A 35-year Field Study of Corporate Culture

I conducted a 35-year study of corporate culture, summarized my findings in the book “The Keys of Corporate Culture: Your Greatest Strategic Asset,” and now I show leaders how to harness the power of their organizational cultures.

I began my university experience fascinated by cultures, languages, leadership, and those things that motivate people to action. I studied Anthropology along with nine ancient and modern languages. This opened the door to begin exploring ancient and modern cultures and investigating anthropological linguistics. While earning my degree, I became intrigued with the cultures that emerge and develop within the companies of our modern society. This interest dovetailed very nicely with my desire to understand effective leadership and the impact that has on organizational motivation.

Anthropologists who are interested in studying and understanding a culture must insert themselves in that culture, invest the time and energy required to become a member of it, and they must live in it for an extended period of time in order to make accurate observations about it. This is the only way to accurately see the culture and understand it’s true nature.

If you try to study a culture from the outside, you will only see what the culture wants you to see. Outside observations are what tourists collect while visiting someplace foreign to them. A serious study of a culture cannot come from outside observations. It can only come from membership and internal observations. From that vantage point, a person can observe the true nature of the culture, it’s operations effectiveness, how productive it is, and its current state of stability or turbulence.

Understanding what was required, I embarked on a 35-year field study of corporate culture. It involved living and working in seven companies. As an accepted member, I was able to observe a variety of cultures and cultural landscapes across a broad spectrum of productivity and effectiveness. I was able to observe the influence these cultures had on internal productivity and on the interactions with hundreds of other companies and with thousands of customers. Living in these cultures I participated in the roles of individual contributor, middle management, and executive positions. These vantage points gave me first-hand experience, perspective, and insights into the detailed workings of corporate culture and the powerful influence it has in an organization and upon its partners and customers.

I concluded my field studies and published my findings in a book entitled “The Keys of Corporate Culture: Your Greatest Strategic Asset.” I describe what a culture is; how it works; how to assess whether it is stable and productive or turbulent and counterproductive; and how to take a proactive role in guiding, strengthening, and fine tuning it.

My current objective and passion is to show organizations how to direct and manage the power of their cultures. This is particularly important for companies who now have a dispersed workforce. A culture will always exist in an organization. The question is whether that culture is working for the organization or against it. If company leadership is not actively managing their culture, then someone or something else will be.