Corporate culture is everything

Digital transformation, agile mindsets, and responses to Covid19 have made the need for adaptability and change of paramount importance. Much is written about creating the organizational culture that can survive during difficult times and strive after.

Change is a constant imperative in any dynamic organization. The environment in which a business executes its strategy is never static. Forces that impact the market arise from the economic situation, new regulation, technology change, political developments, and of course the market itself. If a business does not continual change and adapt, it is doomed to fall behind the competition.

The pandemic has dealt a serious blow to many businesses. The culture a company has nurtured to weather this storm and then grow from it will determine its future, more than any strategic plan or budgeting exercise. We have all heard Peter Drucker’s “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

In the 1990’s Lou Gerstner turned around a giant corporate ship that was faltering. His takeaway from the experience, "The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything."

True in the past, today, and in future.