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Embracing Culture As A Path to Survival

By Silvia L. Coulter
May 01, 2016

A strong, powerful and constructive culture has a significant impact on a business's ability to differentiate, to offer top-shelf client service, to attract and retain talent at all levels and to reach new levels of profitability. Regardless of how technology continues to help the legal industry reinvent itself from a mature industry to a young and thriving industry, culture and people will remain a key driver of any firm's long-term success. As a strategic imperative, creating a constructive culture of success takes much more than words on a strategic plan or words with no actions. The very fabric of firms' cultures is being frayed through the disruptive and changing climate. The leaders who effectively manage change and underscore those values and beliefs that drive culture will find their firms still standing long after many others have failed.

William (Bill) Lee, immediate past co-managing partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr comments: “Thomas Edison said, 'Vision without execution is hallucination.'” Bill added: “Execution without a strong, coherent and well communicated and understood culture is impossible. The values and culture of an institution are what allows people to meet challenges, innovate and create and execute.”

There is so much to say about culture and its impact on the organization, it is difficult to know where to begin. Since the days of Maslow and his introduction of his hierarchy of needs (motivational theory), many experts have studied human needs and the impact individual people may have on an organization's cultural effectiveness. (Motivation theory suggests five interdependent levels of basic human needs (motivators) that must be satisfied in a strict sequence starting with the lowest level. Physiological needs for survival (to stay alive and reproduce) and security (to feel safe) are the most fundamental and most pressing needs. They are followed by social needs (for love and belonging) and self-esteem needs (to feel worthy, respected, and have status). The final and highest level needs are self-actualization needs (self-fulfillment and achievement). More information is available at http://bit.ly/1VPYfV2.)

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