The Culture Secret

Some Impressionistic takes from the book of
Dr.David Vik
“The Culture Secret ”
How to empower People & Companies
No Matter what you Sell
by Ramki
ramaddster@gmail.com

About the Author
Dr. David Vik is known as “The Culture
King,” and his corporate culture
techniques and strategies yield net
results in many different business
sectors by helping to attract and retain
high-quality, engaged employees and
loyal customers. Prior to penning The
Culture Secret, Dr. Vik was a coach at
Zappos.com, where he helped to
engage and empower employees.
Before joining the team at Zappos, he
founded and directed one of the most
successful chiropractic clinics in the
United States

Prelude
In The Culture Secret, Dr. David Vik explains how the creation
of a superior corporate culture will lead to tremendous gains in
profitability, employee effectiveness and commitment, customer
loyalty, and growth. This culture is developed by determining a
vision, identifying a purpose, configuring a business model,
providing unique/WOW factors, and adopting meaningful
values. Once these building blocks are joined, inspired
leadership can provide the guidance to ensure that quality
employees provide outstanding service to appreciative and
devoted customers whose allegiance enhances the company’s
brand. In today’s highly competitive business environment,
companies must attract the best talent, offer the best services,
and be able to grow and innovate. Those that create the best
cultures will be the most successful.

This is what we are Doing- Vision
 The vision is the starting point on the route to a successful
culture. A vision must express the essence of what a
company does or wants to become, or what it wants to
deliver, and it must fulfill its employees, be aligned with the
times, and exceed customer expectations.
 At the most basic level, the vision is what planners want the
business to become. The vision statement should be
expressed as a concise, simple slogan. It should not limit the
company but inspire and motivate it. The vision statement
should be simple enough so that employees can remember
and understand it.
 This is a necessity if they are expected to live up to the
vision.
 Both Google and Apple have mission statements that
combine vision and purpose components. The vision portions
are italicized in next slide :

This is what we are Doing- Vision
 Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally
accessible and useful.”
 Apple: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind
that advance humankind.”
 Both visions address the what of each company’s endeavors without
limiting their productive scope by incorporating specific details. Google and
Apple employees can embrace their respective visions with the conviction
that what they do will be truly valuable to people.
 Creating the right vision might require several attempts. It should describe
what is special about the company or its objectives, be they customer
satisfaction, quality, or uniqueness. An effective vision will attract
employees who are enthusiastic about working for a company that
expresses its character in such a fashion, as well as customers who are
drawn to its promise.
 To be effective, the vision must be up-to-date and aligned with the
requirements and desires of both employees and customers. A vision that
keeps up with the times enables better employee understanding, which
helps them make better decisions and directs their efforts more
productively.

This is why we are Doing - Purpose
 The Second step in building a culture is defining a purpose,
which explains why a company does what it does. Employees
will identify with an inspiring company purpose, and their
motivation will result in improved customer experiences and
strong allegiances.
 Within the company, a well-crafted purpose will give employees a
reason to come to work excited about their tasks. The
combination of vision and purpose will provide a clear path for
the ideas, actions, and creative energies in the company.
 Again, the mission statements of Google and Apple are listed
below, this time with the purpose components italicized:
 Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful.”
 Apple: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for
the mind that advance humankind.”.

 Both purposes address the why of each company’s efforts with
simple, well-defined phrases that can make Google and Apple
employees eager to come to work because they are part of
highly significant goals.
 The importance of articulating a potent vision & purpose
combination cannot be overstated. Customers have more
options today than at any other time in human history, in large
part due to information technology.
 In order to attract and keep them, both vision and purpose must
be highly appealing and clearly stated. Employees have many
options, too. To attract the best of them, a company must be able
to use vision and purpose to formulate a meaningful invitation to
those who are enthusiastic about joining in this effort.

 Just as important as expressing purpose clearly is the need to
keep it current.
 Over time, a company’s directions and priorities may change
in response to consumer demands and market forces.
 Large numbers of reliable employees leave their jobs because
their employers no longer appear to have the same purpose
they did at the time of their hiring, and there seems to be no
compelling reason to stay.
 Without a sense of purpose on the job, these workers look
elsewhere for fulfillment. Careful and periodic evaluation of
purpose, and updating when necessary, can keep employees
engaged and committed and customers satisfied and loyal.

Every business today has to cultivate a culture
that, first, learns what motivates, empowers, and
rewards its employees and, second, translates
that into positive experiences for its customers.

