A well-known survey of global executives from consulting group McKinsey found that—above any other obstacle—company culture was the greatest self-reported barrier to effectiveness, particularly in the digital transformation era. A strong culture of innovation, collaboration and excitement about embracing new technology is instrumental for fostering successful digital transformation, the survey finds; absent this type of pervasive pro-technology culture, companies will struggle with resistance, obsolescence and lost opportunities for growth and advancement as they stay over-reliant on outdated digital trends.
To me, this opens up the broader question of why culture is so important. There's a famous adage often attributed to Peter Drucker: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This means that even the most forward-thinking, astute business strategy will fail if it isn’t aligned with workplace culture. That strategy will never see the light of day when it comes to execution.
There’s a song sung by Bradley Cooper in the film A Star Is Born that begins, “Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.” In many ways, that line speaks to the multiyear cultural transformation that our company is undergoing today. Like many companies that have been around for over a century, we’ve had eras dominated by a reliance on “traditional” practices: “This is how we’ve always done things, so this is how we’ll continue to do them.” In these bygone eras, you did exactly what your general manager asked, following top-down directives and maintaining the status quo—even if it wasn’t terribly effective.
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