Culture

Mr. Zutz, our principal, preaches the importance of culture. In fact, his mantra, which now has infected me, is "Culture eats strategy for lunch."  That simply means you can have all the gadget you want (such as MacBook Airs for every student) and the newest curriculum (such as our Ramp Up program), but if you don't have buy in from the staff and if they don't feel valued and pushed at their jobs, then your gadgets and curriculum are worthless.

I have extended this saying all the way to my classroom.  If the students don't know how much I love them and want to see them become linchpins, then all the fantastic technology and modern textbooks I use won't impact them all that much.  In other words, my classroom would be average.  And what do I think about average? To quote another one of my idols, Seth Godin: "Average is for losers."

So when I was listening to an EntreLeadership podcast featuring an interview with some leaders at Zappos, I was not surprised to hear them talk about the importance of culture.  After all, there are few American businesses, certainly retailers, that can match Zappos success and devotion from its customers (Starbucks and apple and Amazong Prime members) come to mind, but the list doesn't go on for long after those.

What really interested me was what Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos, had to say about culture.

First, they have their core values clearly identified.  They don't just hang on a wall. They aren't just trotted our or talked about one day a year. They aren't just memorized by employees in the interview process and never talked about again.

No. Zappos does something every company (and school) wishes it could accomplish: its employees live (or personify) their core values.

Second, to prove this Zappos publishes a "Culture Book" every year.  They survey every team member and allow them to tell the world how they feel about the culture and core values at Zappos.  The leadership team doesn't edit the responses, except for spelling and grammar.  In fact, inside the book you will see "Anonymous" in place of the person's name should they wish to not have their name published.  Every employee of Zappos has their say in the book. Literally.

Third, as if that isn't cool enough, Zappos publishes - and not in just some cheap pdf format for everyone to see.  No way. If you go to Zappos and click on culture and fill out some basic information, they will ship you a hardcover, beautifully illustrated copy for free.  For free!

When you have phenomenal culture, you aren't afraid to show the world.

This is one reason I urge my students to push out what we do in room 205 to all of their social media platforms.

Here are some pics from the book, which came in the mail last week.  I've been chomping at the bit to read it, but I have to finish Howard Schultz's Onward first.

Now, what would our school's culture book look like if we were required to publish one?  That would be interesting.  Or what would my class's culture book say?

If that doesn't fire you up to teach every single day, I don't know what will.