Subscribe to my newsletter - the Step Up! You'll get an inside look into my thoughts, mental models, and ways of going about life - with the goal of helping you do the same. Take the first step and join me on this journey. Newsletter every Thursday at 4:30pm CST.
The Step Up - Vol. 14: You Can't Scale Culture
Vol. 14: You Can't Scale CultureWe recently had our Board Retreat for the705 (the young professionals organization I'm blessed to now be President of), and it's been my first true opportunity to build a good culture as a leader. Starting this experience has made me think a lot about building culture and how to do it properly. You can scale up approval processes. You can't scale up birthday texts. And you shouldn't. You can scale up full-team meetings. You can't scale up coffee chats. And you shouldn't. You can scale up marketing dollars. You can't scale up mentoring and coaching. And you shouldn't. Culture is built on the unscalable. The small, time-consuming, energy intensive things. The intentional, person-to-person, human things. You can't scale culture. Systems build big, effective, productive groups and organizations. Systems expand capacity, increase productivity, and reduce friction. They help you manage your personal calendar, stick to that diet, or remember to take the trash out. But you can't systematize culture. Culture in a friend group, community organization, or business. Culture is what's in between. The "I loved that idea you had the other day!" moments. The "Thought about you and wanted to reach out" moments. The "I know this is a lot, so I'm here to support you" moments. The "I heard this song, and I thought of you" moments. Not the AI note taker funneling meeting notes into a CRM. Not the automated "Happy Birthday!" email from your HR platform. Not the video resource hub for people to bookmark on their browser. Not the Top 2010s Pop Hits playlist at the company Christmas party. Culture is built on the unscalable. If you want a good one, you have to put in the effort to make it so. See you next Thursday, Steppers. We will succeed, Grayson Song of the Week:
If you love ambient music or just need good deep work, calming music, this is what you're looking for. This song (and whole album really) are the perfect example for me of finding an album, realizing it came out decades ago, and then realizing I could've been listening to this my whole life (literally since kindergarten since it came out in '05). Next time you need to chill out or get work done, put this one on. |
Grayson Stepanek
Subscribe to my newsletter - the Step Up! You'll get an inside look into my thoughts, mental models, and ways of going about life - with the goal of helping you do the same. Take the first step and join me on this journey. Newsletter every Thursday at 4:30pm CST.
Vol. 19: The Price of Love Whiskers (table), Oliver (chair), & Buttons (rug) This week has been a sobering reminder about love and it's painful yet worthwhile price. This is not a pity piece, but it will be darker, longer, and more vulnerable than usual, and I hope you can find solace in it. My Mom texted me on Tuesday to stop by the house when I could. She had a feeling our cat Buttons wasn't going to live much longer. This wasn't the first time I got this text from her - the same happened...
Vol. 19: What is a True Leader? I'm blessed to hold various leadership positions where I have the opportunity to guide, empower, and inspire others. So obviously, I think a lot about leadership. It matters a lot to me. It matters a lot to the world. True leaders drive humanity forward. They make progress. They empower others to achieve unthinkable things. We owe the progress of humanity to great leaders throughout history who took it upon themselves to guide and empower others. But false...
Vol. 17: The One Thing You Can Always Control As we embark on our goals this year, I'd love to help focus our energy on things that drive us forward. Namely, things we can control, and not things we can't. In this chaotic world, there's a lot of things we can't control, both good and bad. Unexplained tragedies, unexpected opportunities, and everything in between. It's important that we recognize what is in our control and what isn't so that we can best allocate our time and energy to create...