Culture is vital — and it’s unique to every flourishing company Culturally, what you believe means nearly nothing. What you do is who you are Leader's perspective on the culture isn’t relevant — that’s rarely what your people experience The real question is what employees have to do to survive and succeed? One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are — Steve Jobs Startups who outsource engineering almost always fail It’s easy to build an app or a website that meets the specification of some initial idea, but far more difficult to build something that will scale, evolve, handle edge cases gracefully Culture begins with deciding what you value most Culture means something in practice Culture needs to be an expression of the business itself Virtues are what you do. Values are what you believe Values are worthless without actions Bob Noyce, the co-founder of Intel — he provided the majority of his workers stock choices, and he sat everyone in one big room Shock people and force them to ask why and must be something they encounter on a daily basis. This helps program the culture Help people build discipline When you are a leader, even your accidental actions set the culture Emphasize the ‘why’ behind your values and the vision with every chance you get. That’s what gets remembered Employees want to know that they matter, they’re making a difference, there’s meaningful work to be done, and they’re moving the bigger picture forward If a culture can’t make quick decisions or has a void in leadership, it becomes defined by indifference As a manager, the worst thing you can do is undermine decisions made above you — this creates cultural chaos, makes your team feel marginalized and powerless, and end result is apathy It’s your job to understand the reasoning behind a decision, otherwise you have failed your team Telling the truth isn’t natural. It requires courage. The easy thing to do is to tell someone what they want to hear You might not convince everyone you’re right. But everyone must feel heard and that you’ve acknowledged their concerns. This is the path towards disagreeing and committing Remember death every time, just like a samurai — it’s helpful for business In a business setting, that entails admitting that you could go bankrupt all the time or get defeated by a competitor The other samurai virtues comprised honor, politeness, and sincerity: three matching attributes that translate well to business Our deeds define us First impressions usually have a defining influence, irrespective of whether or not they’re as intense as that. This is the reason why it’s worth talking to new workers directly all the time about their first impressions, to tell if your company culture is shaping people in the appropriate manner Genghis Khan accomplished his success by fostering inclusion and loyalty Everyone needs to feel like they belong there and are working toward achieving common goals Genghis understood that they lacked a common goal and, in a persistent military campaign, he discovered one for them He prohibited inherited titles, and anybody who outshined could rise up He fostered marriage between tribes to incorporate their cultures Be yourself — understand your personal weaknesses and your strengths Lead by example Culture has to align strategy Virtues should be actionable Good leadership needs strong decision-making — and redefining a culture when essential Strike a balance between empowerment and control Let everybody have a say, however, make the last call yourself A wartime CEO has put success ahead of the protocol on occasion and requires to act quickly and aggressively A calmer, peacetime CEO concentrates more on good protocol and longer-term achievement Changing between these modes can be difficult, and may need diverse management teams Apple’s example — Steve Jobs was a wartime CEO, while Tim Cook his replacement works in peacetime Two near-universal virtues that companies need to keep are trust and loyalty Ensure that your workers trust both one another and you. Also, they need to trust you a lot that they can give you the bad news when it is needed You have to nurture a tradition where you constantly know the worst of what’s happening Your workers should trust you enough that they can bring problems to you, and understand that you’ll provide positive and constructive answers about them when they bring issues to you Loyalty — target to keep a good relationship with them, take an honest interest and stay honest Don’t assume that they will remain with you for life
