Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Whole Foods' Unholy Union

“Wegmans team members at every level participate in the culture of experimentation… ‘They let me do whatever comes into my head, which is kind of scary sometimes,’ jokes Bill Garner, a part-timer in the meat department of the Pittsford, NY store. One day some twenty years ago, Maria Benjamin, who worked in the bakery at the same store, told [owner] Danny Wegman about the amazing recipe for ‘chocolate meatball cookies’ her Italian ancestors had left her. ‘Let’s sell them here,’ he urged. They’re a customer favorite to this day.”

Gummi brats. Chocolate meatball cookies. Hard as it can be to swallow sometimes, this is what innovation, continuous improvement and free markets are all about.

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The 4 Dumbest Rules That Will Kill Your Company's Culture

How about the no cell phones at work rule? Companies say they are concerned that employees will take photos of confidential papers or product designs, so employees are required to check their phones prior to going to their work stations. That’s all fine and good until the nurses office at your child’s school tries to reach you and she can’t. How about eliminating this rule and instead hiring people who are trustworthy? Just a thought.

How about the rule that says you can’t use the Internet on company time? Do you know anyone who hasn’t broken this rule, including the person who came up with this rule? I can understand asking people to limit their time, but forbidding it is just plain stupid.

One of my favorite dumb stupid rules is the "six-month rule." You have to be in your job six months before you can transfer or promote to another position. This might have worked well in the seventies, when Baby Boomers were so happy to have a job that most just went along with the rules. Today’s workforce is different. Employee loyalty no longer exists. If an employee comes up against the six-month rule, they simply go around it. They do so by playing for another team. Maybe that’s something Jordyn Wieber might want to consider in 2016.

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Think outside the cube

Think Outside the Cube: Why the Office Isn't the Best Workspace
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/01/20/think-outside-the-cube-why-the-office-isnt-the-best-workspace/

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The secrets Apple keeps

Undercover meetings! Stealth product developments! The world's most successful company is obsessed with privacy. In his new book, Fortune senior editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky finds out what it's really like to work at Apple and how its secretive behavior pays off.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/18/inside-apple-adam-lashinsky/?iid=SF_F_LN