Your Culture is your Brand

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about culture, how it eats strategy for breakfast, and how most of us think we can’t do anything to change or affect the culture in which we live and work.  I strongly disagree, and so does Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com.  The following is an excerpt from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.

“Building a brand today is very different from building a brand 50 years ago. It used to be that a few people got together in a room, decided what the brand position was going to be, and then spent a lot of money buying advertising telling people what their brand was. And if you were able to spend enough money, then you were able to build your brand.”

“It’s a very different world today.  With the Internet connecting everyone together, companies are becoming more and more transparent whether they like it or not.  An unhappy customer or a disgruntled employee can blog about a bad experience with a company, and the story can spread like wildfire…”

“The good news is that the reverse is true as well.  A great experience with a company can be read by millions of people almost instantaneously as well.  The fundamental problem is that you cannot possibly anticipate every possible touch point that could influence the perception of your company’s brand.  Every employee can affect your company’s brand…”

“Many companies have core values, but they don’t really commit to them.  They usually sound more like something you’d read in a press release  Maybe you learn about them on day one of orientation, but after that it’s just a meaningless plaque on the wall of the lobby.”

“We believe that it’s really important to come up with core values that you can commit to.  And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them.  If you’re willing to do that then you’re well on your way to building a company culture that is inline with the brand you want to build.  You can let all of your employees be your brand ambassadors, not just the marketing or PR department.”

“At the end of the day, just remember that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff – including a great brand – will fall into place on it’s own.”

– Tony Hsieh