Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast

Discover why culture trumps strategy, technology, and products in determining organizational success, as illustrated through compelling case studies from Eventbrite, IBM, and Kayak. This article explores how deliberately engineered cultures create sustainable competitive advantages that strategic planning alone cannot achieve. Learn from Eventbrite's conscious culture design principles including their 'no assholes' hiring rule and 'you can't complain here' solution-focused policy. Understand how IBM's core values of respect, customer service, and excellence drove decades of success, and how their erosion contributed to decline. See how Kayak's three-person meeting limit created a culture of action yielding $1.25 million revenue per employee. The article provides actionable frameworks for building strong cultures: establishing clear values, hiring for cultural fit, creating visible symbols and practices, and ensuring leadership models desired behaviors. As Lou Gerstner famously stated, 'Culture isn't just one aspect of the game – it is the game.' Essential reading for founders and leaders who understand that culture is intentionally engineered, not accidentally discovered.