Corporate Culture Quotes

“People want guidance, not rhetoric. They need to know what the plan of action is, and how it will be implemented. They want to be given responsibility to help solve the problem and authority to act on it.”
― Howard Schultz, Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time

“But in the military you don't get trusted positions just because of your ability. You also have to attract the notice of superior officers. You have to be liked. You have to fit in with the system. You have to look like what the officers above you think that officers should look like. You have to think in ways that they are comfortable with.

The result was that you ended up with a command structure that was top-heavy with guys who looked good in uniform and talked right and did well enough not to embarrass themselves, while the really good ones quietly did all the serious work and bailed out their superiors and got blamed for errors they had advised against until they eventually got out.

That was the military.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Shadow

“He knows how to market himself well. Nowadays, that's all that seems to count. He's rebellious in a way that appeals to people with vain, shallow taste. So of course he manipulates his audiences with the blessing of his recording company and the financial investors behind his brand.”
― Jess C. Scott, Sven

“Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order [...] and the like.”
― William O. Douglas, Points of Rebellion

“Effective board governance hinges on adapting strategic direction
based on changing market conditions and emerging opportunities.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Board Room Blitz: Mastering the Art of Corporate Governance

“To be an enduring, great company, you have to build a mechanism for preventing or solving problems that will long outlast any one individual leader.”
― Howard Schultz, Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time

“We are constantly evolving as we are interacting with the world. Mindfulness and growth mindset drives our evolution faster and on right tracks.”
― Amit Ray, Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management

“Embracing data-driven decisions allows organizations to uncover valuable insights, adapt to changing market conditions, and stay ahead of the beat, ultimately increasing their chances of success and growth.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Capital Acquisition: Small Business Considerations for How to Get Financing

“A well-rounded board can leverage the collective wisdom of its members to make more informed and robust decisions.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Board Room Blitz: Mastering the Art of Corporate Governance

“The company takes a strong view against psychotherapy for executives because it denotes unhappiness, and unhappiness is a disgraceful social disease for which there is no excuse or forgiveness. Cancer, pernicious anemia, and diabetes are just fine, and even people with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease may continue to go far in the company until they are no longer allowed to go on at all. But unhappiness is fatal. If my daughter or son were to commit suicide, that would be overlooked, because children do things like that, and that's the way kids are. But if my wife were to jump to her death without a prior record of psychiatric disturbance, did it only because she was unhappy, my chances for further advancement would be over. I'd be ruined.”
― Joseph Heller, Something Happened

“An organization's culture is the compass that guides its employees to success.”
― Dax Bamania

“The success of a company lies in the hands of its employees, who turn vision into reality.”
― Dax Bamania

“Because most societies and companies reward compliance. They do that because when you comply:
1. Your behavior is predictable.
2. You are not a threat to anyone because you are “normal.”
3. People don’t feel inferior because of your special aptitude or attitude.
4. You are easier to understand because you are like everyone else.
5. Companies find it much easier and efficient to apply one standard set of policies and procedures irrespective of your attitude or aptitude and hence prefer those who fit in. This also allows them to scale.
So, you can see that being “normal” is mainly for the benefit of others, not for you.”
― Binod Shankar, Let's Get Real: 42 Tips for the Stuck Manager

“I have lost track of the number of times when I chatted with DEI professionals or even diversity hires of different races and backgrounds who painfully told me that they are put in a position that makes them incapable of making any meaningful changes in their workplace. That their job is primarily to be tokenized and make the institution look and feel good, but in reality they – and any diverse person in their workplace – feel totally paralyzed in environments that look good, but are in fact extremely controlled by the few privileged at the top.

[From “The Trump Age: Critical Questions” published on CounterPunch on June 23, 2023]”
― Louis Yako

“Our faces portray the emotions our colleagues and bosses expect. We gladly show those that earn points and brilliantly hide those that do not. Nothing is real about it; it's business and we're supposed to feel okay about it for at least 60 hours per week. If you're lucky, you get used to it. You become highly-skilled at it until you're an invincible corporate giant -- king of a mountain that means very little in the end.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“A certain degree of creativity is required for upward movement, but once you hit the level you never dreamed you'd reach, the purpose and plan begins to shift. You creatively mold yourself away until you finally fit right in.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“Our faces portray the emotions our colleagues and bosses expect. We gladly show those that earn points and brilliantly hide those that do not. Nothing is real about it; it's business and we're supposed to feel okay about it for at least 60 hours per week. If you're lucky, you get used to it. You become highly-skilled at it until you're an invincible corporate giant -- king of a mountain that means very little in the end. - Holly Carter”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“Earning a diploma, certification, or degree and developing a skillset does not independently guarantee anything. They are a beginning. Everything, anything, or absolutely nothing can potentially happen as you spend the precious time you have to be alive. The exciting news is that you are a manufacturer, and with that comes tremendous power. As the manufacturer of your career and your life, you can create the outcomes you want.”
― Penelope Przekop, 5-Star Career: Define and Build Yours Using the Science of Quality Management

