Your Most Important Job

Your most important job as a leader is to drive the culture—and not just any culture. You must create a positive culture that energizes and encourages people, fosters connected relationships and great teamwork, empowers and enables people to learn and grow, and provides an opportunity for people to do their best work. Culture is not just one thing; it's everything. Culture drives expectation and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits. And habits create the future. It all starts with the culture you create and drive throughout the organization. That's where all success and great results begin.

Driving your culture is not something you can delegate. You are the leader and you must spend your time, energy, and effort creating and building the culture of your team and organization. Nancy Koeper, the retired president of UPS for the Northwest Region, made culture her number-one priority as she drove a positive culture through an organization that was, literally, full of drivers. She wanted to improve engagement and morale, so she rolled out The Energy Bus to the 1,000 leaders she led with the intent of enhancing positive leadership, positive interactions, and improved relationships with the UPS drivers. Her leaders all read the book, then discussed ways to implement the ideas. They then rolled out The Energy Bus to their 11,000 drivers in the district by simply focusing on positivity, positive interactions, and improved relationships. I had yet to have a company measure results after utilizing The Energy Bus, so it was exciting to hear from Nancy a year later. She reported that engagement, morale, and performance had risen while disengagement and absenteeism had fallen. Nancy drove the UPS bus and it made all the difference.

Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford, led one of the most incredible corporate turnarounds in history. In 2006, when he stepped into the CEO role, the automaker had just suffered an annual loss of $12.7 billion and was on the verge of bankruptcy. In just a few short years under his leadership, Ford was back in the black and the company saw an annual profit every year since 2009. Mulally credited this improbable feat on the organization's focus on driving and building a “One Ford” culture that was centered on the idea of “One Team” where everyone in the organization was committed to the enterprise and to each other. A cultural shift like this doesn't happen by accident. Mulally shared with me his management system, a simple but powerful set of principles, philosophies, behaviors, and processes he designed to create a culture at Ford that fostered unity, teamwork, appreciation, transparency, safety, and even joy. I'll share more of what I learned from Mulally, who defines his leadership as positive leadership, throughout the book because he's one of history's greatest examples of positive leadership and he demonstrates that great cultures happen when positive leaders know their most important job is to drive the culture.

Culture Beats Strategy

When Apple was just the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak), they knew the culture they wanted to create. They would be the culture that challenged the status quo. Everything they did, including hiring people, running campaigns, and creating products, was influenced by this culture. Even after Steve Jobs's death, the culture continues to influence everything they do. It's why Apple is famous for stating the maxim that “culture beats strategy.” You have to have the right strategy of course, but it is your culture that will determine whether your strategy is successful. I believe Apple will be successful as long as they innovate and create from the strength of their culture. If they lose their culture they will lose their way and, like many of the mighty that have come before them, they will fall.

Very few people understand the importance of culture more than Rick Hendrick, the owner and founder of Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Motorsports. In a world where there are thousands of car dealerships and many NASCAR racing teams, Hendrick Automotive is the largest privately owned dealer group in the United States, and Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest racing organization in the modern NASCAR era. Through speaking to the leaders of Hendrick Automotive and Jimmie Johnson's racing team (owned by Hendrick Motorsports), I have witnessed the incredible culture in both organizations. It's clear that they are driven by the same person. Rick Hendrick's signature leadership and drive are ingrained in everything they do. His people are humble, hungry, thankful, kind, and appreciative. They are on a quest for greatness. Their buildings are spotless. Their energy is always positive and contagious. Everyone wants to be the best and win. When you spend time with two companies—when you see the success of his automotive dealerships and the Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. racing teams—you realize that culture not only beats strategy, but it also fuels it and drives people and organizations to record growth and performance.

Know What You Stand For

You might be wondering where to start when driving and building a culture. I believe it starts with two questions: 1) What do we stand for? 2) What do we want to be known for? While visiting Hendrick Automotive, I asked several of Rick's leaders what they stood for, and they all said servant leadership. They told me that Rick leads the way and, in doing so, puts himself last in every decision he makes for his organization. He is very focused on making sure everyone's voice is heard because it is the team that shapes the company today, tomorrow, and in the future. His executive staff knows that Rick expects them to serve the people they lead in the same way. Teamwork through trust and respect is also one of Hendrick's core organizational values. One of Rick's mantras is “None of us is as smart as all of us.” He constantly states, “People are our biggest asset! If we take care of our people they will take care of our customers, and if we work together we will all accomplish more.” This principle comes to life through weekly and monthly meetings where employees share best practices. Having the high performers share how they win in the market lifts the whole company.

