Back in the 1980s I worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. I always wanted to know my readers. I figured they were a bunch of middle-management, cubicle-dwellers working at companies like IBM. Got that wrong. A high percentage of them either worked at a small business or owned one. The takeaway, for me, was that entrepreneurs often looked to big companies to see what they could apply to their own businesses lives. With that in mind, I turned to big-time corporate coach Karen Warner. Warner, who is based in Massachusetts, has worked with companies from Microsoft to Nestle. I asked, what is one of the most important things entrepreneurs can learn from big business? Answer: build an effective, functional corporate culture from the get-go. Once you grow to a certain size, Warner says, it’s too late - and a company’s culture is what it is. “It’s the people inside any organization that determine whether your company is transformative or toxic,” she adds. Some lessons from Warner.
Lesson One: Business is personal. “You can run out of materials, inventory, and money. But as long you invest in the resilience of your people, they can bounce back or bounce better, even after feeling depleted, demoralized, or burnt out. Give employees autonomy, acknowledgement, and your time and attention. When they think they matter to you, people can and do recharge their spirits and redouble their efforts on the company’s behalf.”
Lesson Two: Hire For the Right Mindset. “Corporations that hire for capacity and passion for the business, rather than just credentials, can fast-track to an innovative, risk-taking culture. Screen first for optimistic people who readily embrace challenges.”
Lesson Three: Remember the Golden Rule. “As rules of engagement, insist on manners your mom sent you off to kindergarten with: show up on time, play well in the sandbox, manage your emotions, share, say please and thank you, and – critically – put others first. I once facilitated an executive team meeting where the newly minted founder-CEO proudly boasted: ‘Everyone around this table has called me an (insert expletive).’ The enormous price tag the company paid for his team and their people to circumnavigate his temper just to do their jobs could be calculated in attrition. Turnover cost? The rule of thumb: three to six times an exiting employee’s salary.”
Lesson Four: Don’t Chase Shiny Objects. “Too often, the last great idea in the door plants the fear that the company is missing out - on markets, on products, on the future itself. Avoid this. It’s a great way to create a toxic culture. ‘FOMO,’ fear of missing out, can hijack strategy - and create uncertainty and chaos across the enterprise. Even in a four-person firm. One entry-level team I interviewed dreaded their founder’s ‘midnight moments.’ He said: ‘We leave on Friday with a game plan. She’ll have a new idea in the middle of the night. By the time we come in Monday, we’re starting all over.’ Once aware of this, this CEO committed to her team: ‘We will not chase shiny objects.’ ”
Lesson Five: Leverage the Power of Why. Companies that want big change fast give their people “why power,” connecting powerful meaning to the company’s mission. Communicate why relentlessly in all you do, be true to it, then empower people to hold each other, and you, accountable for it.
