The fabric of every organization is created from the unique threads of cultural capital represented by every person who is part of that organization. I think of cultural capital as the total collective influence of life experiences that makes us who we are (family, ethnicity, nationality, education, choices, and on and on). Wikipedia describes cultural capital as “non-financial assets that involve educational, social, and intellectual knowledge”. The more diverse the individual cultural threads, the richer and more vibrant the culture of a organization can be. However, it takes strong Leadership to skillfully weave a diverse but focused and high performance workforce. It starts out with the building blocks of vision, mission, values and principles. It plays out with goals, objectives and leading by example. It pays off through outcome-based metrics, and performance management that rewards behaviors that are consistent with those metrics.
Tags: Cultural Capital, culture, leadership
