Fox News shared a story on July 24, 2020, that a Wisconsin man graciously shared his lottery millions with a friend, fulfilling a promise made nearly 30 years ago.
Joe Feeney from Wisconsin in the US could barely believe it when he received a call from his friend Tom Cook to say he had won 22 million dollars on the Powerball lottery and was intending to split it with him.
The pair have been playing Powerball since it arrived in Wisconsin in 1992 and shook hands, they would split the winnings if either one of them won the Powerball jackpot. Now 28 years later, Tom Cook followed through with their agreement and shared the $22 million jackpot with his friend Joe Feeney.
Wow! This is inspiring! $ 22 million is a lot of money to share. People change with that kind of money in today’s world.
Why did Tom Cook stand up to his commitment?
IT IS THE CULTURE HE HAS IMBIBED, A CULTURE OF HONESTY AND INTEGRITY
Let me share another story
The Germans elected Angela Merkel to lead them, and she led 80 million Germans for years with competence, skill, mastery commitment, and integrity. She who was dubbed “The Lady of the World” and was described as the equivalent of six million men.
At a press conference, a female journalist asked Merkel: We notice that your suit is repeated, don’t you have another? Why she was wearing the same dress she had been photographed in 10yrs ago.
She replied: My job is to lead and serve the people of Germany, not be a fashion model. This is Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, the largest economy in Europe.
Why Angela Merkel is so successful and a role model for many?
IT IS THE CULTURE SHE HAS IMBIBED, A CULTURE OF HUMILITY, INTEGRITY, AND SERVICE
Srinivas Ramanujan was born into a poor family in south India at Erode on 22nd December 1887. In school, once his teacher asked a question to students, ‘If we have three bananas and three boys, how many bananas will each boy get?’
One of the students replied, ‘Sir, each one will get one’. While the teacher was explaining the division the young Ramanujan asked, ‘Sir if no banana is distributed among no one, will each one still gets the banana?’
“What a silly question to ask!” Said all the students with a roar of laughter. However, the teacher was very much impressed. Then the teacher told: “There is nothing to laugh about. He is asking if zero is divided by zero, will the result be one.” This question has taken mathematicians several centuries to answer.
Why only Ramanujan had asked this question?
IT IS CULTURE, A CULTURE OF CURIOSITY AND LEARNING
What is Culture?
Culture refers to the beliefs, values, behaviour, and assumptions of people. It consists of thought, perception, emotion, and communication held in common among the members of a group of people which endure and develop over time. In a simple form, Culture is, “the way we do things”.
Every human being can be regarded as a representative of their own culture. Culture is learned and shared. Culture is the foundation in shaping the individual’s as well as Organization’s growth.
Deal and Kennedy argue that culture is the single most important factor for success or failure. They identified four key dimensions of culture:
- Values – the beliefs that lie at the heart of the culture.
- Heroes – the people who embody values.
- Rites and rituals – routines of interaction that have strong symbolic qualities.
- The culture network – the informal communication system or hidden hierarchy of power in the organization.
Why Culture is so important in living a righteous life?
40 years back the values were taught at home as well as at school. They taught us what is right and what is wrong, and the belief system is very strong. The Core Values are Intensely held and Widely Shared. We had a very strong foundation of values that transformed us into the leaders we are today…
For us the parents were Culture heroes, organization leaders were Culture Heroes, National Leaders were Culture heroes, and anyone who taught us something good remained as a Culture Hero. These Heroes inspired and shaped our personalities to be ethical leaders.
Celebrating Birthdays, celebrating a success, being punctual, rewarding mechanisms, Corrective action methods, Decisions made, are all forms of cultural rituals. We need these to motivate ourselves at home as well as at work.
A strong culture is something that is active and spells out how people are to behave most of the time. A strong culture helps people feel better about what they do, so they are more likely to engage themselves in the vision and mission.
Culture becomes weak where there is little alignment with organizational values. Within a family or organization, many things blend to create the culture, however, if the values and cultural rituals are not followed, people feel disconnected and frustrated.
How Culture influences our life?
- Culture gives us identity
- Great Culture means greater engagement
- Great Culture means better decisions
- Culture drives us towards accomplishing the goal
- Great Culture makes us happy
- Great Culture makes us go that extra mile
- Great Culture fuels growth
- Great Culture builds trust
- Great culture unlocks an individual’s potential
The Culture starts with the Heads of the family and Founders of the organization. They have the responsibility of creating an environment that inspires everyone to adhere to the values and excel. They unleash the people’s unlimited energy and potential. They are the torchbearers to keep the culture alive.
Like Windell Pierce said, “Culture is the intersection of people and life itself. It is how we deal with the life, love, death, birth, disappointment…all of that is expressed in Culture”. With growing indifferences and fast-changing dynamics of society “Building a great Culture” is even more need of the hour.
