The five stages of culture every organization passes through, and how to tell which one you’re really in. A car dealership executive told me about one of his service technicians not long ago. The man was finishing up a vehicle at the end of a long shift, and the executive stopped by and asked what … Read more
Integrity is not what you say in the boardroom. It is what you do when no one is watching. When I was a young lieutenant in Germany, I had a platoon of about 41 Soldiers. We patrolled the East and West German border, and when we weren’t out at the border outposts, we worked on … Read more
The most hopeful level is also the most frustrating. Here’s why. When I interviewed Andrew Sewnauth, President and CEO of CDS Life Transitions, for The Power of Being All In, he said something that stopped me cold. “Companies that don’t take time to invest in their employees pay an even greater price.” He wasn’t speaking theoretically. … Read more
It’s more organized than Level 1. It’s also more rigid. In We’re All In, I described what I witnessed as a young officer in the U.S. Army in West Germany in the mid-1970s. It was, looking back, a perfect example of a Follower culture at scale. The Army was in crisis. The clash of a … Read more
Early in my career as a Major in the U.S. Army, I had the privilege of serving as aide-de-camp to General Crosbie Saint, then the Commander in Chief of U.S. Army Europe. We spent most of our time together in helicopters and jets, moving constantly across Western Europe and back across the Atlantic for meetings … Read more
When people show up but never buy in, and the clock is already running. In We’re All In, I described several case studies where cultures had decayed to the point of causing serious harm — not just to their bottom lines, but to real people. One of them was Barclays Bank. Barclays was among the leading … Read more
