My First Experience with a “Daddy Culture”
I just wrote a blog about a top-down culture which made me remember my first visceral experience as a culture consultant in a company with a Daddy Knows Best culture. These kind of workplaces are similar to top-down cultures, but there is clearly a more family feel about the work environment where employees are taken care of; job security is usually guaranteed; and in return, employees are expected to be loyal. There are not many of these Daddy Knows Best or Family cultures left as most companies broke the psychological contract with employees of life-time employment in the last 10 to 15 years.
But now, back to my first visceral experience with a Daddy Knows Best culture - we were presenting the results of our culture assessment to the top management team of the company - we had come to the point of offering recommended next steps, but then quietly, the CEO’s assistant came in and whispered in the CEO’s ear about something. The CEO politely excused himself . No one said anything, we all just waited - 10 minutes - 30, 45 minutes. It was very uncomfortable for everyone and it was clear (nonverbally) that it was our role as consultants to wait for the CEO to come back before we should continue.
I remember looking around the room and thinking that all of the company officers sitting around the table were male, the age of my Father and most likely had children my age - in their mid-30’s. I suddenly realized that my Father was not infallible and that he probably sometimes worked in environments where he was treated like a child without any power. I started to worry about the leadership of this company, of our country… Finally, the door opened and the CEO came back into the room - we took up where we left off.
The CEO led a spirited debate about our recommended next steps and then politely thanked us for our work. We presented the findings to differing levels over the next 6 months, but follow-up actions were minimal. Within the next 10 years, this company was purchased by another company in its industry. Another time, we will talk about the delicate balance between loyalty, security and innovation.
