The Culturepreneur

By Marty Parker

Culture is no longer a factor in the high performance equation: it is the equationWe are in the midst of a seismic shift in leadership and company culture—one accelerated by the recent pandemic. In an era of remote work and online communications, company culture isn’t bounded by walls or the type of business it does. It is tied to the attitudes, behaviors, and values of the people who create it.Throw in the increasing competition for talent, and the increasing desire for employees to find a shared purpose or connection with their employer, and it’s clear that true leadership requires a new set of skills and a new way of thinking. It requires you to become a culturepreneur—putting culture at the centre of business strategy, knowing that it is individuals who create organizational culture. In this ground-breaking book, acclaimed author, speaker, and global expert on human capital Marty Parker takes you through what it means to be a culturepreneur, and how you can implement a culture operating system that drives culture transformation. Through interviews with notable leaders, case studies, and a review of best practices across industries, Parker illuminates how to approach culture as a deliberate goal—as opposed to an organic evolution—how to curate it, and how to develop a business system around it. You’ll learn about the five key attributes of today’s high-performance leaders and emerge with a new culturepreneurial mindset that will give you the corporate culture you desire and need—one supported by planning, leadership alignment, measurement, and the right human systems. An essential resource for current CEOs, leaders, and future leaders who realize a new cultural order is transforming what effective leadership is about, The Culturepreneur will help you and your organization reach new levels of performance—driving human, organizational, societal, and economic successes that exceed even your own expectations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marty Parker
• Release date: Apr 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781774580820

Book preview

The Culturepreneur: How High Performance Leaders Craft Culture as Competitive Advantage. Marty Parker

Praise for

The Culturepreneur

"Marty Parker’s passion for corporate culture and the expertise he’s gained over years of working with some of North America’s top corporate cultures shine through in his latest book, The Culturepreneur."

Dani Reiss, president and CEO, Canada Goose

"Building and actively managing culture is critical to enduring organizational success. Careful management of culture is of heightened importance for every CEO today, as we work through evolving work models and increased competition for talent coming out of the pandemic. In The Culturepreneur, Marty Parker articulates an excellent framework for leading with culture, including the importance of purpose, deep embedment into your organization’s processes, and, most importantly, your people’s actions."

Michael McCain, president and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods

"With The Culturepreneur, Marty Parker delivers the formula for how CEOs and other leaders must adapt their styles to unlock the power of their teams and take full advantage of the changing workplace culture brought upon by the digital transformation. If you want to Make Big Happen, this is a must-read."

Mark Moses, CEO and founding partner, CEO Coaching International, and bestselling author of Make Big Happen

"The Culturepreneur is a thoughtful take on how companies can drive sustainable business performance and competitive advantage by placing culture at the centre of strategy. The Culturepreneur Operating System outlined by Marty Parker provides leaders with a clear, comprehensive operating model to guide them through the culture transformation process."

David Ossip, chairman and CEO, Ceridian

Culture is no longer a factor in the high performance equation

it is the equation

We are in the midst of a seismic shift in leadership and company culture—one accelerated by the recent pandemic. Throw in the increasing competition for talent, and the growing desire for employees to find a shared purpose or connection with their employer, and it’s clear that true leadership requires a new set of skills and a new way of thinking. Leaders must become culturepreneurs—putting culture at the centre of business strategy.

Global expert on human capital Marty Parker takes you through what it means to be a culturepreneur and how you can implement a Culturepreneur Operating System that drives culture transformation resulting in significant growth. You’ll emerge with a new culturepreneurial mindset that will give you a corporate culture supported by planning, leadership alignment, measurement, and the right human systems.

An essential resource for current and future leaders who realize a new cultural order is upon us, The Culturepreneur will help you and your organization reach new levels of performance that exceed even your own expectations.

The CulturepreneurThe Culturepreneur: How Hight Performance Leaders Craft Culture as Competitive Advantage. Marty Parker. Page Two.

Copyright © 2021 by Marty Parker

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Culturepreneur™, Waterstone’s Culturepreneur Operating System™, Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures ™, and Canada’s Most Admired CEO™ are registered trademarks of Waterstone Human Capital.

