Breakfast, Strategy, and a Culture of Humility

I was recently asked to react to a series of common business platitudes. One of the firing-line expressions was “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The expression is frequently attributed to famed management guru Peter Drucker, though a quick search indicates that the attribution is probably not true. However, I think the expression is meant to reflect much of the spirit of Drucker’s writing: a great strategy will amount to little if an organization has a poor or toxic culture.

Personally, I’ve never cared for the line as I think it sets up an apples and oranges comparison. They are not opposing notions thought they are interdependent. My basic reaction to the line was that an organization needs strong versions of both. Culture gets to the why of an organization and the how of its operation – it’s essence. Strategy is about direction. Without strategy, even a great culture may end up down the wrong path. Without a strong culture, strategy is hollow as the center cannot hold.

But what makes a great culture? At its most basic level, a great culture begins with clear meaning and purpose. The “why” of an organization is critical to unify those within it and help them understand where they fit in. This reason for being sets the tone for decisions, and strategy, giving the team a worldview from which to operate. From there, the “how” things get done becomes the next layer as it frames the operating manual of the day-to-day. The essence of the organization appears in how employees align with the core purpose and consistently behave in ways that reflect a set of shared values. It’s not just what we do, it’s how we do it.

There is far too much to unpack around culture in a brief blog but a couple of employee posts this week have me thinking about it. A compelling part of culture can be the feel-good, camaraderie-building sentiments of projects completed, goals attained, and human encounters that move and motivate us. Various forms of success or a sense of progress are fantastic for the spirit of an organization and feed the desire to push-forward toward greater things.

But the highlight reel is only a glimpse of the elemental movements necessary to create a strong, sustainable culture. There are thousands of individual choices and reactions that ultimately define a culture and project its essence into the world.

What struck me about the two posts I saw was not any look-at-me highlights or back-slapping, self-congratulatory virtue signaling, or posturing. There was no sales pitch, hyperbole, or let-me-show-you-my-smarts fluff. Amid the celebratory tone of the two posts I reference above was an unexpected and rare signal: humility. Not the false humility of “I am so humbled by….” you name it recognition or award. No, I saw real self-deprecation and deference to something greater. To a meaning and purpose beyond self-interest. That’s no small thing.

Look around. The world is full of answers. Our culture demands that we have them and seemingly promises to reward those possessing the answer, the solution, and the secret. I get a constant flow of pitches from strangers telling me how much they can help me be better, lead better, make better decisions, make more money, and build a better culture. My feeds are loaded with endless streams of folks promising answers, bugling success, and. criticizing all the ills of the system they find themselves in. Whatever the industry – the same pattern plays out.

In an age of unbridled pride, vanity, and envy, humility is like a cup of water to one thirsting in the desert. In fact, it is a super-power. Humility says, “I don’t have all the answers.” Humility admits, “I can’t solve all the problems.” Humility recognizes, “You might know something I don’t know.” Humility sees the good in others, doesn’t need the headline, and can admit when its wrong.

Can one foster a culture of humility? Not the false-humility that pretends to be less than it is in the name of virtue-signaling, but the kind that recognizes what it knows, why it exists, and aims for something beyond itself. The kind that can be strong in its knowledge, insights, capabilities, and compelling story, while admitting when it was wrong, where it needs more work, and what someone else did that was really good.

That kind of humility creates room. Room for new ideas. Room for better solutions. Room for heart and spirit and unity. It also creates room for others to grow. Such humility makes space for things to grow in unexpected, organic, and inspiring ways. Unplanned, unmapped, and unimagined.

Humility isn’t really something you can teach or produce or enforce. To be true, it must be real. It is the uneasy space of I don’t know and I’m not there yet, mingling with the conviction of yes we can and here is the way. It defers to the better idea while arguing for what it knows to be right…still allowing room for the answer to an unexpected blind spot.

Deference to something greater than yourself. That is so very hard. But it is so liberating. It turns out that being the center of the universe is really quite exhausting. As is having to be right, knowing all the answers, and constantly correcting everyone else’s faults. It seems that we’re not inclined toward humility and living it takes persistent effort. Like many great movements within us, it is one we cannot fabricate – the more we try to grasp it, the more elusive it is. Maybe it begins with choosing the other over ourself. Maybe it grows by letting go of the need to be right, always getting what we want, or demanding all that we deserve.

Perhaps a culture of humility does eat strategy for breakfast.