The Magnetic Advantage by Pascha Kelley

Author:Pascha Kelley [Kelley, Pascha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946629265
Publisher: Performance Publishing Group
Published: 2019-01-24T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Cultural Symbols

SYMBOLS REPRESENT THE COMPANY’S CULTURE in a tangible way. To create a Magnetic Culture, create unique symbols that inspire and motivate your employees. These symbols probably won’t have meaning for people outside of your organization, which is actually a good thing. Cultural symbols make employees feel like insiders, which promotes a sense of togetherness.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, at Scandipharm, we had a War Room with the symbols of our struggles and victories. We had a mounted wolf head with his tongue hanging out that we called “Scandiwolf.” The wolf was our company mascot. Our founder chose the wolf because of its pack mentality of working together toward a goal. He got this idea from a leadership book, Wisdom of Wolves: Leadership Lessons from Nature, by Twyman Towery.

In the War Room, we had axe handles hanging on the wall with teal ribbons hanging off of them. After a company setback, a marketing manager said in frustration that every time we start to peek our head out of the hole, someone comes along and smacks us back down with an axe handle. Those axe handles represented our struggle and determination not to be held back.

Each axe handle had a plaque engraved with the name of a department. During award ceremonies, employees were recognized for short-term accomplishments with teal ribbons which stated their achievements. The ribbons were then glued to the appropriate axe handles. So, the ribbons represented our accomplishments toward taking down the obstacles that stood in our way to success. By the way, the color teal was our corporate color. These axe handles engaged the employees and cost the company very little money.

At Ziglar, one of our symbols is the water pump. When I first arrived at Ziglar training, I was wondering, “What is the deal with the pump?” I found out that at Ziglar this symbol represents hard work and persistence that lead to success. It is based on one of Zig’s most famous stories that goes something like this:

There were two ol’ boys driving around in south Alabama on a hot August day. They became thirsty and pulled over to an old abandoned farmhouse. There was a pump sitting on top of a well. One of the boys grabbed the handle and started pumping. However, no water came out. The boys figured out that they needed to put water from a nearby creek into the pump to prime it

The boys primed the pump and kept pumping for several more minutes and still nothing came out. One of the boys was ready to give up, but the other reminded him that the wells are deep in south Alabama. This is good because the deeper the well, the cooler, the cleaner, the sweeter, and the better tasting the water.

One of the boys did give up and stopped pumping. The other grabbed the pump and kept pumping because he knew that the water would go back down the well and all of their effort would be for nothing. Finally, fresh, clean water came pouring out of the well.

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