As you would expect, Rick is all about integrity and doing the right thing, doing what you say you will do, and being honest and telling the truth regardless of the situation. Leaders at Hendrick Automotive and Hendrick Motorsports also told me they have a passion for winning and don't give up until they do so. Accountability and commitment to continuous improvement help them improve individually and collectively as a team and organization. They want to be known for their culture and winning ways. They celebrate their past success and make it very clear they expect future success. Yet, despite all their success, they are a culture that believes in developing champions who serve others. They want to be known for making a difference in the lives of others and their community. Hendrick leaders are extremely selective in whom they hire. Only people who fit their culture, embrace the same values, and possess a high level of professionalism are added to the team. Because, as an organization, Hendrick knows what their culture stands for, they are able to choose the right people who fit their culture and who stand for the same things. They also invest heavily to train and develop their people in order to sustain success and retain their talent. Brad Stevens, the head coach of the Boston Celtics, once told me that your culture is not only your tradition, but also the people in the locker room who carry it on. When you have people who fit your culture and carry it on, it comes to life in a powerful way.

I've also had the opportunity to speak to Southwest Airlines a few years ago, and they told me how consultants suggested they charge passengers to check luggage since the competition was doing it and they could make hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. Southwest considered their proposal but in the process asked themselves an important question: Is this what we stand for? They went straight to their purpose statement: “To connect People to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.” They ultimately decided that if they were for everyday fliers and low-cost air travel, they shouldn't charge baggage fees. You would think they would have missed out on a lot of money, but a funny thing happened. Southwest started to get new customers because the airline didn't charge for bags. They ran advertising campaigns highlighting the fact that bags fly free, and they gained market share in the process. Their revenue grew to new heights. It's a great example that once you know what you stand for, decisions are easy to make. When your culture dictates your decisions, you are on the right path to positive results.

More than Words

Driving a positive, high-performing culture requires more than words. After all, everyone has a mission statement, but only the great organizations also have people who are on a mission. The greatest mission statement in the world is pointless unless your people are on a mission. When I speak to leaders, I always tell them that it doesn't matter what core values you have written on the walls of your building and website if you don't live and breathe them every day. Remember Enron? One of their core values was integrity.

As a positive leader, you can't just show the way and talk about the way. You must also lead the way. You must live your culture and know that it is an extension of who you are as a leader. If you don't set the example and live the values—if you aren't on a mission—your culture won't come to life. The same goes for the people on your team and in your organization. Everyone creates the culture. Leaders define what your culture stands for, and your people define whether or not they stand for your culture. Education expert Todd Whitaker says that the unwritten rules in an organization are more important than the written ones. The rules you set with your example are what your organization is really all about, so make sure you live and breathe the values written on the walls. Don't tell the world your mission statement. Show the world you are on a mission. Then energize and empower your people to be culture drivers and culture builders. Positive leaders know they can't do it alone. Culture starts with the leader living it and inspiring and empowering others to live it as well.

Positively Contagious

As a leader, the energy you put into your team and culture determines the quality of it. Research from the HeartMath Institute (www.heartmath.org) shows that when you have a feeling in your heart, it goes to every cell in the body, then outward—and people up to 10 feet away can sense the feelings transmitted by your heart.⁷ This means that each day you are broadcasting to your team how you feel. You are broadcasting either negative energy or positive energy, apathy or passion, indifference or purpose. Research from Harvard University also supports the idea that the emotions you feel are contagious and affect the people around you.⁸ Your team is just as likely to catch your bad mood as the flu and, on the flip side, they will catch your good mood as well. As a leader your attitude, energy, and leadership is contagious, and it has a big impact on your culture. Great cultures and teams are built with positive, contagious energy, so it's essential that you share those types of feelings. When you walk into the office or the meeting, or onto the field, you have a decision to make: Are you going to be a germ to your team or a big dose of vitamin C? Please know that you don't have to be an extrovert to be positively contagious. Sharing positive energy doesn't mean you have to be a rah-rah leader and bounce off the walls. It means that from the heart you simply broadcast the love, passion, positivity, and purpose that you have for your team, organization, and mission. It comes more from your essence than it does your words. When Winston Churchill was leading Great Britain during WWII in its fight for survival against Hitler, people commented that Churchill looked 20 years younger than he did before the war. During Great Britain's darkest hour, Churchill was energized by the seemingly impossible task before him and his country, and he inspired his nation with passion and contagious energy. His famous words and speeches were a manifestation of his inner strength and conviction.

