Quick and Nimble: Second Blog Post

In my last blog post, I wrote about culture and what it means to a company. Bryant continues to expand on this idea, and today I will blog about different types of culture in companies. Culture can be good and bad, according to Bryant, and the people he has interviewed. The boss and its managers determine the culture of a company. If they have a good attitude and are positive and excited about work that will transfer over to the employees.

Marjorie Kaplan, president of animal planet and Science cable networks believes to create a good culture one must hold on to that rush of energy that start up companies have, and must bring their best self to work everyday. “I want people to feel brave about their ideas. It’s really about saying, Bring your best self. Bring your best self everyday to work. Bring your best self to the conversation. Bring your best self to the presentation. And we will give you something back” (21).  I think this quote perfectly describes the culture of a well-run company/business. I can relate to the idea of bringing your best self. I do it everyday when I come to school especially in this class! When working with other people in groups, I know how important it is to stay positive and bring fourth your best self. From experience when working in groups at C4E, if a classmate was negative and didn’t have a positive attitude they weren’t bringing forth their best selves. I could sense it and it rubbed off on me. I have learned that even if I am not having the best day, I have to stick it up. Working in the real world, and in C4E is all about connections and people. Your group mates are not going to respect you if you come in with a negative attitude everyday. You have to be easy going and you have to be ready to work. I believe C4E has developed a good culture as a firm. I can see everyday you and Ms. Stevens bring your best self! I always feel that I am in an organized and comforting environment because the heads of the firm have created that!

Bryant explains the employees of a company have to be excited about going to work, and have to be excited about sharing new ideas, but it can only be done if the head of the company has this positive attitude. He gives many examples of why companies don’t work and why their culture is bad. It was very interesting for me to read this, because I constantly hear my Dad complaining about his colleagues and every single situation Bryant explains here, my Dad has once spoken about. One typical scenario I thought was accurate and true, and that I can relate to is emailing people and hiding behind a computer screen. Bryant believes this kills face-to-face culture. “Colleagues communicate mostly by e-mail, huddling all day long in cubicles and offices behind their monitors instead of face to face. When they gather for meetings they pay more attention to their smartphones and iPads than to one another” (25). This is how my whole generation is. It is easier to hide behind a computer screen than to talk to people face to face. A lot of communicating for my senior project is done behind a computer screen. For example, all of the planning I do with Hebrew Senior Life is over email. It’s always different when I have to talk to Gale face to face. I feel that I have to be more formal and I don't have as much time to gather my thoughts. I disagree with Bryant that this type of culture is bad, because you can’t change it. Yes, I understand it can lead to miscommunication, but then people should be more careful over email!

So how do you create a good culture for your company? Of course, everyone will have different ideas about what makes a company have a “good culture”, but here is what people have to say. Bryant writes  “Real innovation happens when all employees bring their best selves to work every fay and freely share new ideas to help the team, knowing that they will be encouraged and rewarded for doing so” (26). I think this culture that Bryant describes at C4E! Everyone is encouraged to bring new ideas to the table and people share freely.

Now that I know how the culture of a company works, I will pay attention to the culture of the first company I work for! Maybe I will be able to sense a negative culture before other people, thanks to Bryant!!