November 25, 2014
Great cultures
The marines have one of the strongest cultures of any organization. When you literally die for your values, or for the team – that’s strong.
How do they achieve it? People don’t go from regular civilian society to jumping on grenades without hesitation.
In their training they march… for hours. Aligning voice, body, mind are key to building a strong team – so strong that military recruiting never focuses on the missions or causes. They focus on the bonds between the men and women who serve. They focus on getting them so tightly connected they become one.
Stop thinking about how to inspire your team. Stop taking on the responsibility of motivating them.
Inspiration is temporary. Connection lasts a lifetime.
November 3, 2014
Great cultures
Walter Isaacson speaks on Apple culture. He shares his insights on learning about Steve Jobs through writing the biography. When he asked what was his greatest product, Isaacson expected Jobs to say the ipod or iphone. Instead, Jobs said it’s much harder to build a team that can continuously develop great products, and that’s what Apple’s culture did.
Cultures are optimized. Zappos is optimized for service. Google is optimized for engineering. Apple is optimized for excellence and design. Yes, you can have many values. But the strongest companies are known for one or two above all else.
