Inspiring and developing a highly differentiated, highly creative organizational culture is the most direct path to building long-term, sustainable institutional value.

• A strong culture is a talent-attractor. Every enterprise is in a battle for talent.

• A strong culture is a talent-retainer.

• A strong culture engages people.

• A strong culture creates energy and momentum.

• A strong culture changes the view of "work."

• A strong culture creates greater synergy.

• A strong culture creates trust and trust increases speed and reduces costs.
  The Organizational Culture Executive Summit
  The purpose of the Executive Summit is to guide senior leadership to informed commitment about what it is to be -- and what it takes to develop -- a high-performance organizational culture.
  During the Summit, LeadFirst faculty will facilitate a discussion about the organizational traits and corporate cultures that distinguish Firms of Endearment (FoE) from other companies, including the so-called Good-to-Great companies. These traits have enabled the Firms of Endearment to outperform the Good-To-Great companies by nearly 700% over a ten-year period and more than 50% over a five-year period.
  During this two-day Summit, participants will take a "cold-eye" look at their organization's reputation for meeting the needs of S-P-I-C-E (Society, Partners, Investors, Customers, and Employees), with particular emphasis on cultural constructive benchmarks and the underpinnings of FoEs.
  Ahead of the Summit, LeadFirst will conduct an end-to-end assessment of organizational culture and synthesize these data for the Summit participants. Ample consideration will be given to the following:
  • Why today’s most humane companies are blowing away the S&P 500 averages
  • Why going for “share of heart” is a better strategy than going for “share of wallet” – or even “share of market”
  • Why delivering the emotional, experiential, and social value your stakeholders are demanding would put you leagues ahead of your competition
  • Powerful organizational culture case studies, including Costco, Whole Foods, Harley-Davidson, Johnson & Johnson, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Commerce Bank and Honda
  • Organizational culture mandate clarification and initiative sustainability
  • Identification of the enterprise Ideal culture and the participating organization’s Preferred Future culture.
  • Executive team appointment of a line executive Culture Champion or Czar.
  • Why move the culture to the Preferred Future Culture?…Polarity Map and the Stump Speech
  • Executive signaling skills
  • Develop Culture Sustainability plan outline
  • Organizational culture performance dashboard, culture P&L and culture Balance Sheet
  • “How Culture Works” and organizational culture (causal) levers for change

The Organizational Culture Academy

The purpose of the Culture Academy is to commence action on the mandate established by senior leadership in the Culture Summit (above), educate the Coordinator or Czar and his/her team, develop a detailed plan and monitoring metrics for Culture migration, enable participants to enjoy an FoE cultural experience, and, importantly, establish client self-sufficiency in the journey.

The Academy experience will yield a comprehensive culture migration plan to be submitted for ratification to the Summit leadership.

During the 4 1/2-day Academy, faculty and client participants will focus on the following:

• New global forces, the "War" for talent, and organizational culture implicatons
• The elements of a culture sustainability strategy and how to manage talent sustainability via Culture
• Relevant assessments and metrics
• Culture measurement vertically and horizontally
• Culture Dashboard, Balance Sheet and P&L
• Leveraging institutional forces for advocacy
• Hitting the Wall: A Scenario Approach
• Acquiring and allocating resources
• Timing and tone of internal and external publicity
• Plan deployment and localizing efforts
Summit and Academy Accommodations at Charlotte's Ballantyne Resort
The Ballantyne area is a 2,000 acre master-planned community located in the heart of south-Charlotte, North Carolina. Utilizing former hunting grounds, the Ballantyne Resort is home to an award-winning golf course and spa, and a renowned golf school, in addition to dining choices and upscale shopping. The Resort is a Starwood Luxury Collection resort, with distinguished Luxury Collection features. Ballantyne, in close collaboration with LeadFirst Learning Systems, delivers an FoE experience to Summit and Academy participants.
Onsite Academy facilities may be established upon request.