Recently I was reminded about why strategy is not the end-all be-all in business.... 

So, what eats strategy for lunch?

Business quotes have always captured me because you can learn so much from a short meaningful quote. 

Here's one I like that you've probably heard from management guru, Peter Drucker.

"Culture eats strategy for lunch."

Culture is a powerful paradigm to get your head around and work toward.

At one time, I worked for Stephen R. Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". (Only 25,000,000 copies of his book sold.)

He had a PhD in Organizational Behavior and yet would always say, "Organizations don't behave. People do."

So what is culture really about? 

It's about People

And when it comes to people and culture-building, I believe the best place to start is with what I call The 3 P's... 

  1. Protect the business. To do this we start at the beginning with hiring. Turns out it's not so easy to predict who will succeed. It's much easier to identify who won't succeed - and by default increase your hiring odds dramatically.
  2. Access Potential. It doesn't all end at hiring. In my experience of coaching owners of law firms, there's way more potential in our teams than is being utilized. When we're not getting at the best our teams have to offer, we're literally losing time and money.
  3. Get Performance. When I read this third "P", I instantly think, results, because that's what performance is. The big idea is if you protect the business with great hiring decisions and  access the potential, your culture and your performance (results), will sky-rocket.
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