A few of my key takeaways:
- Culture is: The expression of your values
- Examples: Mediteranian vs.British vs. German
- Can be a big advantage for small companies
- Business was a lifestyle choice
- Enjoyed work and stuff outside of work
- Profit not the only motive -- sustainability too
- Formalized profit-sharing (after setting aside 3 months emerg. money)
- Working Group working retreat: Amazing ideas, great team building
- Marked a commitment to the future and to the team
- Defining the culture was a group effort
- Building a "post-modern" company: happiness and fulfillment as well as profit
- Reference: "Drive" (Dan Pink)
- Even in bad times, continued to do "extra" stuff like team retreats
- Growth spurts can hurt culture
- It takes a lot of time to hire people that meet the culture
- Often creates problems when companies grow quickly
- Ties into organization, process, procedures, scalability
- In small companies, culture is based on your personality
- When you grow, you need to abstract your values
- Successful models: Zappos, Apple, Google
- Employees drive culture in subtle ways -- when they show up, conversations, etc
- Culture defined stronger when founders are very involved in day-to-day ops
- People want ownership of stuff
- Is culture like a brand? Difference between reality and what is said/written
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