Culture Eats Everything for Breakfast

Meta AI

The last thing we need is another post about the eating habits of culture and strategy. So here I am giving my take on it. Please hear me out as I’ll try to give it a different twist.

Culture eats everything for breakfast. Not just strategy; everything.

You can invest in the most advanced tech, but if the culture doesn’t accept it, or use it for maximum benefit, you’re wasting your money.

Train people all you want, but if they’re set in their ways it may not take hold.

Outgoing US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall was asked in a recent interview why airplanes in development still had a person in the cockpit rather than transitioning to autonomous or remotely-piloted flight. His initial response was that the technology wouldn’t be ready for about ten years.

Okay, cool. But it will take at least that long for what’s in the pipeline to go operational. Why not plan for it now and add tech modules when ready?

He later hinted that tech may not be the issue; culture may be holding it back, and I believe that’s probably what’s really at play.

People might not be ready for armed aircraft flying around that could malfunction and pilots, the core of the Air Force, aren’t ready to lose their jobs and top status to a machine and computer whiz. Are you ready to board a flight between Paris and New York without someone sitting up front, even if rigorous testing is passed?

Culture makes us believe without real evidence. If affects our dreams, relationships, and work ethic.

Many people in charge have tried to dictate only to be ignored, waited out, or slow rolled by a resistant culture. People, and governments, have tried to impose their will and ways on others only to be rejected by an unwilling culture.

Customers will reject wonderful products if they don’t mesh with culture. You may want to go fast, but run up against regulatory and governance cultures that have no interest in speeding up.

Why is the customer experience so different at Chick-fil-A verses the DMV? Culture.

Why are the social security and IRS websites so backwards in comparison to Amazon? Culture.

There’s a culture on LinkedIn that’s different than 4chan. Same with Hot Topic and Neiman Marcus, and life on the street in Sweden verses North Korea.

If you want to understand the past, present, or future, study culture. If you want to transform possibilities into reality, know the cultures at play. If you want to get anything done in this world, study culture.