This Is What Will Fuel Us—Business Model
 A successful business culture has to be sustained by a
business model. The business model should clearly describe
structure, messaging, processes, procedures, and outcomes.
 Many traditional businesses have fallen by the wayside
because they failed to keep pace with current consumer
practices. Brick and mortar shops provide a good example of
this: large numbers of consumers have reduced or eliminated
their habits of visiting physical locations to make transactions,
instead making purchases over the Internet. Companies that
learn from this trend by maintaining an online presence will be
more survivable in the future.
 Old school business models that adhere to past practices
must expect failure. The successful business model will
maintain pace with the wants, needs, and demands of
customers.

This Is What Will Fuel Us—Business Model
 Defining the market is vital for a company and means
identifying the consumer base the company wants to attract.
 The consumer base may wish to buy a product, service, or
specific knowledge. The business model need not cater to
everyone, but it should not be overly limited, either. If the
model creates a product, service, or knowledge type in a way
that the competition has not thought of, it can help configure a
completely new market.
 Of equal importance is understanding how the business model
will engage with people, and vice versa.
 Customer service is an essential factor in developing a
successful business model. Treating customers like they
matter, giving them more value than they expected, and
making them eager to repeat their transaction experiences are
vital to a business model’s success.

This Is What Makes Us Stand Out—Unique /WOW Factors
 Unique/WOW factors are those elements that make a company
different from its competition. “Unique” refers to those aspects
that make it exclusive and distinctive, while “WOW” refers to its
ability to invoke a highly positive emotion.
 Unique/WOW factors should be a part of everything done within
a company & should be reflected in customers’ experiences. Two
kinds of unique/WOW factors are associated with most
companies: what is sold and how it is sold.
 The what and the how of sales should be distinctive, articulated
in a manner that is easy to remember and repeat, and be familiar
to every employee. This ensures that a consistent message is
delivered to the public emphasizing the company’s unique/WOW
factor.

 When selecting unique/WOW factors, two questions arise:
 What can the company do that competitors do not or cannot do?
 Will it attract employees and customers?
 Careful analysis of these questions will result in the identification of highly
effective unique/WOW factors.
 Customers who are attracted by these factors are the ones who will remain
loyal to a company.
 When choosing unique/WOW factors, it is crucial that they be selected on
the basis of exclusivity. They can be related to service, experience, value,
quality, price, or incentives. Once determined, these factors must become
so deeply ingrained in the company’s consciousness that employees
appreciate them and become committed to delivering them to customers.
 Unique/WOW factors will not always stay unique and, without periodic
review, may become stagnant.
 This means that objective self-analysis must be performed in order to verify
that they are up-to-date and satisfactory to both employees and customers.
If obsolescence appears to be threatening, it is time to evolve them into
something more current in order to maintain their effectiveness.
This Is What Makes Us Stand Out—unique/WOW Factors

 Values are those things that a company holds close and considers
important. They should be clearly written and stated so as to be
understandable without explanation. When employees believe in a
company’s values and commit them to daily activities, they create a
culture that will attract more like-minded employees.
 Ultimately, this culture will attract devoted customers who
appreciate the employees’ values, dedication, and skills.
 Values must be determined carefully because they become a
company’s blueprint for what it represents and what it plans to
become. Values should assist in directing employees’ actions and
decisions, which will aid the company in achieving its vision,
purpose, business model, and unique/WOW factors.
 To facilitate acceptance of values, all company employees should
take part in creating them. Initially, this will result in an oversized
list, but it can be reduced to a narrower range that is congruent with
the company’s vision and purpose.
This Is What We Care About—Values

 When creating values, it is useful for companies to consider
the following concepts:
 Encourage transparent and open communication.
 Get things done by enhancing efficiency and eliminating
wasteful legacies.
 Treat people like they matter—both employees and
customers.
 Lead people by helping them to reach their full potential.
 Embrace continual reinvention.
 A company’s leaders are highly visible, whether they know it
or not. Consequently, they must be good reflections of the
company’s core values, living them and displaying their
natural adherence to them on a daily basis.
This Is What We Care About—Values

Values should be beneficial; they are meant to
unite, inspire, and motivate. They should be
transferable to the next generation through the
corporate DNA, while remaining flexible enough to
be relevant to needs of future employees and
customers.

