I’ve been on a bit of a run lately with finding really interesting books. I love writing reviews, and will try to get all of the good books reviewed here.
The first one is Daniel Coyle‘s The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. I just finished it up, so here goes:
Coyle digs into many different successful organizations and attempts to distill some of their successful strategies. His central theme is that these companies and organizations have a successful culture due to a concerted effort and plan – that they are not successful on accident. And that the successful culture is directly responsible for the success that the companies and organizations have.
The groups he studies range from the Navy SEAL Team Six to the most successful New York City restauranteur, Danny Meyer. He studied a successful jewelry theft ring, and the crew of United flight 232 that crashed in 1989.
Over and over again he identifies how these diverse groups have found and use key skills and procedures to build culture which translates into their success.
The key question of the book is – Why do certain groups add up to be greater than the sum of their parts, while other similar groups add up to less?
His answer is that these groups succeed more because they work together in a smarter way. They have cultures created by a specific set of skills: Build Safety, Share Vulnerability, and, Establish Purpose. He determines that Culture is not something you are, it is something you do.
Coyle breaks down his studies to demonstrate each of the three skills with solid, interesting examples from all over. He builds a very compelling case for each of his three vital skills.
Overall a very interesting read, some great examples of how to make a team function more effectively. I’d love to see someone leading a team view their internal dynamics through the lens of the three Culture building skills…
Matt Gorski 