Company Culture Personified

I saw a recent article in Dallas Morning News that said Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines will step down from his position this month.

Kelleher has been a staple to Southwest Airlines since 1978 and highly revered by businesses across many industries. Low fares, getting passengers to their destinations on time and avoiding the unnecessary frilly stuff, has been Southwest's bread and butter. Herb Kelleher is credited with building a strong and fun corporate culture. Often encouraging his staff to sing in-flight details and to enjoy a joke with passengers makes the culture he created a well known piece of Southwest's brand. With a colorful personality sometimes seen as "larger than life", Mr. Kelleher had quite a loyal following - last week, USA Today included a full page ad taken out by the pilots' union thanking him.

In an emotional final meeting speech, Herb thanked the Southwest employees and made sure that there was no mistaking his red eyes. They weren't red from tears, he was merely hung over.

Because Herb has created a company culture we all know and love, the news of him stepping down got me thinking deeply about corporate culture and how it affects the consumer as well as an employee. If we define corporate culture as being the collective values and beliefs of a company, it can greatly impact everyone. As an employee, your personality must match that of the business or else you'll likely find yourself unhappy. As a consumer, you most likely wouldn't want to buy a product from a company who doesn't share similar values or beliefs. Corporate culture radiates through every process of the business; from customer satisfaction and acquisition to employee job satisfaction and performance.

The leaders of a company are greatly responsible for creating the overall culture. In many cases, a strong personality such as Kelleher's can really drive the direction. In thinking about "success" and "leadership", I can also easily refer to Bill Gates.

Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, has created a culture at Microsoft that is different than most. Bill is rumored to be very competitive and has his staff thinking of work like a game, less focused on the consequences and more focused on how to win. Microsoft, the company, doesn't make apologies for its ambitions. They've become a mega corporation through their winning is everything mentality. Perhaps this is a reflection of Bill Gates himself, trickling down throughout the company's culture.

Corporate culture is created through actions - from the boss, to the employees, to the customers. It's a statement of the values that are important to a company and it's the momentum that pushes the company to get there.

When I think of corporate culture, I'm reminded of OfficeArrow's very own. Mike Lewis and Robert Ball, founders of OfficeArrow.com, can hardly contain themselves over the excitement of this site. It's not surprising to hear Mike or Robert comment on a discussion posted in the community or to hear a loud cheer at reaching a landmark amount of members. This gets the whole office buzzing. Any office meeting or quick water cooler gathering is littered with high energy remarks about how great we're all doing, how much our efforts are appreciated, and how amazing our members are. They have created a corporate culture of excitement and greatness. It's something all of us are proud to follow and something that, I think, is reflected in our product - this website. As a member, do you feel that excitement coming through? I sure hope so!

We each have our own corporate culture experiences; some great, some not. Has your company hit the cultural nail on the head or is there room for improvement? Let us know.