In his discussion of 'efficiency', he illustrates some helpful points.
Corporate culture and leadership ultimately are defined by people. I'll use the acronym REPS here.
R = recruitment...get the best people available for the task
E = engagement...keep them focused on the "main thing"
P = productivity...talk isn't enough...great process into consistent results
S = stability...you want organizational stability (retention), along with the ability to develop leadership among key performers
Conflict and adversity inevitably arise among high performers. Consider the internal battles between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. How that conflict resolves greatly determines both the success and the perception of your organization.
Competition - people use position or the 'loudest voice' to get their way
Accommodation - go along to get along
Avoidance - of both people and issues
Compromise - finding middle ground
Collaboration - working together purposefully to find best practices and solutions
Yaeger uses some great examples such as the Team 48 (auto racing) CEO bringing together driver Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus over "milk and cookies" to resolve their behaving like children. He described the 1985 Bears making the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video as a distraction to the war between Head Coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.
As Jim Collins wrote in Good to Great, you need to get the right people on the bus in the right seats and the wrong people off the bus.
Here's an example of poor leadership. When I was in the Navy, we had a physician (nonclinical specialty) who wanted to retrain as an Internal Medicine physician (resident). The resident had neither a strong fund of clinical knowledge nor effective personality to supervise other trainees (interns, students). But as a show of 'leadership', the resident insisted on being called "Commander". Demanding use of title to camouflage inadequacies of a lack of fundamental and interpersonal skills only worsened the situation.
Bottom line? Great culture occurs by design not accident.
