Thread by @swardley

X : Thoughts on building a good culture?
Me : Sure. Make sure the borogoves are all mimsy.
X : Eh?
Me : You started it.
X : What did I start?
Me : Talking nonsense.
X : Culture isn't nonsense.
Me : Oh really. You tell me what it is.

X : Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.
Me : I also haz interwebs.
X : Eh?
Me : Do you think everyone will agree? Try searching again. I do love the idea of corporate cuisine.

X : No, it's not about food. It's the beliefs and values of an organisation.
Me : Values are beliefs, there's no AND. You only need an AND with values AND principles.
X : Principles are values.
Me : Oh dear. I'm not sure you'll get a lot of agreement there.

X : Does it matter? The key is what behaviour we need to create.
Me : You want to talk about how to manipulate a thing you can't describe to create a desired behaviour? How will you know, if you can't describe it?
X : From the outcome.
Me : And what outcome would that be?

X : Better performance.
Me : Ah, so you don't actually care about culture, you just care about getting more stuff done?
X : Well, culture is important in that.
Me : How do you know? You can't even describe it.

X : So what's your suggestion?
Me : Make sure the borogoves are all mimsy.
X : What does that even mean?
Me : Make sure your company is good at all the stuff in this table, then you'll be more mimsy than not.

X : That looks an awful lot like culture stuff.
Me : No, it's all about being mimsy.
X : Will it give me better performance?
Me : If being mimsy matters then yes.
X : Can't we just use the word culture?
Me : Was pretending to know what we're talking about an outcome?

X : I don't get it.
Me : I'd rather we say these things (in this case principles) seem to have a more positive performance impact than not and work our way to an understanding of what culture is (observation led) rather than starting with a grand hypothesis of what culture is.

X : So why making borogoves all mimsy?
Me : Because, we don't have a clue what culture actually is and so let us stop pretending we have a handle on a topic that we can't agree on a description for.

X : Culture isn't just about outcomes or process or ways of operating or rules - it's empathy & the human experience in an org.
X : Culture is two degrees away from what we can control, incentives, environment, technology & personnel.
X : Culture is ...
Me : Mimsy.

X : Are we trying to catch a butterfly with chopsticks?
Me : That's probably the best definition of culture I've read, and I've read an awful lot. Let's give it a try with a popular meme ... "Catching a butterfly with chopsticks eats strategy for breakfast" ... yep, that's it.

X : I don't get what you're trying to say.
Me : There is power in words. We use words to convince others of our rightness and our understanding of something even when those words are describing a topic that is so nebulous and ephemeral that it is rendered almost meaningless.

... if you want a definition of culture from me, then I've attached it. That's culture.
X : What is that?
Me : An imperfect representation of culture consisting of a mass of interconnected and evolving components.

... my problem now simply becomes one of how to create a better representation of culture.
X : Where does your table of principles fit into this?
Me : Highlighted in the following.

... principle consists of a pipeline of evolving components (i.e. not everything in the table is equally well understood) and the concept of principles is itself evolving - there is no universally accepted definition but we're getting closer.
X : Why not describe this in words?

Me : Because it's not possible to argue over a story without arguing against the story teller. It's one of the reasons you use maps, they allow for challenge and discussion with less of the politics because we argue over the map and not the story.
X : You can argue over stories.

Me : Not without the politics. You've got an entire industry trying to persuade people that the key to greatness is better story telling and it's your failing as an individual if your story doesn't succeed..
X : No there isn't.
Me : Open your eyes - firstround.com/review/good-le…