About the Book
Having not only been a student of positive, engaged organizational culture creation, but also a person who has bet his own time, talent, and significant treasure on these concepts, I saw a gap in the available information for business owners and leaders who want to accomplish the same things that WD-40 Company’s leaders have. There isn’t much out there that talks about the specifics of how to build a great culture where people want to stay and work hard towards common goals, with common values. There isn’t a culture Rosetta Stone that decently translates “People, Purpose, Profits”, for example, into methods, decisions, and actions. I began exploring the idea of creating a conference where CEOs could come to find out more about the “How to”, not just the “Why should I?”
The result has been a partnership of Garry, me, Davin Salvagno (CEO and Founder of Purpose Point) and Dr. Chamu Sundaramurthy (professor of strategy and prior Chair of the Management Department at San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business) to create the Culture Forum, which will have its inaugural event at San Diego State University on October 24 and 25, 2023. This conference is designed to go deeper than the surface discussions or the inspirational keynotes. The conference will dig into the mechanics of building a positive culture “engine” that sustainably creates a highly engaged, coherent group of people, guided by values, achieving a larger purpose as well as a financial result that sustains the people and their stakeholders.
There will be a variety of viewpoints offered on the “How to” at our Culture Forum. That’s a good thing. Leaders must be broadly informed, skeptical, and judicious about what they decide to implement towards their goal of achieving high engagement and an enduringly positive organizational culture.
I am writing this book as an adjunct to the conference, so that the information I feel is important, but which couldn’t fit into the two days of our Culture Forum, can still be accessed by the attendees, and by anyone else who is interested. What I’ve included is my opinion, based on the experiences I’ve had.
