Jim Johnson argues that business owners should intentionally design their company culture rather than letting it form organically. He frames culture design as essential to owner and employee alignment, fulfillment, and long-term joy in the workplace, warning that an undesigned culture may evolve into something the owner no longer wants to be part of.
But I believe that there's actually a recipe for that, designing a culture. Because if you don't design it, it will be designed for you. It'll happen organically. The people that work for you will create that culture, and it may not align with you as an owner. Our whole joy and work fulfillment aspect of things needs to be that. We created this little baby that we've got that's a business, and it's going to grow over time. We want that to be a place where we feel fulfilled, working, happy working, joyful working, and that we're aligned with it. And so if we don't design it and we allow the people to design it for us, it may become something that we don't want to be a part of anymore.
