{"id":296,"date":"2012-05-16T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myersthoughts.com\/?p=296"},"modified":"2015-01-28T12:58:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T20:58:46","slug":"competitive-advantage-company-culture-simon-sinek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/competitive-advantage-company-culture-simon-sinek\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitive Advantage, Company Culture, and Simon Sinek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competitive Advantage as Company Culture<\/h2>\n

A\u00a0powerful competitive advantage, even though it is intangible,\u00a0can be built through a unique company culture<\/a>.\u00a0 I have seen it in action, and it is powerful.\u00a0\u00a0It works particularly well\u00a0today because many people prefer to work at a company and make purchases from a company where they feel aligned with the purpose of the company.<\/p>\n

Simon Sinek “Start With WHY”<\/h3>\n

Culture can become a competitive advantage because it creates a reason why your company is different — a differentiation\u00a0in why and how you do something can be more powerful that product features.\u00a0 An author who has outlined this very well is Simon Sinek in his book Start With WHY<\/a>.\u00a0 It is also worth watching his Ted Talk here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sinek states that, “By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause, or belief? WHY does your company exist?”\u00a0 If your company has a very clear purpose\u00a0behind its existence, it attracts excellent, well-aligned employees and well-aligned customers.\u00a0 He says,\u00a0“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”<\/p>\n

Particularly in service businesses and with knowledge workers, I believe this is very powerful.\u00a0 Employees want to work somewhere for more than a paycheck or benefits.\u00a0 Life is too short to work just for a paycheck.<\/p>\n

I also particularly enjoyed Sinek’s writing about the power of company cultures.\u00a0 He writes: “We’ve succeeded as a species because of our ability to form cultues.\u00a0 Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. . . . A company is a\u00a0group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs.\u00a0 It’s not products or services that bind a company together.\u00a0 It’s not size and might that make a company strong.\u00a0 It’s the culture — the strong sense of beliefs and values that everyone, from the CEO to the receptionist, all share.”<\/p>\n

I have also seen how excellent alignment among employees helps with scaling a company.\u00a0 When everyone is aligned, it becomes possible for anyone in the organization to make decisions with confidence.\u00a0 They know which decisions are aligned and they know the organization will back them up.\u00a0 When that happens, it is much easier for a company to scale.<\/p>\n

Also, be sure and check out the Celery Test story on page 166.<\/p>\n

\n
Categories:Balance<\/a>, Culture Is Strategic<\/a>, Execution<\/a>, Reviews<\/a><\/span>
Tags:Business Strategy<\/a>, Competitive Advantage<\/a>, Culture<\/a>, HR<\/a>, Leadership<\/a>, Marketing<\/a>, Strategy<\/a>
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Competitive Advantage as Company Culture A\u00a0powerful competitive advantage, even though it is intangible,\u00a0can be built through a unique company culture.\u00a0 I have seen it in action, and it is powerful.\u00a0\u00a0It works particularly well\u00a0today because many people prefer to work at a company and make purchases… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,4,19,10],"tags":[89,38,41,40,62,45,31],"yoast_head":"\nUnique Company Culture, Business Strategy | Simon Sinek, Ted Talk | Mason Myers Business Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business owner and investor Mason Myers explores unique company culture & business strategy ideas, including Simon Sinek's Ted Talk, on his business blog.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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