Does Every Business Need a Company Culture?

Perhaps resulting from Tony Hsieh's leadership of online shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, culminating in an almost $1 billion sale to Amazon in 2009, corporate culture has been added to the list of factors that make companies successful. Zappos' employee-centric, customer-first culture was key to its incredible (and quick) ride to the top. In fact Hsieh claimed that, "If we get the culture right, then everything else…will fall into place."

Does every small business need a corporate culture? Journalist turned entrepreneur Marissa Levin insists that every business, even solo operations, has a corporate culture. "Organizations are like fingerprints," she says, "no two are the same. And your culture defines your business." Importantly, Levin, CEO and Chief Culture Officer at strategic communications firm Information Experts (IE), adds that "culture and people fuel growth. Growth does not fuel culture."

Levin is so committed to that philosophy that it's become the core of her new venture, Successful Culture. She just launched the website and is planning a conference for later this year. Meanwhile, she continues to helm IE, which she founded 16 years ago.

If this makes you think Levin is a free-spirit who doesn't keep her eye on the bottom line, well, you'd be only half right. She wouldn't argue with the free-spirit designation, but by being both strategic and process-oriented, Levin has grown her 45-50 employee business to 2011 revenues of $14 million. And IE recently signed a "big" government contract likely to triple 2012 revenues.

Apart from her staff (some of whom have been with her for more than 10 years), Levin gives most of the credit for that success to IE's corporate culture. She says her "number 1 responsibility is to make sure my employees are not working in a toxic environment."

Culture vs. Values

Corporate culture and core values are not the same, though Levin says, "They're two sides of the same coin. Identifying your values will drive your culture."

How do you do that? Levin says ask yourself, "What am I trying to accomplish, what do I stand for?" The answers will vary by industry, but common values are trust, integrity, and accuracy. Your culture then becomes what you feel, the "vibe" your business gives off. Levin says IE has a "festive" culture: "We'll find any excuse to throw a party."

Leadership, says Levin, is about defining -- and practicing -- your values. "If you don't," she warns, "they become empty promises, and your employees will leave."

Walking the Walk

"Communicating your culture helps you ensure you not only have the right people on the bus," she adds, "but that [they're] in the right seats on that bus." Levin regularly polls her people to make sure they're still on the same page. "I ask myself what have I done right, and how can I bottle, capture, and monetize that?"

That doesn't mean micromanaging, and Levin understands that as their needs change it's rare for employees to stay forever. She dubs this a "bless and release attitude." It's like a marriage. "Either people stay forever or they leave." How do you get them to stay? Her advice: "Employees stay because they feel passionate about the work they perform, and about where they work."

Breaking the Rules

In one sense Levin breaks all the rules. (That appears to be part of Zappos' secret sauce as well.) She doesn't attribute her behavior to her gender or her generation. Instead she says she's "wired" to nurture her employees the same way she does her family and friends. That doesn't mean she's a pushover though. Sometimes, she says, the people who help you get started can't help you get to the next level. And you have to let them go.

As a company grows, its culture must evolve, but Levin also believes that protecting that culture is key to growth and success. Earlier this year, when she learned that IE had nabbed that huge government contract, she says her first thoughts were about protecting IE's culture: "I asked myself, 'How will this change our daily lives, and how can I protect what I've built?'"

She sent an email to her staff, reassuring them that though this will be a huge undertaking, "What may seem daunting now will soon be our status quo. This is how we grow -- by consistently pushing our boundaries… We are all in this together… This is truly a win BY the entire organization, and FOR the organization, and I am grateful." Sounds like a corporate culture worth emulating.

---

Follow Rieva on Twitter @Rieva and read more of her insights on SmallBizDaily.com.