Cataloguing in publication information is available from Library and Archives Canada.

ISBN 978-1-77458-081-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-77458-082-0 (ebook)

Page Two

pagetwo.com

Edited by Kendra Ward

Copyedited by Crissy Calhoun

Proofread by Alison Strobel

Cover and interior design by Jennifer Lum

Interior illustrations by Jennifer Lum and Setareh Ashrafologhalai

Ebook by BrightWing Media

waterstonehc.com

martyparker.ca

To Tanya, my incredible wife and partner in life. Thanks for coming to the Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures Awards Gala that cold Toronto day in February and making all my dreams come true. No one won bigger than me that day!

Contents

Introduction

PART 1 The Past to the Present

1A Brief History of Corporate Culture

2The Era of Culturepreneurship

PART 2 An Introduction to Culturepreneurship

3Purpose Is Your New Mission

4The Rise of Bespoke Leadership

5Balancing People and Performance

6The Why and How of Measuring Culture

7Clarity of Vision and Leadership Communication

PART 3 Culture as Strategy

8Waterstone’s Culturepreneur Operating System

9The New Leadership Mix

10 Building a Culture of Safety

11 Fostering Accountability, Meaning, and Impact

12 Continuous Learning

PART 4 Evolution

13 Diversity and Inclusion, Beyond Buzzwords

14 The Competitive Advantage of Soft Skills

15 Next-Generation Leaders and Culturepreneurs

16 Preparing for the Next Evolution

Acknowledgements

Waterstone Human Capital’s Playbook for Success

Resources

Notes

Index

Landmarks

Cover

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Body Matter

Introduction

I was not born a culturepreneur. Far from it. My own leadership journey has been more Dickensesque: a tale of two leaders.

In my first book, Culture Connection, I described myself as an observer, someone who spent my youth carefully watching the behaviour of people who were older and wiser than me, including my five older siblings. By observing, I learned how to take the best of what they did and adapt it to my own abilities. It was the 1970s and I was raised to be well rounded and to exercise sound judgment, and I took great pride in striving toward those goals. That is how leader number one was born.

My good judgment, particularly in assessing people, prepared me well for a career in executive search, but I always felt that being well rounded (as a leader and as a person) made me a jack of all trades and master of none. At times, trying to be good at everything felt overwhelming. And, of course, I was not always good at everything. I tried to learn all I could about leadership and apply the skills demonstrated by those who I thought were it doing well: I had structured meetings; I developed clear agendas; I gave constructive criticism when needed; I helped others achieve their own goals; I studied leadership books; and I went to conferences. I valued my role as a leader of others and took seriously the job of ensuring I got the best out of my team as often as possible.

Then something changed.

It started the day I received the results of a behavioural profile that I completed with my Entrepreneurs’ Organization group. The profile, the first of its sort that I’d completed, said I was ambitious, pioneering, competitive, inspiring, enthusiastic, and persuasive. You bet! I thought. It also characterized me as impatient, restless, independent, and self-willed. True enough.

I’ll never forget the first paragraph of the report: Marty displays a high energy factor and is optimistic about the results he can achieve. The word ‘can’t’ is not in his vocabulary. He can be aggressive and direct but still be considerate of people. Other people realize that directness is one of his great strengths. He is extremely results-oriented, with a sense of urgency to complete projects quickly. 1 As I learned more about these results, I felt a great sense of relief, like this tool validated everything I thought to be the true me. At home, I excitedly told my wife: she thought the answers were accurate and obvious, but they were a revelation to me. I had finally found something that gave me licence to pursue my own strengths and made it okay for me to rely on others to pick up for my weaknesses. I no longer needed to be a jack of all trades! I was now on a path to be the master of my own strengths and, in doing so, I could help others do the same. That is how leader number two came into being.

I could now also see clearly in others the patterns of behaviours outlined in these types of profiles, and over time I could more clearly see that behaviours were often somehow linked to what people loved. Leading my own entrepreneurial business at Waterstone Human Capital, I could adjust people’s roles to take advantage of their strengths and create opportunities around my team members’ passions. It was powerful stuff.

