How to create a great corporate culture

Feb 02, 2007 The Workplace

“We can’t hire him” – he’s too corporate. I remember this being said in my company, as we interviewed a Harvard MBA whose experience to date had been exclusively in large, established corporations. What this shorthand meant was that he wouldn’t fit into our entrepreneurial company, where change was constant and structure was something we dreamed about. Essential to our survival was being able to turn on a dime, to go after opportunities the moment we spotted them, and being pretty relaxed about process, titles, and status. We had a business plan, of course — but when you’re tiny, your competitive advantage lies in being highly responsive to a dynamic marketplace. This didn’t make for a particularly predictable environment.

It’s intriguing to unpick the assumptions being made about our candidate, Will. He’d come from a big company with a big salary and a fairly big title. In applying for the job, he’d signalled that he was willing to forego at least some of the salary. But what my colleagues picked up on was his unease around uncertainty. All of his questions pointed to that: How did we know we would be successful? How long would success take? What guarantees could we give? As a start-up business, there were very few promises we could make with a straight face.

This is a very good piece written by Margaret Heffernan, and you can read the entire article on FastCompany.com.

The pace of life (both personal and professional) is taking a turn at every moment. More and more people are eager to seek their true calling in life, whether it is working in a start-up, become self-employed, or simply take a sabbatical. It is no longer possible to “fit” a potential employee into a pre-defined template anymore.