The Culture Playbook | Book Review

Short Review of the Book

If you have already read the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie or of a similar topic, then you will find several ideas from those types of books that overlap with this one.

It's an okay book if you've already read other books on similar topics. Even so, this book might mention a piece of wisdom you haven't considered or have overlooked.

Highlights:

• It is a great book to read if you have not read books of a similar topic
• Mentions tips that you have overlooked or would not have ever considered
• It offers history from successful people or group to support their tips
• They provide questionaires for reflection on oneself and the whole group
• Great book to read if you are planning on making a group or in a group already

My 3 Favorite Tips From The Book

The Zero Tolerance Policy for Jerks is a necessity for a fair and united community because of this one reason alone;

Groups that tolerates competent but jerk-like leaders will create not a culture where individuals strive to be high-performing, but a culture where individuals in leadership positions become tyrants.

What is the use of competent leaders if they rule their subordinate with selfish and malicious intent?

Antoher thing to take into consideration is how subordinates will percieve this type of behavior from their superiors.

The subordinate of such leaders will mistakenly believe that being competent grants you the rights to be a jerk.

If these subordinates, in this type of culture, will attain a leadership postion, you best believe that the chances of them becoming jerks is high.

How to deal with jerk-like behavior:

• Make it known early on that jerk-like behaviors are not welcomed and that there are consequences for breaking that policy.
• Mentioning it once is not enough, continually remind them about the "no-jerk" policy either through verbally or indirectly.
• Call out and confront individuals displaying jerk-like behaviors; either give a warning or show them the consequences for breaking policy.

"The more, the merrier" is not a rule that applies to all occasions, especially when the goal is to be efficient.

There are many reasons for this, but here are a few:

• The larger the team, the more opinions and suggestions you must consider.
• The larger the team, the more relationships you have to manage to avoid fights or misunderstandings.
• The larger the team, the more task dependencies are likely to happen.
• etc.

All of this reasons will result in a loss of efficiency, creativity, connection, and belonging.

In the book, it is mentioned that a six person team is the sweet spot to effectively manage each relations in the team well.

In short:

• A team has a maintainance cost. The larger the team, the larger the cost.
• A six person team is the sweet spot, any more is cost-ineffective.

People are scared of admitting mistakes that they have made out of fear of losing credibility. This applies to individuals in leadership positions and individuals who are subordinates.

And yes, losing credibility may happen if you admit of making a blunder, but not admitting mistakes will become a poison to the group dynamic.

Highlights:

• A leader must not punish their subordinates of admitting a mistake so severely that it creates a culture of witholding information.
• Leaders who own up to their mistakes will promote such behavior to their subordinates and colleagues.

If there is one thing only that you can take from this tip, it is that you remember that if the punishment for making a mistake is so severe, then nobody will own up to their mistakes, which will create invisible problems that will come back and bite you.

Buy the Book to Know More