The work environment is the field in which the collective passion of the enterprise takes root and grows.
People experience the work environment or culture in a good way or bad way. There is an old Yiddish proverb that applies to every organizational leader: "The fish always stinks at the head." The leader with CEO Disease doesn't know the smell that he or she is spreading throughout the organization. The personally coached CEO discovers what smell he or she is spreading across the corporate culture and works to make it a productive and positive scent. This scent has a dramatic impact on organizational performance and success.
According to research conducted by John Kotter and James Heskett (Corporate Culture and Performance), when strong culture firms are focused on the right values, they radically outperform their competitors. Here's what happened at strong culture firms focused on the right values:
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Net income increased three times more than direct competitors.
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Profit performance was over 700 percent higher than direct competitors.
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Return on invested capital was almost 50 percent higher than direct competitors.
To evaluate the strategic fit of your culture, ask yourself, "Do our values and practices provide a point of difference the customer cares about, a competitive advantage?