The Big ‘C’: A Lid Lifter or Trap for Your Leadership Growth?

In my last blog, I highlighted the 6 C’s of Relationships: Coaches, Comrades, Casuals, Cares, Chronics and Contaminants. These C’s only form one dimension of the Big ‘C’ or what we call ‘Culture’.

We are all fish in the pond of ‘culture.’ The pond we live in can be refreshing, oxygenated for personal growth, or muddied and polluted, stunting our opportunities for success.

Dr. Francis Fukuyama in his book, Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity, says there are over 90 definitions of culture. The ELAvate definition borrows from our friend and expert, Dr. Fons Trompenaars, who states “Culture is a dynamic process of how groups of people solve problems across relationships, time and environment.”

Culture, we all live in it, we all need it to survive and grow. For example, the 6 relationship C’s capture the human dimension and how we interact with people. Coaches, Comrades and occasional Casuals relate to us positively to “pull us” ahead in having a successful healthy life. Cares are relationships where we help others in their lives. Relationships can have a dark side when we connect to the Chronics and Contaminants. This got me thinking about how your culture can hold you back and even  destroy the potential life you are called to live.

In 1976, I was called to serve in the US Peace Corps, as a forestry volunteer in Malaysia. Here was a midwestern boy, from Motown Detroit, steeped in the peace love dove of the rebellious 60’s and rock and roll, being put on a Boeing 707 to be thrust into the multi culturalism of Malaysia.  Thirty nine years later, I am still in Asia, thriving and growing in cultures that have culturally changed with massive socio economic success as during the same time my hometown Detroit has slipped into poverty and decay.

The dark side of culture can be summed up as this, “Culture can be an inhibiting process and perception of how groups of people are unable to change, adjust and grow for a better healthier life across relationships, time and environment.”

Your culture can be a lid lifter for your family, team, organization and country or their decline and possible destruction. Let’s review some things I have observed and learned (sometimes by failure) about how you live and grow in the cultural pond you live in.

1. Change is the only constant. Cultures that do not change will suffer or die. Greece, Nokia, GM, and the Roman Empire are some examples.
2. The lower the trust among groups of people, the harder it is to change. Trust makes change easier for cultures, organizations and teams.
3. Find and work for a leader/boss that trusts you and you trust him/her in a healthy corporate culture. See yourself grow! Otherwise make a decision to quit today and move on.
4. If you really want to grow, take a job or volunteer assignment in another country and preferably on another continent. Changing your cultural environment changes you. Mother Theresa knew this.  So do the refugees flooding Europe from Syria.  I know this as former US Peace Corps.
5. Cultures that embraces change for the better grow and grow significantly. Look at Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea.
6. All cultures rise and fall on leadership (thanks, Dr. John Maxwell). Make sure you work for cultures with strong visionary leadership.
7. Integrity is the foundation for positive cultural change. Leaders must follow their compass of character in their hearts to activate and  embrace positive change in their organizations.
8. Radical change with much pain is sometimes needed for cultural change. Look at Germany and Japan after World War II, the addict who is free from addiction, or the skillful cut of a surgeon to heal.
9. Fear of failure or keeping the ‘status quo’ is a recipe for fossilization. Look at how the leadership GM, Ford, Chyrsler and the UAW refused to embrace and adapt to global culture change and the impact on their market share and my birthplace Detroit. Do not work for a fossilized organization.
10. You need Coaches and Mentors to help you to change. Always have more mature people in your life that help you to live in and change in cultures of healthy growth.
11. You can change cultures you live in by your daily example and leadership. Tim Elmore says even the most introverted people influence 10,000 people in their lives. Make a difference in your culture.
12. Finally, take time over the next week and reflect on the cultures you are part of: family, friends, work, community, and country. Are you thriving in a oxygenated culture of positive growth, or, in muddied cultures that may stunt and possibly destroy you and your potential?

Click the link below and download our THT Cultural Jigsaw. Fill it out and see how your life cultures have impacted your personal leadership journey. Identify both positive and negative cultures and reflect what you have learned living in each. Make some personal choices and commitments this week on the cultures you want to live, love and grow in.

Have a healthy week!