Why do companies have bad culture? What drives a company to cultivate bad culture?
First job was horrible. Douchebag CFO and a president and COO who were “holier than thou”. If you were walking down a hallway and saw president you had to turn around.
Another job had decent people but senior management didn’t care about your development as a junior. Also gave out good plastic coins from dollar store for Christmas gift at the mandatory holiday party in the common area. Pay also left lots to be desired.
Another job was chill. Allowed to expense Ubers and dinner late at night but worked longer than typical. Comp was ok.
Now that I’m at a company with what I would call “good culture”, I’m interested in how it develops. I’ve always been at private companies (both portco’s and just private). Anyone find it different in public industry?
If you were walking down the hallway and you saw the president, you had to turn around? Why? What would he do if he saw you?
Out of touch demagogues who think their farts smell like roses. Been in the same situation internally and have had to deal with the same situation externally too. Then when it comes up, they like to hide behind "budget issues" "or some made up HR issue (yeah...both are kind of my wheelhouse there bud...So I ain't about to put you on blast, but if I have to I will do the Captain Phillips "Look at me!" move).
Also, some of them are just flat out Ebenezer Scrooge grade dicks. Team sets up their own happy hour. Management never checks in but gets wind of it. Then gets mad because 1) they're not invited, 2) it wasn't their idea.
As for private vs public, the couple of firms I've been at that IPO'ed had a tectonic shift in culture from the top down. It became very and eerily obvious they were chasing the next quarter's reults above all else. Would've made the 90's rap game proud to bring CREAM to the white collar world.
Culture all comes down to the people at a company and typically starts with the top and filters down. It's that simple really
You are exactly right. My former mentor (who was the US Ambassador to the UK and also non-executive chairman of the board for WPP) said that "organizations are the extended shadows of individuals."
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