ON June 2015 | страница 12

11 YOUR NEW ERA OF CERTAINTY STARTS WITH A STRONG, HEALTHY CORPORATE CULTURE We see instances of culture around us every day—from a group of college students flooding a football stadium supporting their alma mater to thousands of strangers coming together to participate in the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. As such, it should come as no surprise that Merriam-Webster named “culture” the 2014 word of the year. “We’re simply using the word culture more frequently,” explained Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster. “It may be a fad. It may not. It may simply be evolution.” An evolution, indeed, as companies and individuals across the globe increasingly understand the importance of a strong, healthy culture. In fact, such a culture leads to incredible certainty within a business with regards to its employees, processes and methodologies. So why, then, is culture that taboo word that no one wants to discuss? How has it become the impediment standing in the way of rapid business growth? “In my early days at Atrion, I never gave much thought to developing culture,” Atrion CEO Tim Hebert admits. “I must confess that I felt that culture was for hippies singing Kumbaya around a campfire not for business leaders. But I learned the hard way that I was wrong!”