 Culture refers to the collective thoughts, actions, and beliefs of the
individuals within a group. The key aspects of vision, purpose,
business model, unique/ WOW factors, and values support a culture’s
structure, and the people who participate bring the culture into
existence.
 Employees benefit from a culture that engages them and fosters their
creativity. Their attitudes and actions will soon be mirrored by
customers. Properly promoted, the culture will unite employees toward
a common vision and purpose. This will be facilitated if they have been
clearly stated and are easily understood.
 The term “work ethic” describes how members of a culture work.
 Different employees in different situations will approach work in
different ways, but the best work ethics will balance growth and
creativity. The companies that benefit from this are the ones who treat
their employees as if they matter. This can be done by including them
in planning sessions, providing sufficient resources to complete their
assignments, and clearly stating productivity expectations.
This Is What Is and What Could Be—Culture

 When a company changes its culture it should include its
employees in the change process. Engaged employees will
create an environment in which they can be eagerly involved and
that will attract like-minded new employees. When the culture is
tied to the vision, purpose, and values of a company and then
aligned with group activities, unity is the result.
 Being able to identify a poor culture is every bit as important as
being able to create a strong one. High employee attrition is the
most visible symptom of a poor culture, and inevitably equates to
customer loss.
 Curative measures require that a new culture be created perhaps
with improved or reinvented vision, purpose, and values. This is
essential because in order to gain customers and keep them
loyal, effort must first be directed at encouraging employee
loyalty.

 Effective communication is vital to maintaining a great culture. Being
able to communicate in a common language based on beliefs and
traditions is what ensures a culture will thrive.
 Unfortunately, growth can diminish effective communication. The
farther away the voices of management travel from the employees,
the less clear the messages, and the greater the likelihood for
misinterpretation.
 As a general rule, once a company grows to about 50 people, or
when an organization gets divided into teams or divisions,
communications suffer.
 To counter this, executives should meet once a week for an hour to
create a common language, provide unity, and form relations around
the vision, purpose, and values first, then around the business model
and the unique/ WOW factors.

Culture is the living, breathing, thinking, and
creative sum of all the beings in a particular group.
It is their collective thoughts— their beliefs and
ways of thinking—actions, and decisions.
When such a group of people acts as one,
anything is possible.

This Is Empowering and Passing the Torch—Leadership
 Leadership is central not only in keeping the foundations of
corporate culture solid, but in empowering employees. Skillful
leadership can bring a culture to life and help pass on its essence
to a coming generation.
 However, leadership is derived from management. The distinction is
important: one leads people & one manages processes.
 When leaders empower and engage their employees, future
generations of leaders and employees will maintain the corporate
culture that supports its success.
 To ensure continued success, leaders should objectively consider
whether they have:
 Consistently demonstrated leadership skills
 Acknowledged and recognized their staffs
 Complimented their staffs
 Accepted sole responsibility for employees’ growth
 Motivated others with their own actions instead of giving orders

 Effective leadership involves communicating evaluations of
employee performance. Therefore, it is important to know the
difference between criticism and feedback.
 Criticism is subjective and emphasizes faults and
shortcomings. It does not encourage better performance, just
chips away at motivation. More useful is an explanation of
how to do a task correctly.
 Feedback focuses on what people are doing right and on
what still needs to be done. It incorporates praise, approval,
compliments, and support. Ideally, a leader will act as a role
model and mentor and always focus attention on the positive
aspects of employee performances by using feedback and
encouragement.

 Successful leadership is based on three factors:
Self-improvement—Leaders who improve their own skills and
performances are better able to pass their knowledge and
experiences to their teams.
Communication—Using employee names in everyday personal
conversations enhances leaders’ connections to their
employees, as does showing sincere interest in their activities.
Promptness in communicating, both inside and outside the
company, also shows caring.
Relationships—Leaders who care about their employees will
find that employees care about their companies. Relationships
are cultivated by concentrating on what one can do for others.

If employees are engaged, empowered, and
directed by their leaders, future generations of
employees and leadership will be able to maintain
the corporate Culture that underlies its success.
Leadership is the crucial starting point or
foundation of this cycle.

This Is the Group of Champions—Human Resources or Human
Empowerment
 As an organizational department, Human Resources (HR) arose
in the 1960s and was originally designed to help maximize
employee potential. Over time, expanded duties have diluted this
role to a great degree. In many places, a summons to HR
induces needless anxiety.
 The solution may be to help HR be viewed in its proper role as a
caring, empowering department that helps employees advance
to their next level.
 An active HR department can regularly ask employees if they
need anything or if it can help in any aspect of their daily lives.
Coaching sessions, in which employees drop into HR and air
frustrations or grievances, can be opportunities for HR staff to
truly connect and make positive suggestions that empower
employees to improve themselves.

This Is the Group of Champions—Human Resources or Human
Empowerment
 An effective aspect of this practice is to give employees a direct
phone line and personal email address. They may not use them, but
they will feel supported and confident knowing that assistance is
readily available.
 HR can also be highly effective by using streamlined hiring practices
that include employees in the process.
 First, it can hold an open application meeting where candidates
listen to an employee describe the company and its vision, purpose,
and values.
 Next, three- to five-minute interviews can be conducted by three
employees using prearranged questions. After that, the employees
can rate the candidates. Once the group interviews are completed,
the most promising candidates can be contacted for offers or further
interviews.

