“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Most of us have heard Peter Drucker’s famous quote.
I used to hear it and think to myself “YES!” And then, I thought some more.
Why are we so fixated on choosing one thing “or” another in the theoretical world?
We want to make life simpler and clearer. But, we distort the “absolute truth” when we step into theoretical worlds. I don’t want to succeed and be happy in the theoretical world – I want to achieve that life in the REAL world.
In the real world, I would argue that there are thousands of internet company souls that would love an opportunity to exchange some of the culture they had for the strategy they lacked.
I was a part of a company with a tremendous culture with fantastic sales that set the wrong course, set the wrong strategy, and was heavily disbanded and its stakeholders walked away with nothing.
In the real world I seldom get to choose between the things that are essential to my success. I need to embrace them both. For the past 7 years I have been working more on culture than on strategy at EMG. It’s not that we have ignored strategy by any means, but I have definitely had a “bias” in my passion for culture. Now, we have an amazing culture and we are working on making it better, and I see how absolutely critical it is for us to evolve our strategy so that it can keep up with the expectations and the aspirations of our team.
You need strategy AND you need culture. And, we must lead companies or teams in a way that doesn’t compromise either, but rather expands on both.
Every time I hear an “Would you rather X or Y?” I cringe. Because it almost always is an argument to take us out of the real world, to influence discussions or direction, and to prioritize or potentially select one thing over another when both are necessary.
The concept of harmony plays not only in the “moment “ in time, but in the moment of a company, or a team, or a relationship.
The concept of harmony is not only for every passing moment, it is also for every conceived thought, and every deliberate plan.
It applies to product development.
It applies to consumer understanding.
It applies to leadership structure.
It applies to acquisitions.
It applies to a husband and a wife.
It applies to the relationship with our kids.
In fact, HARMONY is most powerful and most impactful when its used on the largest possible “moment” you can conceive. The “moment” you are putting together your company strategy. The “moment” you are deciding on your career path or life partner.
The concept of harmony makes you understand and appreciate and embrace the BALANCE required in the real world for success. It makes you cringe when anyone wants to eliminate a critical variable from the equation or prioritize them unnecessarily or inaccurately.
It is in the OPTIMIZATION of the variables in the real world, where we win. It is in understanding how to leverage culture to build strategy and how to leverage strategy to build culture where we win.
ACCEPTING the complexity of the truth is the only way to see it, to embrace it and to set our vantage point from it.
STRATEGY is PARAMOUNT. I have known many companies with great strategies, great decisive competitive edges that have made great money over years and years. Sometimes those companies have had negative cultures that driven attrition. And, on they have gone to continue to succeed. I have seen great cultures fail in business over and over because they lacked a differentiated or executable strategy.
I will share more over time about how to leverage Harmony into creating strategy and culture.
Point is not that Peter Drucker chose the wrong one. He is a tremendous visionary and author and has had a wonderful impact in our world. I have great respect for him.
It’s that his famous quote, and most importantly our desire for “selection and prioritization” is misguided.
If you have to select something over the something else…
SELECT HARMONY,
SELECT BALANCE,
SELECT TRUTH…
It doesn’t necessarily make for “sexy” or memorable quotes (yet ;-) – but it makes for truly achieving what we dream of achieving.
And, importantly, it works BEST in the REAL world!