Minding Your Culture Can Save Your Bottom Line

As we start a new year, it’s interesting to look back on some of the lessons learned from companies and organizations that committed major faux paus during the past 12 months. Unfortunately, the list is long. Consider some of the major brands that stumbled and fell in 2017 – Wells Fargo, United Airlines and Uber top the list. What’s so disappointing is that many of the mistakes these companies made could have been avoided had they followed the principles embodied in their Mission Statements and paid attention to their Culture.

We define Culture as the blending of your company’s history, heritage, standards, beliefs and values with the experiences of your customers and employees. But, equally important, it’s the energy a customer feels when they enter your store, visit your website, touch your product, or experience your service for the first time.

So, when leaders at Wells Fargo made bad decisions that resulted in the creation of fake accounts, not only were laws broken, but also, the company’s proud culture was tainted. When Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, was forced to resign because of “culture rot” (according to USA Today), law-skirting strategic practices, and a sexist work environment, then you know the company has serious problems that will hurt the bottom line.

At the other end of the spectrum are companies like Amazon, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Alphabet Inc., 3M, Microsoft, and IBM. These are well-managed companies that make smart – but not perfect -- decisions that typically factor in their culture, customer needs, and the company’s bottom line. Successful leaders and companies do not make decisions in a vacuum. They weigh profits against the company’s standards, beliefs, employee well-being, and benefits to their customers. This is all part of the culture process.

Finally, we encourage executives to challenge each other when the decision-making process veers from the boundaries of culture, integrity and common sense. Companies that have a Culture Blueprint in place – and apply it to their everyday decision-making -- are less likely to falter. This is one reason the best managed companies are also profitable and don’t shoot themselves in the foot.