Rugged Individualism and “Self-Starter” Organizational Cultures
The emergence of Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin is making us think deeply about which kind of background and training will serve us best in the next leader of our country. Ms Palin’s background as a mayor and the governor in Alaska seems to be of interest to many people and to me as well. It may be the fact that the state she lives and governs is in many people’s minds - the last American frontier. It makes us think about our country’s roots in rugged individualism – surviving alone in a log cabin in the wilderness. In many people’s minds – rugged individualism is a founding ethos of our country. And we do know how it plays out, as it is alive and well today in the organizational cultures of many American-based companies.
In organizational culture lingo – rugged individualism translates into valuing people who are “self-starters.” They are self-motivated with a “can-do” attitude and they are able to figure things out on their own. Successful people in “self-starter” cultures usually need to seek out their own opportunities and the organization waits for the crème to rise to the top. There is not much investment in formal career development except for high potential people who have already proven themselves. It can lead to intense internal competition when people start looking out for themselves more so than for the good of the organization.
So what does this mean for leaders of companies with a “self-starter” culture? As you can see above, there are positive and not so positive aspects of this kind of culture and balance is again part of the answer. A leader wants to harness the self-motivation towards meeting company goals; and, force collaboration where it is a requirement through alignment between personal and organizational metrics. They also need a new and consistent focus on managing and developing people to produce 100% output from everyone. Leaders will need to muscle these new foci as they go against the grain of “self-starter” cultures.
As a country, we are not alone in the wilderness anymore – we live and work in a complex, inter-related global marketplace. And, shifting our national belief in a pure form of rugged individualism as represented in the cultures of many of our American-based companies will not be easy, but important for the long-term success of our economy.
