information, listen, hire or fire. Their actions either build respect and trust, and drive home what’s most important in the organization, or they ring hollow and create distrust, fear and animosity in the ranks.

Many leaders get wrapped up in self importance, believing they are irreplaceable—which is rarely true. Of times the best thing a Board can do is replace leaders who think they are irreplacable to drive healthy change.

Put simply, if you are a leader who wants to build culture in your organization there are two critical things you must do; first, you must identify the values that drive your organization. What are the values that are vital to making the right decisions? What are the values that are vital for driving growth? What are the values that are vital to building a world-class team? Second, you need to live those values every second of every day. You need to lead.

Values and action build culture. Culture is the summation of how well you live those values.

Steve Brazell, Founder of Hitman Inc., Competition Removal®