Company Culture: The Intangible Asset

CULTURE: THE INTANGIBLE ASSET

A company’s soul is its personality, its culture, and the values by which it stands; derived from a company’s core beliefs, this intangible asset determines the effectiveness of strategies and the ability to achieve authenticity. Culture consists of group norms of behavior and the underlying shared values that help keep those norms in place (Nelson, 2013). Defining and implementing desired norms of behavior requires wisdom, time, and some intellectual curiosity and emotional investment to understand what motivates employees to perform consistently well, even beyond expectations (Kotter, 2012). “Every company and team has its own identity--a soul waiting to be discovered and used to unlock human energy and unleash new economic value” (Lapin, 2012). While one culture will not work for every company, successful companies determine the desired culture, design, implement, and nurture it. Leaders must revisit their mission, and answer pertinent questions: Why are we in this business and why is our company here? What is the higher purpose for which our organization has come into being? The company’s existence is no accident of circumstance; it is here to do something no other organization can do (Lapin, 2012). Every company has a culture (Moberly, 2014).
In today’s generation, the archaic mission statements filled with lofty sounding declarations resonate more like a press release than a passion filled vision inspired by a higher corporate purpose. The altruism needs of Generation Y demand a corporate DNA that promotes group cohesiveness striving for the greater good (HBR IdeaCast, 2009). “A company’s culture is somewhat akin to a garden, that is, a culture will develop whether or not business le...

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