Actively Managing the Corporate Culture
The leader in most organizations has many and varied tasks. If the organization is large enough to have a significant leadership team, then the CEO receives help in the day-to-day operations and can delegate initiatives, duties, or projects. In small companies, including start-ups, of course, the leader/founder shoulders much, if not all, of the work.
But large or small, there are some things that the leader should not delegate, and managing the culture is one of them. Ensuring a culture of creativity is critical in today’s world. In his
2014 book, Zero to One, Peter Thiel suggests that to survive, an organization needs to create new, not incremental, ideas. [I will likely have more to say on the book at a later date.] He gives examples, and one that sticks out in my mind is that Globalization is the “1 to n” kind of change. People/companies take what works in one geographic region and apply it to a new area. Google, on the other hand, went from 0 to 1 concerning internet search.
"Cities are where ideas go to have sex."
Creativity
But the one thing I came to see concerning leadership is that leaders need to understand how to create a culture of creativity. Diversity, it seems, is a crucial component. A mix of world views, a new perspective, different experiences–all combine to make breakthroughs in how to go from “0 to 1.” That is, it will IF the culture is one in which it is safe to express differing views, try new things, and have “huge” dreams of making a difference.
Work On The Business
What I find exciting in working with business leaders is arranging their leadership team so that they have more time to work on the strategy and on building a culture of change and acceptance. I call that “working on the business and not so much in the business.”
Today, I heard a financial podcast about how our economy has changed—with less acquisition of “things” and more investing in experiences. That seems to be mostly, but certainly not exclusively, the mindset of the Millennial generation—who invest in fewer things and more on life experiences. That can only be good for creativity and determining how to get from 0 to 1.
[Lightly edited on 9/2020 for our new website.]