Culture Rules by Mark Miller is a book well worth your time to read. I’m a big fan of Mark Miller’s books, so I jumped at the chance to read Culture Rules early. Miller has significant expertise in management and leadership and has nailed how culture affects an organization.

What I Liked About Culture Rules by Mark Miller

This book is packed with common sense practices leaders should follow to have positive organizational cultures. Miller says in chapter one, “When culture is seen, understood, and intentionally crafted by leaders, it is the ultimate force for good in an organization.” He goes on to define good as “energy, engagement, retention, performance, and competitive advantage.” If you’ve worked for long, you’ve experienced both good and bad cultures and you know how true this statement is. Good leaders pay attention to the culture and not so good leaders ignore it. Miller’s book can be summed up as leaders who take culture seriously and make it an operational priority will reap the benefits of a fully engaged workforce where mediocrity and disengagement don’t exist.

In past books, Miller has used a fable approach to make his points. He doesn’t do that in Culture Rules. But he does use many real-life examples. The examples emphasize how culture influences everything. Miller shows how high the stakes are for an organization. Leaders can play, pretend or squander the opportunity to have a great culture. Every leader has the capability to play well.

Miller makes it clear only leaders can create and sustain a high performance culture. Many leaders want to delegate the responsibility or bury their head in the sand. However, the buck stops with the leader. So, if the culture stinks the person responsible is the leader. Employees know this and Miller provides compelling evidence throughout the book that shows how this is true.

What You’ll Like About Culture Rules by Mark Miller

Miller outlines at the beginning the three conditions that must exist for a high performance culture: Alignment, performance, and improvement. He unpacks each condition in a clear and concise manner with ample examples to show you how to make the condition a reality in your organization. I appreciate how clear he makes the information.

With the conditions outlined, Miller provides what he calls the rules of the game: Aspire, amplify, and adapt. As you might guess, he goes into greater detail about each of these rules.

Finally, at the end of each chapter, he has a section called Your Move. Here he provides exercises for leaders that require them to take a hard look at their organizations.

Final Thoughts

There are so many great points in Culture Rules by Mark Miller. You will walk away with a thorough knowledge about how to diagnose your own culture. Moreover, you will have a game plan for how to make it better. The wise leader understands the organization’s culture makes all the difference. What will your legacy be?

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