Ignore Culture at Your Own Peril

How the Queen Got It Right

A Royal Swan Warden during the annual “swan upping“ or census of the swans on the river Thames in the UK.

In Season 6 of The Crown, Prime Minister Tony Blair urges the Queen to try to update the monarchy by “purging the honorifics.” By this he means getting rid of the ceremonial appointments that made the royals seem ridiculously outmoded. 

The Queen appears persuadable and asks her staff for a list of potentially superfluous posts so she can consider who and what might be cut. Does the Crown really need an official Herb Strewer? A Piper to the Sovereign? A Warden of the Swans? A Yeoman of the Glass and China pantry? A Queen’s Guide to the Sands?

Or do these medieval relics serve little purpose, as Blair suggests, while exposing the royal family to mockery in a fast-changing world?

The Queen begins to interview the people who hold these apparently anachronistic posts to determine exactly what they do and who could be let go. 

But as she becomes more familiar with what they contribute, she gets a lesson about the culture she represents. Take for example the Warden of the Swans, who (along with the Marker of the Swans) bears responsibility for the large swan population that has swum freely through the streams and open waters of England since the 12^th century. 

If their positions were cut, how would the swan population be maintained? Would these serene creatures disappear from the streams and waterways that wind through city and countryside all over England? And if that were to happen, might not something that makes England so distinctive be lost?

As she conducts her interviews, the Queen comes to see these positions not as pointless royal perks, but as helping to define the nation’s historic culture.

Watching the episode reminded me of a biotech firm I worked with recently. The company– let’s call it BioPharma– had enjoyed a long and very good run. But as competition grew fierce, it began to struggle with its core mission of developing biology-based medicines and bringing them to market. Talking to a range of employees, I found reservoirs of resentment over how the company was trying to redefine itself.  

“Our founders were very collaborative. This was built this into our culture, which meant the whole team got recognized when anyone had a success,” said one senior manager. “Plus everyone tended to be relatively well-rewarded. We were not a ‘Versailles to the pigsty’ kind of company, where a handful of people make a ton of money and everyone else feels underpaid.”

However, as the founders retired, the new leadership decided they needed to pursue a strategy of attracting industry superstars by enticing them with huge payouts. The theory was that the superstars would bring with them the magic that had made them successful, to the benefit of BioPharma. 

The problem was that it simply did not work. This should not be surprising. As Boris Groysberg, in his classic study on the portability of talent, Chasing Stars, comprehensively demonstrated, outsized performance is inextricable from the culture that made it possible. It’s not an easily transferable asset because it’s not rooted solely in individual talent. 

Groysberg charted the careers of hundreds of high-performing investment analysts who had been hired away by competing firms. Very few achieved anything approaching their previous success, and a significant number totally flamed out. The problem was that both the companies who hired them and the superstars themselves underestimated the role that others played in making them a success. Teams and team culture had not been a part of their calculus. 

It should have been. And BioPharma is a perfect example of how this type of decision-making played out badly. The superstars they lured away with salary increases never found their footing. As one noted, it seemed like a no-brainer, leaving his former company for bigger pay. It never occurred to him that he would flounder without the team, the boss, and the support staff that had helped him flourish. 

Assuming that a bold new strategy would make it cool (and more attractive to investors) did not pay off for BioPharma. Part of the problem was that the new leadership team completely overlooked what this strategy would do to its culture.

 But people who worked there noticed. 

Having been part of an organization in which they felt their contributions were valued, they lost heart fast when they were no longer seen as playing a key role in the company’s success. The collaborative spirit that had made the company distinctive and strong faded quickly. The new leadership’s solution? Hire more superstars.

They could have spared themselves a lot of turmoil if they’d taken a lesson from the Queen. Rather than assuming that Tony Blair’s updating strategy would work, she took the time to delve into the details of how the monarchy she led actually functioned. Digging around enabled her to identify and place a proper value on  the culture that she served.

Like what you’re reading? Click here to order my most recent book Rising Together from Amazon. Also available from your favorite bookseller. Thank you for your support!