Does ‘culture’ really mean ‘just like me’?

As you grow your business, consider that there are two main ‘types’ of organizations that are common:

  1. The homogeneous organization, where everyone has the same experience.
  2. The diverse organization, where…well, everyone has different life views and experiences.

Which one do you want?

Which one do you think has the highest chance of really changing your industry?

Which one will challenge the status quo and yield new ideas?

A diverse organization is the one that will challenge the status quo. It’s only through diversity of opinion and experience that we can be challenged and have our ideas refined by those with different experiences.

The farce of culture

When I talk to business owners who push their ‘culture’, 99% of the time what they are really saying is that they want to hire people like them. Of course, that’s not what they say because if they said that they’d realize how dumb it sounds.

But that’s really what they mean.

Of course you don’t want to hire people just because they’re different. You don’t want to hire ‘different’ people who will cause disruption inside your business. You want people who will thrive working in the manner you work (remote, in an office…), and who communicate well in your company’s chosen communication medium.

When you search for people to add to your company, don’t limit your search to someone who’s the same as you.

Well, unless you want to build that homogeneous organization where everyone has the same ideas.

photo credit: clement127 cc

1 thought on “Does ‘culture’ really mean ‘just like me’?

  1. True words.

    Our industry puts “culture” on a pedestal. Especially in the startup half, but it’s also alive and well in pockets of the agency culture.

    It think it all boils down to people trying to control what they can in their lives.

    Life isn’t always controllable. For all the Order we try to impose on ourselves, there is also a lot of Chaos. If it was easy, everyone would do it!

    I’m not scared of listening to people who aren’t exactly like me. Because I’m not scared of the fact that I will continue to change, and the people I surround myself with will be a part of that.

    Diversity isn’t pushed for diversity’s sake. But confirmation bias is strong and sneaky. It hides inside of us, and we don’t always see it.

    The biggest chance that people seldom take is giving people outside of their mirror reflection an opportunity to prove themselves. There really should be more of that.

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