The Japanese have a proverb: fish rots from the head. VW, British Airways and United Airlines are just three of the recent swarm of organisations that have shown what poor leadership leads to on a global, and very public stage; poor company performance, customer dissatisfaction and now, more commonly than not, unlawful company decisions.
These companies have a distrusting relationship with their customers, offer a terrible customer and employee experience and have values which suggest a culture of lying and indifference is how to succeed and grow. So:
1. Who killed the Company Spirit?
2. How do we fix it?
3. How to make a Business Case for Love?
The companies who are winning on a global, regional or local level are creating sustainable relationships with their customers by offering an experience people enjoy. They have created a strong culture, based on an authentic set of values and behaviours. At its core, it nurtures its roots, whilst embracing creativity and progressive curiosity.
They are the curious, that strive for clarity. They have a purpose.
A curious company culture enables positive behavioural change and memorable employee and customer experiences.
In an era of transparency and data breaches, employees want their leaders to be clear, democratic and collaborative. Employees want to be active members of the story they are building, and vision they are selling. They want trust, they want ownership, they want to be proud of what they do and feel like what they do matters.