and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits. And habits create the future. It all starts with the culture you create and drive throughout the organization. That's where all success and great results begin.
Driving your culture is not something you can delegate. You are the leader and you must spend your time, energy, and effort creating and building the culture of your team and organization. Nancy Koeper, the retired president of UPS for the Northwest Region, made culture her number-one priority as she drove a positive culture through an organization that was, literally, full of drivers. She wanted to improve engagement and morale, so she rolled out The Energy Bus to the 1,000 leaders she led with the intent of enhancing positive leadership, positive interactions, and improved relationships with the UPS drivers. Her leaders all read the book, then discussed ways to implement the ideas. They then rolled out The Energy Bus to their 11,000 drivers in the district by simply focusing on positivity, positive interactions, and improved relationships. I had yet to have a company measure results after utilizing The Energy Bus, so it was exciting to hear from Nancy a year later. She reported that engagement, morale, and performance had risen while disengagement and absenteeism had fallen. Nancy drove the UPS bus and it made all the difference.
Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford, led one of the most incredible corporate turnarounds in history. In 2006, when he stepped into the CEO role, the automaker had just suffered an annual loss of $12.7 billion and was on the verge of bankruptcy. In just a few short years under his leadership, Ford was back in the black and the company saw an annual profit every year since 2009. Mulally credited this improbable feat on the organization's focus on driving and building a “One Ford” culture that was centered on the idea of “One Team” where everyone in the organization was committed to the enterprise and to each other. A cultural shift like this doesn't happen by accident. Mulally shared with me his management system, a simple but powerful set of principles, philosophies, behaviors, and processes he designed to create a culture at Ford that fostered unity, teamwork, appreciation, transparency, safety, and even joy. I'll share more of what I learned from Mulally, who defines his leadership as positive leadership, throughout the book because he's one of history's greatest examples of positive leadership and he demonstrates that great cultures happen when positive leaders know their most important job is to drive the culture.
When Apple was just the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak), they knew the culture they wanted to create. They would be the culture that challenged the status quo. Everything they did, including hiring people, running campaigns, and creating products, was influenced by this culture. Even after Steve Jobs's death, the culture continues to influence everything they do. It's why Apple is famous for stating the maxim that “culture beats strategy.” You have to have the right strategy of course, but it is your culture that will determine whether your strategy is successful. I believe Apple will be successful as long as they innovate and create from the strength of their culture. If they lose their culture they will lose their way and, like many of the mighty that have come before them, they will fall.
Very few people understand the importance of culture more than Rick Hendrick, the owner and founder of Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Motorsports. In a world where there are thousands of car dealerships and many NASCAR racing teams, Hendrick Automotive is the largest privately owned dealer group in the United States, and Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest racing organization in the modern NASCAR era. Through speaking to the leaders of Hendrick Automotive and Jimmie Johnson's racing team (owned by Hendrick Motorsports), I have witnessed the incredible culture in both organizations. It's clear that they are driven by the same person. Rick Hendrick's signature leadership and drive are ingrained in everything they do. His people are humble, hungry, thankful, kind, and appreciative. They are on a quest for greatness. Their buildings are spotless. Their energy is always positive and contagious. Everyone wants to be the best and win. When you spend time with two companies – when you see the success of his automotive dealerships and the Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. racing teams – you realize that culture not only beats strategy, but it also fuels it and drives people and organizations to record growth and performance.
You might be wondering where to start when driving and building a culture. I believe it starts with two questions: 1) What do we stand for? 2) What do we want to be known for? While visiting Hendrick Automotive, I asked several of Rick's leaders what they stood for, and they all said servant leadership. They told me that Rick leads the way and, in doing so, puts himself last in every decision he makes for his organization. He is very focused on making sure everyone's voice is heard because it is the team that shapes the company today, tomorrow, and in the future. His executive staff knows that Rick expects them to serve the people they lead in the same way. Teamwork through trust and respect is also one of Hendrick's core organizational values. One of Rick's mantras is “None of us is as smart as all of us.” He constantly states, “People are our biggest asset! If we take care of our people they will take care of our customers, and if we work together we will all accomplish more.” This principle comes to life through weekly and monthly meetings where employees share best practices. Having the high performers share how they win in the market lifts the whole company.
As you would expect, Rick is all about integrity and doing the right thing, doing what you say you will do, and being honest and telling the truth regardless of the situation. Leaders at Hendrick Automotive and Hendrick Motorsports also told me they have a passion for winning and don't give up until they do so. Accountability and commitment to continuous improvement help them improve individually and collectively as a team and organization. They want to be known for their culture and winning ways. They celebrate their past success and make it very clear they expect future success. Yet, despite all their success, they are a culture that believes in developing champions who serve others. They want to be known for making a difference in the lives of others and their community. Hendrick leaders are extremely selective in whom they hire. Only people who fit their culture, embrace the same values, and possess a high level of professionalism are added to the team. Because, as an organization, Hendrick knows what their culture stands for, they are able to choose the right people who fit their culture and who stand for the same things. They also invest heavily to train and develop their people in order to sustain success and retain their talent. Brad Stevens, the head coach of the Boston Celtics, once told me that your culture is not only your tradition, but also the people in the locker room who carry it on. When you have people who fit your culture and carry it on, it comes to life in a powerful way.
I've also had the opportunity to speak to Southwest Airlines a few years ago, and they told me how consultants suggested they charge passengers to check luggage since the competition was doing it and they could make hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. Southwest considered their proposal but in the process asked themselves an important question: Is this what we stand for? They went straight to their purpose statement: “To connect People to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.” They ultimately decided that if they were for everyday fliers and low-cost air travel, they shouldn't charge baggage fees. You would think they would have missed out on a lot of money, but a funny thing happened. Southwest started to get new customers because the airline didn't charge for bags. They ran advertising campaigns highlighting the fact that bags fly free, and they gained market share in the process. Their revenue grew to new heights. It's a great example that once you know what you stand for, decisions are easy to make. When your culture dictates your decisions, you are on the right path to positive results.
Driving a positive, high-performing culture requires more than words. After all, everyone has a mission statement, but only the great organizations also have people who are on a mission. The greatest mission statement in the world is pointless unless your people are on a mission. When I speak to leaders, I always tell them that it doesn't matter what core values you have written on the walls of your building and website if you don't live and breathe them every day. Remember Enron? One of their core values was integrity.
As a positive leader, you can't just show the way and talk about the way. You must
