Navigating the ghosts of cultures past

The only constant in life is change. This truth is as salient today as it was when the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus posited the idea centuries ago. It’s a truth that most modern leaders know firsthand, especially when it comes to culture. Culture is in constant flux. Emergent ideas are introduced to an organization—be they new technologies or nascent philosophies—which catalyze new imaginations and result in new ways of work. However, the question isn’t if things will change but how and when? So, we sat down with the former CMO of McDonald’s North America, Tariq Hassan, for this week’s episode of the From the Culture podcast to talk about cultural change and how leaders can best navigate it.

As Hassan poetically puts it, every organization is haunted by the ghosts of cultures past. These are the existing conventions of an organization that were once introduced and integrated into its operating system but linger about even after a leader departs. Some were advantageous in the moment but perhaps soured over time. Others were likely rejected at first glance but eventually revealed themselves to be useful. These cultural contributions can be edifying or detrimental to an organization. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon new leaders to identify which ghosts should be summoned and which ought to be exorcised.

How Will I Know

According to Hassan, a trained strategist turned C-suite executive, culture should evolve but also remain static. This dynamic might seem paradoxical on the surface, but it is empirically supported by the literature. Famed anthropologist Grant McCracken refers to this as “fast and slow” culture. Slow culture consists of the deeply held beliefs and assumptions of an organization that inform “how we do things around here.” Fast culture, on the other hand, is a reflection of the organization’s beliefs in a contemporary context, based on the realities of today. They both exist at the same time but change at different rates.

Slow culture moves at a glacier pace, if at all. This is the static nature of culture that Hassan argues is the anchor of an organization that keeps it stable. Fast culture is far more temporal—the evolving parts of Hassan’s cultural calculus. When considering change, new leaders must distinguish between the fast and the slow, which parts must be revisited (the fast) and which should be reinforced (the slow). This is where reenvisioning comes into play for the CEO and executions become contextualized for managers.

Three Ideas

To navigate these complexities, Hassan offers three recommendations. First, leaders must approach change with great humility. This means realizing that someone was there before you who helped get the organization to where it is today. As good as you may be, you can’t enter the company thinking Everyone here is incompetent and only I, alone, will save it. Doing so is to ignore the cultural conventions that ushered in its past successes or, worse, it may lead you to erroneously mistake them for the lingering conventions that may have prevented the organization from thriving. Discerning the differences is key.

Secondly, Hassan suggests adopting a curious mindset. As a leader, he’s far more infatuated with questions than he is with answers. Questions invite other members of the organization who have experienced previous cultures to contribute to the exploration of change. It allows leaders to brain surf the institutional knowledge that already exists and leverage the endowment effect so that members of the team feel a sense of ownership in the change. That way, they are a part of the change as opposed to the change happening to them.

Lastly, Hassan emphasizes the importance of empathy—self-aware perspective taking. Considering the kaleidoscope of meanings the world presents to our collective sense; having more perspectives provides a vivid picture of the organization’s reality, which helps you, as a leader, lead change more effectively. This, as Hassan notes, is not only true of business culture but also of culture more broadly. And that’s spot-on. Things aren’t the way they are; they are the way that we are, to paraphrase famed French-born author Anaïs Nin. And if that is the case, then understanding the multiple perspectives of the organization is critical to truly understanding the organization itself. Without this understanding, how can you effectively lead change?

Check out our full conversation with Tariq Hassan on the From the Culture podcast, where we explore the inner workings of organizational culture with the leaders who lead them.

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