The Taste of the Sea – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

A metaphor for values and culture in organizations

Photo by YUCAR FotoGrafik on Unsplash

"…one can know the taste of the sea from a single gulp" (A. Solzhenitsyn). That line opens a book that is leaving a deep mark on me, The Gulag Archipelago. It’s powerful, intense and brutally hard in what it tells, in what happened and in what could happen again if any hint of authoritarianism isn’t stopped at the outset. Solzhenitsyn isn’t new to me. Years ago I read The First Circle, another of his great works, but this collection now in my hands tells a story of Dantean proportions, and it grabbed me from the first line, above all because of how much it says about the culture of so many organizations. What is culture? Why do toxic cultures exist, and how can we spot them early? How does culture relate to values?

In some very powerful conversations with fellow coaches about culture and values, my colleague Karol Calderón told me, "Organizations have three kinds of values: the ones on the wall, the ones that should be on the wall and the ones people actually live day to day." How do we tell them apart? Reading Solzhenitsyn, I found part of the answer: you can know the sea from a single gulp. Just watch how a boss treats their team. If we could observe a single meeting from a "meta" position, we’d notice many things that aren’t obvious, and that one sample would tell us a lot about the culture of the whole organization.

A culture of values will most likely prize respect, let it guide its decisions and tolerate no disrespect, and when the moment calls for a more directive approach, it will accept and understand that given the situation. What’s unacceptable is preaching values while living the opposite, and worse still, knowing it and doing nothing to change it. Many organizations are built on cultures of values, and they’re exceptional. Others hold values in theory only and are a complete failure, yet they last and somehow stay afloat "without knowing why." A culture of values rewards merit, results and goals, and it also honors life, people, their freedoms and the way others are and live in this world.

Why do those three kinds of values exist (the ones on the wall and the rest)? Values are never simple. Aligning a culture around a common goal, let alone a common purpose, adds complexity. The biggest challenge, though, is the fear of daring to correct the culture, of admitting what should be done better and, above all, of taking the leap toward rewarding and steering toward what’s good while refusing to tolerate what’s bad. Doing good will always come from having the right values on the wall and looking EVERY day for ways to live them. Darkness takes no effort. Light takes work. Staying quiet while someone runs roughshod over a colleague in a meeting is easier than confronting it and trying to fix it. Saint Josemaría wrote, "Never be afraid of the truth, even if it brings you death."

We have to work at doing good, and doing good means having a purpose in this life, clear values that define our essence, goals to fight for every day (which lift us to another level as human beings) and, above all, ALL our will to serve others. Enduring pain, and doing what it takes to endure it, is in our hands. So is keeping that pain from spreading to others. Toxic or dark cultures exist because someone chose to put up with them and never stop them. Stopping them takes leadership, courage and the bravery to bring the light organizations need so badly today: cultures built on values.

Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA (what I was Watching, Listening to, Reading and Learning):

• Watching: Q&A. A terrific show with powerful questions and several interesting panelists.
• Listening to: How to Change the World. An episode we should all hear, especially my generation.
• Reading: The Gulag Archipelago. The book I mention in this post. Everyone should read these three volumes.
• Learning: Enchiridion. An exceptional book by Epictetus.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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