Modeling

Some organizations are known for their culture.

Uber, Zappos and Southwest quickly come to mind. And of course, Netflix, with it’s famous culture deck.

In a recent podcast, the author of the Netflix culture deck, Patty McCord, was asked to describe the best way to create (or fix) a corporate culture. Her answer was simple: model the behavior you want to see in others.

This simple tip is important for leaders who do the right thing (who behave like adults, as McCord would say) but who fail to be visible about it. Many ethical decisions are made within the C-suite and not shared with the rest of the organization. That is not a good example of “modeling”. We need these executives “on the runway”, flaunting their good behavior, if you’ll excuse the analogy.

This is where we, the ethics & compliance professionals, can come in. We are often close enough to our leadership to witness these commendable acts. We should document them and broadcast them for all to see, so that everyone understands what behavior is expected.

(For tips on branding, documenting and marketing, check out Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk.)