This series is written by Aidan Briggs, all opinions expressed are his own.
My intention with this series is to open a discussion on business culture and Daintree Wealth Management’s journey with it.
Psychology is a passion of mine, and something I’ve self-taught for a while. For the past couple of years, I have specifically been interested in organisational psychology, business culture, and how culture is the heart of a business and a major catalyst for success or failure.
In the first part of this series, I would like to begin by sharing what I believe culture to be and why I believe in the importance of understanding and intentionally cultivating a culture in all businesses.
What is culture?
Today culture is frequently used by business leaders, innovators, and managers to explain the relative success or failure of a group but what do they mean?
Harvard Business Review provided an exhaustive list of what people believe culture to be.
Ultimately, looking at their definitions you may conclude that culture is a shared set of beliefs, values, and norms of a group of individuals.
Culture & humanity are one and the same, as we gained consciousness, we developed tribes, religions, and shared narratives.
Take for example the Christian faith, which has several ways of expressing its culture.
We have:
- The bible, the old and new testament, which is a set of stories and at the heart of the stories there are lessons on how we should act.
- The ten commandments, very simple does and don’ts.
- Priests and missionaries who represent the stories, lessons, and promote the values of the Christian faith.
Why understanding culture is important
Regardless of whether you have intentionally set a business culture, your business has a culture.
It will either add to the success or act as a virus and weaken your business from the inside.
By understanding your business’ culture and intentionally setting your culture, you have a “true north”.
A framework from which you can set how individuals in your business are expected to act, a means of presenting your business to the world.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker is a famed thinker in business management and often described as the founder of “modern management”. He is not alone with his thinking of the importance of a business’ culture joined by greats like Simon Sinek (Author of Start with Why), Brian Chesky (Co-founder and CEO of Airbnb).
What’s next?
Business leaders will often have a great internal understanding of their culture and their why. However, communicating, sharing, and setting this as standards to hold through the business is often difficult to implement.
In the second part of this series, I’ll share how we turned to experts in the field to help us understand, communicate and share our culture.
A culture which I am incredibly proud to be a part of.
Thank you for investing your time in reading the first part of this series, I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
Aidan Briggs
Head of Research
Aidan.Briggs@daintreeWM.com