Culture is the cumulative effect of what people see, here, experience, and believe. – Mark Miller
Anyone that has visited a Chic-Fil-A restaurant has experienced an atmosphere that isn’t typical of the fast food environment. It’s still casual dining. It’s still staffed largely by high school and college students. However, once you interact with the staff, you’ll know that it is a different culture. Mark Miller, Vice President for High Performance Leadership at Chic-Fil-A, plays a huge part in that reality.
In Culture Rules: The Leader’s Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Miller challenges employers, managers, executives, and employees to make a proactive choice to develop the culture of the organization. A successful, impactful organization is not likely to happen by chance. Similarly, a healthy culture doesn’t happen without intentional thought and consideration. We’ve all seen the signs of a poor culture: high turnover, high absenteeism, poor communication, negative attitudes, etc.
In this book, Miller lays out his approach to building a healthy culture similar to playing a game. Everyone needs to know the objective: building a high performance culture. From there, the rules can be learned (and lived):
Rule #1 – Aspire: Share Your Hopes and Dreams for the Culture
Rule #2 – Amplify Your Aspirations
Rule #3 – Adapt to a Changing World
Building a healthy culture is an ongoing game – the organization will continually work through these rules.
When Culture is seen, understood, and intentionally crafted by leaders, it is the ultimate force for good in an organization – “good” as defined by energy, engagement, retention, performance, and competitive advantage. – Mark Miller