When I remember all the years I spent convincing executives that culture wasn’t an idea propagated by consultants with an eye to their bottom line I have to laugh—otherwise I’d probably cry.
These days, culture is on the front page and front line of everybody’s’ mind, credited or blamed for company success and failure.
Take Goldman Sachs (please!) and its ‘culture of sharing’, which is good, except it doesn’t seem to extend to shareholders, and the coming bonuses are as obscene as always.
Google is a touchstone for any conversation about corporate culture. Inside The Mind Of Google is a multi-part, in-depth look …read more

Yesterday I asked, “What else does Wall Street and the financial industry do besides cripple corporate strategic efforts?”
They fight for self-regulation, assuring watchdog agencies and Congress that they are good guys that should be trusted to do the best thing and that the economy will tank if any kind of control or regulation is enacted—and they win.
They win based on the money spent to focus the efforts of well-connected lobbyists on stopping cold, or at least significantly watering down, any legislation or rules that might offer protection to us—the people who keep them all in BMWs and champagne.
Wall Street and …read more