By 2010, a clear relationship between culture and performance had emerged. Culture Connection set out to validate that relationship and to identify the steps organizations were taking to ensure their culture positively impacted performance. Through my work with high performance teams across North America, I noticed that a growing group of leaders were building their organizations around their unique corporate cultures. Others were attempting to evolve their existing organizational cultures.

The real trend that stood out for me was that the unique cultures of companies were becoming a core element of business strategy and the centre of their organizational platforms. How things were getting done was paramount and driving what was getting done. In other words, culture was the competitive advantage trumping everything else. In these organizations, results were exceptional (outpacing the S&P/TSX 60 by an average of 600 percent). 2 And just as importantly, these organizations were retaining and attracting great talent. Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS), culture, and engagement and retention scores were now as prevalent in boardroom discussions as return on investment, revenue, and asset or earnings growth. Culture was influencing corporate social initiatives, giving rise to social enterprise and B Corporations. Organizations like Google, McKinsey, and Gallup were spending money researching culture and its impact on their teams’ performance. New generations were entering leadership roles and creating cultures where organizations and individuals shared purpose. Leaders were creating psychologically safe environments and allowing for the flow of ideas. Innovation and collaboration were accelerating at levels I had never before seen in such organizations—and technology facilitated this. The rise of the employee-centric organization was growing fast and culture reigned supreme.

In March 2020, COVID-19 arrived in North America. This awful global pandemic required almost all organizations adapt in some way to a digital or hybrid workplace, with all or some of their team members working from home. Culture shifted at an astonishing pace—in many cases overnight—to support this changing world. The silver lining of COVID-19 has been that leaders and organizations are now recognizing that placing culture at the centre of business strategy is a must. And so the culturepreneur and culturepreneurial organization were born.

The Culturepreneur reflects this new era of entrepreneurial leaders who are driving our economies and society forward with culture at the centre of organizational design. These leaders understand that we are in the process of a leadership renaissance that was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They know that leaders need to adapt to their team members and that a strong workplace culture is central to supporting that mindset. Culturepreneurial leaders and organizations see opportunity in using this new business model to drive unprecedented levels of innovation, competitive advantage, and performance.

One tool that drives culture transformation is Waterstone’s Culturepreneur Operating System. It gives leaders a simple, proven, and measured approach to identifying and curating culture, so they can then put culture at the centre of business planning for higher human, organizational, social, and economic performance. All the tools and strategies offered in this book are based on examples set by best-in-class leaders and organizations. Some of the tools and strategies are new, others not, but they are all effective in this new workplace culture.

Culturepreneurs have changed the landscape of leadership forever. Adopting a culturepreneurial mindset will give you the corporate culture you desire—one supported by planning, leadership alignment, measurement, and the right human systems. And when your culture is supported with exceptional and contemporary culturepreneurial leadership, your results will exceed your expectations.

part 1

The Past to the Present

1

A Brief History of Corporate Culture

Study the past, if you would divine the future.

Confucius, Chinese philosopher, teacher, and politician

I’ve been very fortunate in my career to speak with, and learn from, some true trailblazers in the field of corporate culture. One such person is Michael McCain, president and CEO at Maple Leaf Foods. I’ve admired McCain and his approach to corporate culture for years—he has not only built a culture that is the definition of competitive advantage, but the level of stickiness in that culture is amazing. In my work in executive search, and through the Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures program that Waterstone Human Capital founded, I often encounter Maple Leaf Foods alumni, all of whom speak passionately about the role of culture at the company. The last time I spoke with McCain, I asked him what influenced his approach to culture. He told me a great story that captures, in a nutshell, the evolution of corporate culture over the past half century or so:

I came out of a private enterprise [McCain Foods Limited] that my father and his brother built over a very long period of time and in the forty-plus years that they operated that business together they never once used the C word of culture; they never once talked about company values, never crossed the radar. There were no posters on the wall... yet they had a profoundly well-understood culture in their organization. All of which leads you to the conclusion that the behaviours of the leaders is the single most important attribute to culture development in an organization. And they were very clear over that forty-year history about their own behaviour and the behaviours they expected