“Is it companies who put employees first? Do they perform better than companies who put customers first? Or those that put stakeholders first?. I thought it was a fundamental question needed to be answered. And the answer [the came through John Kotter’s research] surprised everybody… The companies that outperformed by a factor of 10 were those that treated all 3 equally. That the employees, customers, and shareholders were all like a 3-legged stool.”
S01E12 of the Rethink Culture podcast shines the spotlight on Verne Harnish, founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) with 18,000 members globally, and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company, and author of several books, including Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and Scaling Up Compensation.
Listen to find out:
– how would Verne write a book about culture and its first three chapters
– why every company is strange, as it tries to align its particular culture with the people that fit it.
– why you shouldn’t try to mess with the culture of an organisation after the first 5 years
– why we need to replace the word leadership with the word “careship”
– why people don’t want to be managed or led, but coached.
– why language is a key component of a culture
Further references:
– Verne Harnish on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verneharnish/
– Scaling Up: https://scalingup.com/
– Entrepreneurs Organization (EO): https://growth.eonetwork.org/
Books referenced:
– “Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce” by Daniel M. Cable: https://www.amazon.com/Change-Strange-Organization-Building-Workforce/dp/0131572229
– “Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t” by Verne Harnish: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Up-Companies-Rockefeller-Habits/dp/0986019526
– “Corporate Culture and Performance” by John P. Kotter and James L. Heskett: https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Culture-Performance-John-Kotter/dp/1451655320
– Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company by Kevin Oakes https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Renovation-Leadership-Actions-Unshakeable/dp/1260464369
– The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism by Hubert Joly https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Business-Leadership-Principles-Capitalism/dp/B09156FL17/ref=sr_1_1?crid=E77JU5VTTTZH
– “Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time” by Jeff Sutherland and J.J. Sutherland: https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
– “Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson: https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1982181281
