Walk the Talk

He instilled in our eight-person sales team the crucial four C’s. To sell, you had have 1) the competence—expert knowledge of the product you were selling and the process to demonstrate it (qualifying the buyer by validating their need and budget; helping define what their buying criteria are while setting traps for the competition; getting

Shocking rules.

Object lessons.

One way to think about designing your culture is to conceive it as a way to specify the kinds of employees you want. What virtues do you value most in employees?

Give cultural tenets deep meaning.

Here’s a checklist of points to keep in mind:

If your leadership caused or contributed to the setbacks that necessitated the layoff, cop to that.

Culture is weird like that. Because it’s a consequence of actions rather than beliefs, it almost never ends up exactly as you intend it. This is why it’s not a “set it and forget it” endeavor. You must constantly examine and reshape your culture or it won’t be your culture at all.