Why Culture Should Be Your Central Focus

[tehwalrus]

My objection to pretty much every place I've worked has boiled down to the workplace culture. During the "mini MBA for scientists" that my Uni runs for grad students, they explained quite a lot of the psychology around organisational culture.

As such, this article was kind of "well, duh!" for me - One of the things I'd be most exited about if I ever do start my own organisation will be being able to invent a culture (and this is the motivation I've mentioned to several people in describing the kinds of start ups I have ideas for.)

[theorique]

I'm curious to know, what would you add that you missed in the cultures that you worked in in the past? And what would you delete that you would prefer not to have as part of the culture?

[ExpiredLink]

For a moment I thought he meant culture in the true sense of the word. The title would have made more sense then.

[davekashen]

What do you think culture is in the 'true sense of the word'?

[SkyMarshal]

There's a lot of talk about culture, but as the article mentions, it's difficult to define exactly, something that has irked me for a while now - lots of advocacy, but do people really understand what they're advocating or is this another cargo cult?

But the article also links a blog on culture [1] that actually makes a decent attempt at explaining it, and it not just through a single manifesto type statement, but over a long series of blog posts. Good read.

[1]: http://awesomeculture.com/

[thomasknoll]

It's hard to remember to tiller the rudder and trim the sails at the same time. It's easier to wait until there is a problem and then scramble to fix it. I mean, that's what we're best at right? Fixing problems?

[pvonp]

Interesting. I like the focus on creating (for lack of a better term) a work/work balance - exploring your own motivations as a key to creating a good culture.