Leading Workplace Change™

I am always putting on my “corporate culture observer” hat - most times because it is my job and that is what people pay me for, but other times - I just cannot help it.  I interact with people in casual conversation and hear them talk about their work and community lives, and I unconsciously latch onto clues that tell me something about how culture is influencing them in what they do.

For example, yesterday I went early with my dog to the park down the street and I met a neighbor who I regularly meet with his dog.  We know each other well through our early morning conversations about most everything.  This morning, we talked about his son’s baseball team and how as a coach, he has to raise money for the team’s upcoming trip to Cooperstown.  He said, “you know it is easy for me, because raising money is what I am rewarded for in my work.”  I looked at him with a question in my eyes and he said - “as a medical researcher/professor in a university, writing grants is what I do all the time - I have to find a way for the funders to believe in me, my ideas and find a way to feed the funders’ egos enough so they will give me money - I am a salesman.”

I locked that bit of info up in my culture bin for future reference - one of the keys to personal success at a research university is to be good at sales - selling the intangible.  I never would have thought of that on my own, but it makes sense.

Tags: Corporate Culture Observer //