Why “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is misleading

I’ve never liked Drucker’s assertion that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Let me tell you why I think it’s misleading at best, and downright dangerous in some cases. And if you’d like to see a little more about corporate culture, you can read an interview I did for Authority Magazine here: Ed McMahon Of Core International On Why Corporate Culture Matters in Business | by Vanessa Ogle | Authority Magazine | Medium

Like most cliches, Drucker’s is overly simplistic and trite (that’s the misleading part). It leaves out essential elements that would provide a more complete and more helpful picture that executive teams could choose to work on.

It can leave executive teams feeling hopeless about the opportunities for change and transformation. “What’s the point?” they might ask. “We’re never going to get anywhere with the strategy because the cultural deck is stacked against us.” And this is the dangerous part. 

Worse still, it leaves the definition of culture unspoken. What exactly are we talking about when we use the term “Corporate Culture”? How can we fix something if we can’t define it?

So, What is Corporate Culture?

 Corporate culture does not spring fully formed into an organization. It emerges over time as a result of the shared practices and behaviours of the people in any organization. It is, broadly speaking “the way we do things around here”. It is a social construct unique to the organization in which it exists.

The term Corporate Culture was first introduced by Dr. Elliott Jaques, whose body of work includes Stratified Systems Theory, which we use in our work with our clients.

Dr. Jaques introduced the term in his book The Changing Culture of a Factory. (Jaques, 1951). In a 2019 article entitled The Origins of Corporate Culture (published by Invista), provides more information about the origin of the term:

“(Jaques’ book) was a published report of “a case study of developments in the social life of one industrial community between April 1948 and November 1950.” The “case” was a publicly held British company engaged principally in the manufacture, sale, and servicing of metal bearings. The study was concerned with the description, analysis, and development of the corporate group behaviors.

 According to Dr. Jaques “the culture of the factory is its customary and traditional way of thinking and doing of things, which is shared to a greater or lesser degree by all its members, and which new members must learn, and at least partially accept, in order to be accepted into service in the firm…”. (Jaques, 1951, p251) In simpler terms, it means the extent people can share common wishes, desires and aspirations and commit themselves to work together. “

 The essential element that is completely missing from Drucker’s cliche is the organization itself.

Core International Inc., and Corporate Culture

We work with clients to develop organizational structures that support and enable the strategic outputs they need to be successful. We help them think about and define the roles and the work required to support the strategy, and in the process, help them think about the culture they aspire to.

In our way of thinking, Corporate Culture is an outcome of an intentionally designed, well implemented and aligned organization that is supported by consistent managerial leadership practices. Like profitability, a healthy culture is an outcome, not an independent “thing”.

If you find yourself in an organization that is struggling to deliver on its strategic objectives or even day-to-day operational priorities, you need to look to structure and managerial leadership practices as likely contributors to the issues you are experiencing.