Company Culture: A Tale of Two Cultures

So we have seen the role of company culture in two organizations.

Costco: Original positive culture championed by the founder/CEO who handed the reins over to a successor who shared his philosophy. This culture remains an engine for the company's continuing success and growth.

Home Depot: Original dynamic culture eventually crushed by the weight of global growth, The two founders and chief executives lost touch and lost control. A rah-rah culture devolved into a sloppy destructive mess that led to some horrible fatalities of customers in the stores. Even if they try to restore it or build a simulacrum, it can never be the same.

In my own start-up experience, we maintained the original culture from 35 employees to over 600 and even through the addition of an outside sourced CEO who grasped the value of the culture. Then came the merger with a culture that valued only the technical contributors and created an elite class and a mass of drones. The thrill is gone, baby.

Lance