Culture - Do You Have A Soul?

 Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

All of the business tactics we've deployed, every line of code we've written, and every marketing campaign we've dreamed up over the years are, in the end, ephemeral. Each one could be discarded and replaced at any moment as the world around us changes. It's our culture's ability to evolve with the pace of change, to live and breathe on its own, to be both familiar and dynamic, that really drives us forward. For businesses that want to have any hope of thriving in the future, culture - and the values that define it - is what will drive financial success. 

Over time, your employees and customers, not to mention investors, partners, host communities, and other stakeholders, will want to know your philosophy for doing business. They want to know if you have a soul. 

A company's culture is not just about people on its payroll., or the customers it works with. Its sphere of influence has to include people who may be far enough removed that reaching them isn't even part of your original plan. In the end, defining that culture isn't a matter of drawing a circle of trust around just your employees and customers, it's about widening that circle as much as possible. 

It's the way in which living our values creates a true sense of belonging.