“Regardless of the details of your story, your time bank is growing smaller every day. You are the manufacturer! You have the power to set the tone and control the factory floor.”
― Penelope Przekop, 5-Star Career: Define and Build Yours Using the Science of Quality Management

“Applying a systems perspective to your life would mean managing all the parts as a unified whole to achieve your mission. It also means ensuring that all the various parts of your life work together in a fully interconnected, unified, and mutually beneficial manner. Compartmentalization is out, just as silos are frowned on in corporations. You may have heard about breaking down organizational silos. Now, it’s time to break down the silos within yourself.”
― Penelope Przekop, 5-Star Career: Define and Build Yours Using the Science of Quality Management

“Oto ironia, przed którą stają wszystkie rozwijające się firmy: wzrost rodzi złożoność, a złożoność zabija wzrost”
― John Vincent, Winning Not Fighting: Why you need to rethink success and how you achieve it with the Ancient Art of Wing Tsun

“Biznesy i inne organizacje są jak religie. Mają wrodzoną tendencję do tego, by z czasem stać się zależnymi od reguł i tylko niewielu pamięta, dlaczego te reguły stworzono. Niszczą one swobody, zamiast je respektować i tworzą sklerotyczną kulturę".”
― John Vincent, Winning Not Fighting: Why you need to rethink success and how you achieve it with the Ancient Art of Wing Tsun

“The impact of personality was overridden by whether the employees at the company perceived social norms that favored speaking up. If a company were interested in getting people to speak up, they'd be better off putting their energy into cultivating new norms rather than selecting gregarious employees.”
― Geoffrey L Cohen, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides - Library Edition

“Another way to foster a sense of belonging for employees is to form teams that are encouraged to engage in collective problem-solving. This affords regular opportunities for all members of the teams to express their views and contribute their talents. But leaders of these teams should establish the norm that colleagues treat each other with respect, making room for everyone in discussions and listening thoughtfully to one another. As we saw with high-status students leading the way in establishing an antibullying norm in schools, managers, as the highest-status member of a team, can set powerful norms. A key goal is foster what leadership scholar Amy Edmonson calls psychological safety, which she describes as "the belief that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. People feel able to speak up when needed--with relevant ideas, questions, or concerns--without being shut down in a gratuitous way. Psychological safety is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated, to be candid." No matter how ingenious or talented individual team members are, if the climate does not foster the psychological safety people need to express themselves, they are likely to hold back on valuable input.”
― Geoffrey L Cohen, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides - Library Edition

“The Boeing 737 Max accidents are a reflection of modern USA corporate culture.”
― Steven Magee

“Corporate alchemy isn’t just dark magic; it’s a tragic comedy, a satire as I imagine being written by Kafka on a bad day.”
― Rove Monteux, What is Wrong with Corporations Today

“In the corporate hustle, don't let the weight of success be the anchor of your mental well-being. Seek balance, not burnout.”
― Abhysheq Shukla, Feelings Undefined: The Charm of the Unsaid

“Strange is the ordinary way in which Corporate America expects us to shrink from our full potential to get along.”
― Julieanne O'Connor

“The Executive Leadership Assessment (results) quickly devolved into arguments about the ways in which Disney management did or did not function as a team, which pretty much proved the consultant’s point: that Disney’s top-tier executives, under Michael Eisner’s governance, does not make a good team; They don’t qualify as "a team," much less a group. Later, Eisner dismissed the whole experiment as a waste of time. Away from Eisner, several of the participants later conceded the issue. ‘What Michael likes is to put six pit bulls together and see which five die,’ one said.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“In gathering data from more than five hundred people about their experience on more than one thousand teams, I have found a consistent
reality: When there is a serious lack of clarity about what the team stands for and what their goals and roles are, people experience confusion, stress, and frustration. When there is a high level of clarity, on the other hand, people thrive.

When there is a lack of clarity, people waste time and energy on the trivial many. When they have sufficient levels of clarity, they are capable of greater breakthroughs and innovations—greater than people even
realize they ought to have—in those areas that are truly vital. In my work, I have noticed two common patterns that typically emerge when
teams lack clarity of purpose.

PATTERN 1: PLAYING POLITICS

In the first pattern, the team becomes overly focused on winning the attention of the manager. The problem is, when people don’t know what the end game is, they are unclear about how to win, and as a result they
make up their own game and their own rules as they vie for the manager’s favor. Instead of focusing their time and energies on making a
high level of contribution, they put all their effort into games like attempting to look better than their peers, demonstrating their self-importance, and echoing their manager’s every idea or sentiment. These kinds of activities are not only nonessential but damaging and
counterproductive.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less