350: How to Create an Unstoppable Culture, with Ginger Hardage
Coaching for Leaders
Dave Stachowiak
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2018
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ginger Hardage: Unstoppable Cultures
Ginger Hardage is the former senior vice president of culture at Southwest Airlines. She led a team responsible for building and sustaining the organization’s legendary culture and communications enterprise, resulting in 23 consecutive years on Fortune’s list of Top 10 Most Admired Companies in the World.
Key Points
Three Characteristics of an Unstoppable Culture:
- Putting people first
- Constantly nourishing your culture
- Sharing stories relentlessly
- Cultures don’t happen accidentally — they have to be managed.
- Start with your company values and then hire for those values.
- Use peers to help select and interview candidates.
- If the leadership team is not fully engaged, employees will be able to tell.
- Capture customer stories and share them with your employees.
- Set your company vision and expectations, but don’t prescribe how you employees must go about doing it.
Resources Mentioned
- Hire Tough Manage Easy* by Mel Kleiman
- Unstoppable Cultures Fellowship
- Exuberant Dancing Airport Employee Will Instantly Make Your Day More Enjoyable
- How Southwest Airlines Uses Emotional Storytelling To Connect With Its Customers
- Turn the Ship Around* by David Marquet
Related Episodes
- Turn Followers Into Leaders, with David Marquet (episode 241)
- How to Get the Ideal Team Player, with Patrick Lencioni (episode 301)
- The Way to Capture the Power of Moments, with Chip Heath (episode 329)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you poll the average person and ask them to name a few companies with incredible corporate cultures, |
| 0:06.0 | almost always Southwest Airlines will be one of the first companies mentioned. |
| 0:11.0 | On this episode, wisdom from the person who led Southwest corporate |
| 0:15.1 | culture for many years and the lessons for all of us on creating our own unstoppable |
| 0:21.3 | cultures. This is coaching for leaders episode 350. |
| 0:25.2 | Produced by Innovate Learning Maximizing Human Potential. Central. Greetings to you from Orange County, California. |
| 0:37.0 | This is coaching for leaders and I'm your host, Dave Stahoviac. |
| 0:42.0 | Leaders aren't born, they're made, and this weekly show gives you access |
| 0:46.5 | to the practical wisdom that will empower you to become a better leader. So glad you joined in for today's conversation. I hope you are buckled |
| 0:55.9 | in and ready for takeoff because today I've got someone with us who is just such an expert on organizational culture and how to lead culture in such a way that |
| 1:09.2 | is beneficial to the people who work in the organization, that's beneficial to the people who work in the organization, |
| 1:13.0 | that's beneficial to the results that the company receives, |
| 1:16.4 | and most importantly just has a ton of fun too. |
| 1:20.0 | And I am so glad to welcome Ginger Hartage to the show today. |
| 1:23.4 | Ginger was until recently the Senior Vice President of Culture at Southwest Airlines. |
| 1:28.4 | She led a team responsible for building and sustaining the organization's |
| 1:32.4 | legendary culture and communications enterprise, |
| 1:35.5 | resulting in 23 consecutive years on Fortune's list of top 10 most admired companies in the world. |
| 1:43.0 | She is recognized by many as the world's foremost global authority |
| 1:47.0 | on building and sustaining organizational culture. |
| 1:50.0 | In 2017, Ginger launched unstoppable cultures, a brand designed to help organizations create |
| 1:56.2 | and sustain cultures of enduring greatness. |
... |
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