This Is Essential to the Process—Customers & Customer Service
 The relationship a company has with its customers determines
how they see that company and what they say about it. Once,
people would tell friends about a good or bad consumer
experience and the information might be confined to that small
group.
 Today, however, the Internet and social media permit a good or
bad experience to reach millions of people quickly.
 For this reason, customer service has to be addressed
differently than in the past.
 Some companies have devoted significant efforts to gain new
customers in the belief that, regardless of customer
satisfaction, a constant draw of new customers will guarantee
money flow. This practice is tremendously short-sighted in that
it rarely takes into account the costs of gaining a new customer,
as well as the cost of losing one through poor service and
indifference.

This Is What They Say About Us—Brand
 A brand is the result of a company’s vision, purpose, business
model, unique/WOW factors, values, and culture. It can take
many forms and, over time, has come to represent identity,
i.e., the character of a product, company, or service.
Ultimately, a brand is what customers say about a company,
not what the company says about itself. A company can
determine its brand image by seeking out customer opinions.
 Regardless of whether the information obtained from this
exercise is positive or negative, it is valuable because it
provides an opportunity to become better.
 The brand is developed by what a company does and how it
does it. The process is best started with employees.
 Treating them with respect and consideration and giving them
the resources to improve results in a committed work force
that is highly motivated to deliver superior service.

 The most important advice for customer service (and
satisfaction) is this: if a company can make and maintain a
positive emotional connection with its customers, it can keep
them for a lifetime.
 Customers may indicate that they desire things like value,
service, low price, quality, or selection, but what they prize
most highly is certainty.
 They want certainty that a product or service has a
consistently high quality.
 Not surprisingly, this high quality starts when employees
believe their employers are respectful of their customers and
 have their best interests in mind.
 Employees will respond by delivering that certainty to
customers..

 A company’s brand is both its identity and its reputation, and
having employees that are committed to protecting the brand
inspires them to go to great lengths to correct poor consumer
experiences.
 As with the concisely-stated vision, purpose, and values
statements, brand messaging has to be just as short and
clear to facilitate customer memorization.
 It should enable the customer to know what to expect by way
of experience, and should be both predictable and
repeatable. Over time, customer demands will force products
and services to evolve.
 Therefore, brands must also change to reflect customers’
current wants and expectations.

This Is the Pot of Gold If We Do It Right—Experience & the
Emotional Connection
 Creating a superior culture is only a part of enhancing a
company’s success. It means little unless the company can
consistently create a superior experience for its employees,
customers, vendors, and investors.
 Doing this guarantees the future of the company and its
employees, and establishes a business where neither customers
nor employees want to leave.
 A superior experience creates an emotional response that forms
an emotional connection and, ultimately, a memory that keeps
drawing people to that great experience.
 Every time a superior experience is delivered to a customer, this
process takes place, creating or strengthening a loyal customer
bond. Experience can be what the customer likes to remember or
wants to forget. This means that it is the marketing of the future,
and ensuring that a customer’s experience is the best eliminates
the need for customer service as a curative effort.

 Culture is the behavior and beliefs of a particular group. In a
corporate environment, culture is built on a structure that began
with a vision and a purpose, and includes a business model,
unique/ WOW factors, and values.
 A company’s vision explains what it does and can be a source of
guidance for employees. It can keep them motivated,
enthusiastic, dedicated, and directed toward success.
 A company’s purpose explains why it does what it does, and
gives employees a reason to show up for work excited about
their responsibilities. It not only keeps talented employees, it
attracts them as well.
 When developing a business model, companies should consider
that most of mankind’s major advancements are related to two
concepts: reducing effort and delivering an experience. A
successful company will ensure that its product, service, or
knowledge will address one or both of those concepts.
Take away

 A business model should be well defined and sharply
focused. The wording should be concise, clear, and address
the key areas of structure, message, process, procedure, and
outcome.
 A value-oriented organization is one that encourages
transparency and open communication, treats people with
respect, and embraces continual reinvention.
 A company that cares about its employees will have
employees that care about it. These employees will perform
their duties in a way that attracts and maintains customer
loyalty.
 A leader’s most critical duty is to help others develop their full
potential. This means empowering people to take
responsibility for their own growth and allowing them to
maximize their capabilities.
Take away

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ramaddster@gmail.com

The Culture Secret

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