Chief culture officer.
One of the highlights of Planningness for me was getting to see Grant McCracken present and spend time with him afterwards. I’ve admired him for a long time through his previous books and his blog. His writing is both erudite and incisive. He is no less impressive in person.
Even in speech he uses language in a very precise way. In our casual conversation he often said things that stopped me in my tracks and made me think about the layers of meaning he was conveying.
This is why one of the most memorable moments at Planningness was overhearing him respond with a surfer-like “totally (dude)” to someone. I was reminded of the time that Bob Dylan said that Smokey Robinson was “the world’s greatest living poet.” It was either deeply insightful, deeply ironic, or perhaps a little of both.
I just read (the Kindle version of) Grant’s new book – Chief culture officer – on (my iPhone) a flight to and from Seattle. It’s a compelling call to recognize and use the power of culture in business. Convincingly, Grant writes about the fact that culture and cultural references underlie huge shifts in business fortunes. I loved it. Here’s just one of the brilliant insights that I will reuse often:
“Culture was not caught in a downward cycle. There was evidence that a virtuous upward ascent had been set in motion. Smarter viewers encouraged smarter culture. Smarter culture encouraged smarter viewers. For Generations X and Y, this development had become a badge of pride. Being good at popular culture became a generational marker. For boomers, popular culture might have been a guilty pleasure. For younger generations, it was a rich, more complicated joy.”
I think this book is a must read, also check out the CCO network on Ning too. Totally dude!
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Tags: chief culture officer, culture, grant mccracken, strategy, thinking
