The Culture Puzzle: Harnessing the Forces That Drive Your Organization's Success

by Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, Greg Urban

Overview

Corporate culture is critical to any organizational change effort. This book offers a proven model for identifying and leveraging the essential elements of any culture.


In a world that changes at a dizzying pace, what can leaders do to build flexible and adaptive workplaces that inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? According to the authors, the answer lies in recognizing and aligning the elusive forces—or the “puzzling” pieces—that shape an organization’s culture.

With a combined seventy-five years’ worth of research, teaching, and consulting experience, Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, and Greg Urban bring a wealth of knowledge to creating nimble organizations. Globally recognized business anthropologists and management experts, they explain how to access the full power of your culture by harnessing the Four Forces that drive it:

Vision: Embrace a common purpose that illuminates shared aspirations and plans.
Interest: Foster a deep commitment to authentic relationships and your organization’s future.
Habit: Establish routines and rituals that reinforce “the way we do things around here.”
Innovation: Promote the constant tinkering that produces surprising new solutions to old problems.

Filled with case studies, personal anecdotes, and solid, practical advice, this book includes a four-part Evaluator to help you build resilient organizations and teams. The Culture Puzzle offers the definitive playbook for thriving amid constant transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523091829
Publisher:	Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date:	06/22/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,047,558
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mario Moussa is president of Moussa Consulting and an Affiliated Faculty member in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the coauthor of the bestseller The Art of Woo and Committed Teams.

Derek Newberry is an organizational development consultant and an Affiliated Faculty member in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the coauthor of Committed Teams.

Greg Urban is the Arthur Hobson Quinn Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and the current editor of the Journal of Business Anthropology.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Art of Giving and Getting 1

Part 1 The Pharaoh, The CEO, and The Gardener

Chapter 1 The Pharaoh and the CEO: Seeing What's Right in Front of Your Nose 9

Chapter 2 Tribal Conflict in the Workplace: Peeking behind the Org Chart 33

Chapter 3 The Gardener's Creed: Harnessing the Four Driving Forces 55

Part 2 The Four Forces of Culture

Chapter 4 The Vision Ahead: Writing Your Tribe's Story 79

Chapter 5 A Tribe of Tribes: Satisfying Interests and Building a Movement 100

Chapter 6 The Force of Habit: Reinventing the Rules 120

Chapter 7 Bright Ideas: Nurturing the Innovative Impulse 139

Part 3 The Dream Of Sustainability

Chapter 8 The Vigilant Gardener: Pulling Weeds and Cultivating Wildflowers 163

Conclusion: The CEO and the Dreamer 185

Appendix: The Culture Evaluator 191

Notes 195

Topical Bibliography 218

Acknowledgments 223

Index 227

About the Authors and the Illustrator 235

Editorial Reviews

Anthropologists specialize in culture, but for too long their expertise has been largely out of reach for leaders and managers. Not anymore. This is a stimulating, sensible guide to understanding—and improving—the values and norms of your workplace.”
—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“A must-read for leaders who want to understand how their organization actually works—and why. The Culture Puzzle explains, in an upbeat, entertaining way, why an organization chart can never capture the organic nature of the teams that are so important to us and how we can leverage the life inside them.”
—General Stanley McChrystal, founder and CEO, McChrystal Group

“One of the least appreciated but most valued facets of organizational life is the collective mindset that we share and nurture in the workplace. We inherit a culture when we arrive, and we all become responsible for renewing it once there. The Culture Puzzle provides a compelling road map for doing so.”
—Michael Useem, Professor of Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Leadership Moment and The Edge
 
“This is an admirably clear, engaging, and well-written book that shows why no business leader, or would-be leader, can afford to ignore the slippery issue of ‘culture’—or what is sitting below your nose. It takes the reader on a lively journey from ancient Egypt to modern companies such as Warby Parker and shows, in a practical way, how to read your own institutional culture—for good and bad—and make it work more effectively.” 
—Gillian Tett, Chair of the Editorial Board, Financial Times, and author of The Silo Effect

“JetBlue has been successful largely because of its solution to the culture puzzle. To help your organization discover its own answer, follow the advice provided in this immensely practical and wonderfully engaging book.”
—Mike Barger, founding member of JetBlue Airways and Assistant Clinical Professor of Business Administration, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
  
“To thrive in a time of social, environmental, and market upheaval, we need great culture builders—people who inspire others to live the company’s values, not just talk about them. Through riveting storytelling and insight into human motivation, this book will help you to build a culture that will support people—and your business—to soar to new heights.”
—Annie McKee, bestselling coauthor of Primal Leadership and author of How to Be Happy at Work

“A thorough, highly engaging, and superbly written exploration of organizational culture.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 2021-06-03
A business book offers an example-filled deep dive into organizational culture.

Culture is arguably one of the most puzzling areas in today’s business organizations. In this impressive and vibrant treatment of the subject, academicians/consultants Moussa, Newberry, and Urban seek to demystify organizational culture by analyzing its “four forces” (“vision, interests, habits, and innovation”) and showing how they fit together, as do the pieces of a puzzle. The pragmatic approach of the authors is revealed in a careful, methodical way. They first introduce the puzzle pieces in a broad brush stroke, then discuss the four forces in depth, and finally demonstrate how to sustain a healthy organizational culture. Along the way, the book features countless case studies and anecdotes that perfectly illustrate the typical cultural challenges faced and the opportunities available to take organizational culture to the next level. In Part 1, the authors employ memorable metaphors to highlight the importance of corporate culture. They liken those CEOs who may be tone deaf about culture to Akhenaten, an Egyptian pharaoh who was an innovative genius but could not convince the populace to follow his lead: “This tale of a prideful pharaoh who fails to change long-standing cultural beliefs remains keenly relevant today.” Just as effective is the metaphorical gardener who is responsible for “thoughtfully and carefully tending the culture garden.” An example employed by the authors is the decidedly nonmilitary leadership style of American Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Iraq. McChrystal recalled his mother’s penchant for vegetable gardening and applied three lessons he learned from her to managing his troops: adapting to changing conditions, being “the protector in chief,” and creating the right environment. Part 2 addresses the four forces in precise detail; chapters devoted to each one are brimming with relevant examples, all of which are accompanied by authoritative commentary and keen insights. In discussing vision, the authors demonstrate how storytelling helps build strong cultures. The chapter regarding interests covers several vital issues, such as how to keep organizational tribes from fragmenting and how to become a “culture virtuoso.” An outstanding vignette in this chapter is an anecdote about retired Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who returned during the 2008 financial crisis to transform a “loose collection” of 10,000 store managers “into a tribe of tribes.” In the chapter about habits, the authors explain “four principles for creating moments that usher in new habits.” Concerning innovation, the authors identify three characteristics associated with “the true nature of innovation and the sort of environment that fosters it.” In Part 3, Moussa, Newberry, and Urban reprise the gardener metaphor, aptly describing how a culture leader takes responsibility for “Pulling Weeds and Cultivating Wildflowers.” The authors close the book on a hopeful note, observing that during the Covid-19 pandemic, they were encouraged to see many organizations “thinking villagerather than self.” Crammed with stories across a broad spectrum of industries and organizational sizes, this book delivers much of value that any manager should be able to glean.

A thorough, highly engaging, and superbly written exploration of organizational culture.

Kirkus Reviews