DAY 33
CULTURE! By Chris Carneal Founder and president of Booster @ ChrisCarneal
I
am often asked what makes Booster unique, and I respond very quickly with, “Our remarkable people. Our business model is good but not great. Our systems are improving, processes are getting better, but our people, our leaders, they are the best you’ve ever seen!” I say this with all humility and incredible thankfulness to them and their families. They make the good great and the common absolutely remarkable. If you’ve ever met Boosterthon Fun Run team members, they are remarkable. They will serve 1000+ elementary schools this school year alone by hosting an incredible two week enthusiastic fitness fun run to raise money for each school’s own needs. They are remarkable at what they do and they love the mission, the vision, the goal, and the work itself (most of it anyway.) However, when I get the follow up question, “Where do you find your people, and what do you do to get them, develop them and keep them?” I always respond with one word: CULTURE! They make it, they are attracted to it, they are developed by it, challenged by it, encouraged by it and fueled by it! “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!” – Peter Drucker Strategy creates excellence. Ideas shape the future. Leaders change the world. But culture is your primary distinctive as an organization. You have a culture, like it or not.
Whether it’s healthy is another question, but your culture is alive. Culture is the environment that makes strategy and ideas even possible, and culture alone unlocks the potential of true leaders. Without a healthy culture, there is merely transactions and doing. Culture creates relationships and a place of being. Coffee shop junkies don’t spend $4 on a caramel latte because it’s merely a better-harvested coffee bean with some cool topping but rather an entire culture that communicates a story to the consumer. In fact, as Simeon Sinek says, customers don’t buy what you sell, they buy why you do it. You culture is your “why.” Culture has given our organization a multiplication effect that has allowed us to grow from my basement with 1 client to 210 team members and over 1000 clients in 8 years. Without a doubt, our culture is our #1 distinctive and the #1 thing I spend my time growing. As the founder, it’s my top priority to create, protect and grow our culture. With each passing year, I spend a greater percentage of my time thinking about the culture we have and the culture we want. The environment that exists, if and when healthy, produces leaders who produce results. There are no results without the best leaders. No leaders without a healthy culture. Booster has a few very distinct cultural attributes. Many traditions are unique to us but the principles are universal and can be copied by all, just as we
Sustain Your Idea
127
