It has definitely been a while since I updated my blog. Busy period, but I have been able to carve out some time for some posts about my recent readings.
In this period I am currently reading “What you do is who you are. How top leaders create a winning culture” written by Ben Horowitz. (By the time I’m publishing this article, I’ve already finished it and started a couple of new books)
I found this book in a bookshop in Mumbai while travelling for my brother-in-law wedding last January.
The book is an interesting conversation about company culture, sharing the examples of key historic leaders like Touissant Loverture and Genghis Khan.
There was no specific reason or recommendation why I picked this book, but I really enjoyed the previous one from Ben The Hard Thing about Hard Things, so I expected something valuable also from this and I was not wrong.
In the book, Ben not only covers relevant topics about culture and organisation, but also with part of the book revenues will help people coming out of prison to remain free and help people in Haiti to build a better society, another reason to buy it.
Who should read this book?
I would recommend this book to anyone working in an organisation, it can be a corporate environment or a NGO, It’s good way to reflect on culture, behaviour and changes.
But let’s start from the beginning.
What is company culture?
The author shares his journey and reflection about the definition of company culture. He starts from the perspective of the company founder as a combination of his values, behaviours and personality, and then moves on to a more sophisticated framing.
“Company culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there. It’s the set of assumptions your employees use to resolve the problems they face every day. It’s how they behave when no one is looking.
If you don’t methodically set your culture, then two-thirds of it will end up being accidental, and the rest will be a mistake.”
Personally, especially in a world that embraced the “remote” friendly approach after COVID, having a strong culture is crucial for an organisation.
I haven’t finished the book yet. Yesterday I read the 8th chapter; still 2 to go.
In the first 6 the author covered how historical leaders saw culture, while in the 7th and 8th is more about inclusion and how to design culture based on who we are.
One thing that really surprised me in two of the early chapters (the 4th and the 5th), among all the historical figures, was the story of Shaka Senghor, who is not strictly speaking a famous historical leader and who I am sure is unknown to most.
He used to manage a prison gang by identifying the actual ruling culture, finding the weaknesses and re-shaping for the better.
Here managing means behaving properly and keeping the “brothers” safe and respectful of a set of rules, and also helping them become better educated people by reading and studying while spending time in prison.
Having hard times with the family while growing up, he went to prison at nineteen with a sentence of between 17 and 40 years.
At the end, he served a total of 19 years in different Michigan prisons.
I will cover Touissant and Genghis Khan in the next posts, but now, just let me continue the conversation on Shaka Senghor.
From Sanghor’s experience, there are two key lessons for leaders:
- “Your own perspective on the culture is not that relevant” How you or the executives see the experience is not what the employee will experience. To survive in the organisation, what must an employee do? What behaviour will make him included or excluded from the power base?
- “You must start from first principles” Every organization has its own culture and set of rules. More than merely respecting and sticking to them, is critical to understand why they were created. For example Intel had this casual-dress standard to promote meritocracy. So the best idea would win, not the idea from the highest rank with the fanciest suit. On the other hand, for a business which is not led by engineers, like a restaurant or a football team, this approach would not be ideal and that’s why it’s critical to understand the reason behind these rules. Otherwise, we risk focusing on the procedure instead of the expected output of the procedure, confusing means and ends.
I think the first point here is also common among parents, because what they teach is not always what is perceived or expected. I am personally fascinated by this.
On the other hand, not coming from this book, but in some ways related, I love the saying “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.
Coming back to all these lessons, how does this apply to my personal experience?
I am forcing myself to think, but it seems that, given my seniority, it’s still too early for me to have a broad view and direct experience of this. I wrote down these notes to think about them in the future and for future events.
For sure, I see a flatter approach here in the UK compared with Italy, where I saw a more hierarchical structure and behaviour, while here in London, the casual approach allows for more technical discussions in the department where numbers matter, not company band level.
Before wrapping up this post, I just want to cover another relevant point from the book.
A key aspect highlighted multiple times is “Walk the talk”.
This is something I observed in my small experience and which significantly shapes the company culture. As Ben highlights, “Do as I say, not as I do” never works, so you should avoid cultural virtues that you don’t practice yourself.
This is something stressed multiple times also in the book Legacy by James Kerr.
The point is: Culture is a set of actions, not belief.
For example, to stress the aspect “No one is bigger than the team”, all the All Blacks senior players will clean the locker room by themselves.
To build this, to create a culture that lasts, you need to create rituals, which means repeatedly doing what is right for the team.
While Ben says very pragmatically that culture is the aggregate of repeated behaviours, in the book “Legacy”, this is seen as a Ritual. Leaders must live the standard and are the culture’s first follower.
To summarize and blend the two books’ learning, we can see the difference between a weak and strong culture as it follows:
| Weak culture | Strong culture |
| Values are written | Values are practiced |
| Leaders say things | Leaders demonstrate things |
| Rules exist | Behaviors are visible |
I think is a very powerful summary table, worth reading once in a while.
To conclude, I don’t know how strong is the culture in your organization or if it is something you think about during your day, but even if you are not aware it’s shaping the way you work and interact with your colleagues.
So if you want to know more about this topic, with interesting examples and anecdotes, I really recommend this book and you will see your organization through a new lens.