Create a Culture that People Feel

When I visited West Point in the summer of 2014, the USA Basketball Men's National Team happened to be visiting at the same time. Head coach Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski brought the team there to understand what it truly means to represent the United States of America. Coach K knew the place was special. After all, he attended West Point, played basketball there under Bob Knight, returned as the head coach after his five years of military service, and coached there for five years before becoming the head coach of Duke University. Coach K knew the players wouldn't fully understand how special the place was by hearing him talk about it. They had to experience and feel it. He said, “You can't talk about this place, see a movie about this place, you have to feel this place. You go to a place like this, you get it.” Coach K knew it was the same when talking about service and sacrifice. The players had to feel it, so at the beginning of their visit, Coach K brought the team to the West Point Cemetery, where they had a meeting with family members of fallen soldiers. The players on Team USA listened as the family members told them about their children and how they died serving their country. The players may have understood the concepts of service and sacrifice before, but after seeing the graves of the fallen soldiers, listening to personal stories, and feeling the loss of the family members, they truly got it. It's also a powerful lesson for all of us. Feeling is more powerful than hearing. You can't just create a culture where people hear about what's important. You must create a culture where people feel what's important. You must create a culture where people don't just hear your talk but rather they feel your walk. When they feel the mission and also hear about the mission, they'll be on a mission.

Invest in the Root if You Want the Fruit

If culture is so important then why don't more leaders focus on it? It's because culture is not easily quantifiable. You can measure sales. You can measure revenue, costs, profits, goals, wins and losses, outcomes and results, but it's not easy to measure the health and strength of your culture. Culture building also requires a lot of work, time, energy, and focus to drive and sustain it. It's a lot easier to simply measure the fruit of the tree than it is to cultivate the root. The world measures leaders by their results, and this causes many leaders to focus only on the results and outcomes, meaning, they focus on the fruit of the tree and ignore the root. However, we know that if you focus on the fruit and ignore the root, the tree dies. That's not my opinion. It's the truth, and we see it play out all too often on sports teams, businesses, hospitals, schools, churches, and families. If you want the fruit, you must invest in the root. If you invest in the root, you will always receive a great supply of fruit. Of course you should measure your fruit, but you should do so knowing that it's simply a byproduct of how well you are nurturing the root. Your culture is your root, and your focus should be on the process that nourishes and produces the fruit.

In the book You Win in the Locker Room First, which I co-wrote with Coach Mike Smith, we discussed how, during his first five years as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he was the second winningest coach in the league, behind only Bill Belichick. But during the next two seasons, he only won 10 total games. What happened? During the fifth season, the Falcons made it to the NFC championship. They were one play and 10 yards away from going to the Super Bowl. They failed to make the play and lost the game, and after that they became an organization that only focused on getting to the Super Bowl.

During Mike's first five years as head coach, the Falcons were simply focused on the process, the culture, the connections, and the relationships in the locker room, including all the little things that made them successful. But during the next two years, everyone in the organization, including Mike, was focused only on the outcome. If they didn't make it to the Super Bowl, the season would be considered a failure by the media, the fan base, and many within the organization. The pressure was on and everyone in the organization felt it. Mike says he allowed that to steer the Falcons away from the very things that had made the team successful during those five winning years. Mike said he did a poor job of making sure the new members of the team, staff, and organization understood the culture they had worked so hard to create. Everyone learned the hard way that culture can change almost as quickly as the momentum in a football game. Mike says he let outside forces and pressure weaken their culture. The team stopped investing in the root and Mike says the world watched as their tree withered. It was a lesson he would never forget.

You Must Keep Building Your Culture

Mike Smith learned that a culture will not sustain itself. You must sustain it. You must continue to build it, reinforce it, live it, protect it, and fight for it. Positive leaders don't live in a Pollyanna world. They understand that every day there are forces seeking to sabotage their culture and success, and so they work relentlessly to keep it strong. I was recently giving a talk at the American Baseball Coaches Association convention and Kyle Stark, the assistant general manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was in the audience. I shared how Kyle was obsessed with culture and always looking for ways to strengthen it. When I saw Kyle after my talk, I apologized for saying he was obsessed. He said, “It's fine. You're right. I am obsessed. It's one of the things that helped us turn this organization around from a perennial loser to a perennial contender and I'm not letting up. I will continue to fight for and build upon what we have built.”

I've learned from many of these great leaders that you must invest in your culture in such a way that it becomes stronger than all the forces trying to sabotage it. I've learned that you and your team must value your culture to the point that you will fight for it. I've learned that when you create a culture worth fighting for and invest in your people to the degree that they want to fight for your culture and for each other, your organization will have the grit and strength to overcome the challenges you face and become an unstoppable and positive force.