norm.culture

B Corp.

If we agree that organizational culture has value, then we assume that when there is corporate acquisition that the culture is part of the purchase.  The culture has valued and is sometimes even factored into purchase price.  Indeed with some of the recent roll-ups of "green" companies by very not "green" new parents (Burt Bees by Clorox, Toms of Maine by Colgate) we assume that those cultures represent new opportunities.

Enter B Corporation by B Lab - a non-profit who helps maintain corporate culture through the only means necessary - Articles of Incorporation  They say it best:

As a B Corporation^™, you differentiate your business from the growing barrage of green- and cause-marketing campaigns and stand out as a leader in the market, creating a clear path for others to follow. You also embed your values into your corporate governing documents so they can survive new investors, new management and even new ownership.

Cool idea to protect the culture.

birth

Of course, culture creates itself.  Even a clinical experience like being born in an American Hospital has rites and cultural perspective.  See this link.

sin

Are there sins where you work? 

Catholics have a list that has not changed in a thousand years or so: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth.

But are there sins against the organization where you work?  Is it these sins that get people fired?  This "organization" as "church", while blasphemous, provides an interesting perspective of culture. 

The head of the Apostolic Penitentiary Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti has announced that the seven new mortal sins are to be ...

· Environmental pollution;
· Genetic manipulation;
· Accumulating excessive wealth;
· Inflicting poverty;
· Drug trafficking and consumption;
· Morally debatable experiments;
· Violation of fundamental rights of human nature.

space

Office space and architecture is important.  A client of ours recently remodeled and we visited their new space to see how it all worked out.  What once was a very hierarchical space now had a nice flow of natural pathways winding around into an open concept office.  The downfalls were quickly apparent - it was loud.   You could hear it all.  The white noise machine helped a bit.

But this sense of boundaries or boundrylessness is important.  Making space as functional as possible is normally the goal of office engineering (put the paper next to the copier, CEOs on top).  But sometimes a little dysfunction is good too.  It creates opportunities for a little chaos.  Our client had created a little chaos and in turn was creating new opportunities for accidental learning.

A new favorite site of mine, Foamy Custard, has a nice essay on liminality.  It explores this issue of boundaries.

myths

American Myths:

Cowboys.
Shark hunting/ Big Game Hunting.
Authors.
Wrestling.
Mass Murderers.

opensource culture

The creative shop does 12 or so web sites a year.  I have been managing web projects fore about 15 years and more than ever clients are asking for opensource content management systems.  It's an issue of freedom, and one that is soon about to break out of the software industry. 

We're hearing about MIT's Open Source Building Alliance that is pioneering new ways to plan/build homes.  Imagine a home where a owner 100 years after the home has been built can rearrange the home components to their own liking.  Opensource-style

As prefab becomes a more realistic way to build homes, applying opensource methodologies is smart and now doable. 

At the design agency we have recently had some turn over and hiring (50% of the staff is now new) and we are dealing with culture definitions.  Can the influence of the new 50% change the culture, the brand, the direction.  Should we allow it to, encourage it? 

This is a much more complex issue than it seems and one that growing companies need to deal with.

UPDATE:  I found this link.  Nice example of modular opensource design.

pirates

I'm not an expert on capitalism.  Nor on pirates.  I leave that to blogs like http://thepiratesdilemma.com which explores the concept of making money through giving away work.  I love the idea.  It's just "on its head" enough to work.

Peters and Seth have examples of this all over their site. 

campus culture

A few weeks back I was invited to speak at Williams College about the culture of America as it goes green and, specifically, how language is changing because of it.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  It has been 15 years since I was on a campus...and we were idiots back then and didn't go to these events.  Well, maybe some did, I suppose.

I'm used to speaking in front of large groups of professionals.  I can manage that crowd well.  This was not that.  The kids who showed up were angry.  They had great questions.  They talked about the importance of actions, and while many had not heard the term "greenwashing" they were on the look out for it. 

Similar to the speed at which language is changing, generational shifts are happening.  My generation is naming things - finding greenwashing, talking about it.  But, it seems at least at WIlliams, these entrepreneurs and leaders are calling it out.  While we name it, they cut through it.

Perhaps we are on the verge of a truly authentic culture shift. 

lack and shift

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I've been in Asheville NC - a town certainly in the spell of a cultural renaissance since my last visit 15 years ago.  Next week its off to talk to some Big Box retailers about the culture of the green consumer.

We just hired 2 more people at the design shop, I'm sure they will bring some culture shifts...

a thousand faces

The hero myth in organizational culture is the same from office to office.  Take a look at this clever decon-recon-struction of the Star Wars myth.