Culture Is the Way

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

Energize employee engagement and drive cultural excellence throughout your organization

In Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence, former NFL Pro, world-renowned keynote speaker, and management consultant Matt Mayberry delivers an incisive and hands-on blueprint to employee engagement and peak productivity. In the book, you'll explore how leaders, at every level, can build a workplace culture that drives organizational excellence and unleashes the full potential of every employee.

You'll also learn:

• How to build a culture where people can become the best version of themselves and transform organizational performance
• Five common roadblocks that prevent leaders from using culture to get the best from their people and how to overcome them
• How to implement your playbook for cultural excellence across your entire organization

An essential roadmap to organizational transformation with an unbending focus on the importance of workplace culture, Culture Is the Way will earn a place on the bookshelves of managers, executives, and other business leaders seeking to improve the performance of their team members.

AUTHOR'S NOTE vii

FIGURE LIST ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

1 Is Culture Powerful? Ask a Football Coach 1

Success Leaves Clues 4

The Larger Room 8

Leading Boldly into the Future 10

The Power of Culture 13

Why This Book and Why Now? 15

The Aim of This Book 17

2 What Exactly Is Culture? 19

Confusion Around Culture 25

Driver of Organizational and Team Excellence 27

Negative Misconceptions 29

Culture Is Not. . . 30

Five Key Elements of a Positive Culture 31

3 The Dilemma Traps 35

The Shiny Object Syndrome 39

Culture Is Not Sexy 40

Boeing: An American Giant That Lost Its Way 43

The Great Turnaround 45

How to Avoid the Culture Dilemma Traps 46

4 The Five Roadblocks to Cultural Excellence 49

The New Economic Order of Changing Culture 55

The Five Roadblocks to Cultural Excellence 57

Actions to Mitigate and Overcome the Roadblocks 70

5 Five Steps to Building a World-Class Culture 73

The Five-Step Process 78

6 Create Your Cultural Purpose Statement 81

Creating a Cultural Purpose Statement 86

Lessons from College Football Coaches 90

Much More Than a Clever Mantra 96

Create Your Own Cultural Purpose Statement 98

Action Steps for Leaders 100

7 Winning Hearts and Minds for Impactful Culture-Building 103

Top-Down Directed, but Bottom-Up Created 108

A Collaborative, Multifaceted Approach 110

Driving Cultural Meaning and Impact 116

Action Plan for Leaders 117

8 The Culture Implementation Playbook 121

Imagine This Scenario 124

Common Culture Implementation Pain Points 128

Six Implementation Pain Points 129

A Playbook for Driving Transformation at Scale 132

Culture Implementation Playbook 133

Moving with Urgency and Adaptability 140

Culture Implementation Playbook Action Steps 142

9 Be Fanatical About Sustained Impact 145

Framework for Driving Culture Sustainability 150

Five-Step Fanatical Framework 152

Full System Embedment for Sustained Impact 156

Action Steps to Be Fanatical About Sustained Impact with Your Culture 169

10 The Ultimate Differentiator Is Leadership 171

A Leader's Role in Building Culture 176

Become a Transformational Leader Now 181

Build a Leadership Factory 190

Five Key Elements to a Successful Leadership Development Program 194

Leadership Action Steps and Reminders 196

11 Commercial Execution 199

Keep the "Main Thing" the "Main Thing" 204

Be Extraordinary 207

Find Your Commercial DNA 210

The Seven Commandments of SGWS 214

Extreme Clarity and Understanding 215

Be Obsessed with Talent 219

12 Be a Chief Culture Driver 225

The Bigger Picture 229

The Magic Ingredient 232

What You Can Do Now 234

Putting It All Together 238

A Final Note for You 240

Chief Culture Driver Pledge 242

NOTES 245

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 253

INDEX 255

MATT MAYBERRY is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker and one of the world’s foremost thought leaders on leadership development and culture. His insights on leadership, culture, and business performance have appeared in publications such as Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur, as well as on NBC, ABC, Fox Business, ESPN, and more.

In many industries and organizations, the almighty bottom line trumps the interests and well-being of the employees responsible for delivering actual results. All too often, managers and executives forget that the best way to boost profits is to promote the best interests of their employees and team members.

In Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence, former football pro and globally recognized leadership coach Matt Mayberry delivers an engaging and effective guide to driving organizational excellence by bringing out the best in your employees. It’s an expert handbook on helping your team members become the best versions of themselves and—in the process—transform your organization’s performance from good to exceptional.

You’ll learn to turn your workplace’s culture into a permanent competitive advantage, powering through unexpected and unprecedented economic challenges, with skill and agility. This actionable workplace culture manual shows you how to thrive in times of uncertainty—and even chaos—and win the future of work.

Culture Is the Way draws on the most recent and relevant research and data and translates it into hands-on and practical prescriptions that any company—no matter its size—can apply immediately. It is an antidote to the cutthroat philosophies that put profits before well-being and, in the process, fail to maximize either.

An essential roadmap to outperforming your firm’s competitors, and turning your remote, hybrid, and in-person offices into powerhouses of productivity and employee fulfilment, Culture Is the Way will earn a place in the libraries of executives, managers, and other business leaders who are looking for ways to attract, recruit, and retain the best talent and dramatically improve organizational performance.

Praise for CULTURE IS THE WAY

“Culture Is the Way hits the mark. Matt Mayberry has mined his own experiences as an athlete, as well as examples across the business world, to produce a compelling guide for leaders at all levels who want to build a better culture.”

— Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author, The Power of Regret, Drive, and When

“Your most important job as a leader is to drive the culture of your team and organization. Culture is not just one thing. It’s everything. This is a masterful book on how to take action and build a world-class culture. I highly recommend it.”

— Jon Gordon, 14x bestselling author, The Power of Positive Leadership and The Carpenter

“In Culture Is the Way, Matt clearly articulates why it takes leaders at all levels of an organization to create a workplace culture where employees are deeply engaged and committed to the company’s success. Engaged employees are more productive, more focused, and more collaborative. Matt delivers a compelling playbook for creating cultural excellence. This book should be a must-read for leaders.”

— Jim Lynch, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Autodesk Construction Solutions

“Matt’s motivational call for all leaders to create a great culture is compelling. His message is delivered in an original, inspirational, and insightful way. In every chapter, you’ll find affirmation of the things you’re doing well, and more importantly, guidance and inspiration to identify and implement new ways to create the culture your team deserves. For anyone interested in transforming their team, their organization, and indeed themselves, I highly recommend this book.”

—Joe Walsh, President and CEO, Direct Federal Credit Union