Uber’s culture is a mess. Complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying, multiple resignations, and threatened lawsuits.
Seems Uber’s CEO could have used a bit of mentoring from Levi Strauss’ CEO, Chris Bergh….
Bergh recently shared his approach to culture in The New York Times column “Corner Office.” As soon as he arrived at Levi’s, he methodically interviewed 60 people, asking each the following questions:
- What are 3 things you think we have to change?
- What are 3 things we have to keep?
- What do you most want me to do?
- What are you most afraid I might do?
Bergh gets it. To understand and then influence a culture, we have to connect with and involve the people who are actually creating the culture.
Bergh’s ask-the-people approach is bursting with culture-cultivating benefits:
- We gain substantial insights from people in the trenches and on the front lines.
- We communicate the importance of people’s perspectives and ideas.
- We help people feel heard and valued for their contributions.
- We demonstrate the power of collaboration to create a culture together.
Typically companies engage in this exercise in exit interviews, but it seems ironic to care what someone has to say as they’re walking out the door.
We don’t need to wait for an exit interview and we don’t need to be the CEO to safeguard and influence the culture of a team, a department, or an organization. We just need to engage with and listen to the people in the culture.
This is our job because these are our people! And so we own the impact of our actions that drive or destroy our culture.
Are we going to Uber it or Levi it?