The Thousand Small Moments That Define Your Culture

A note to young leaders.

Will and Ariel Durant spent half a century chronicling the rise and fall of civilisations and empires.

When Life magazine asked them in 1963 what insight stood out most from a lifetime of study, Will Durant offered this:

“Civilisation is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record – while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues.”

History remembers the stream, but civilisation is built on the banks.

The same is true of corporate culture.

The posters, town halls and glamorous programs often get all the attention. But culture isn’t found there.

Culture is in the thousand little things. It’s in the way team members speaks to one another each day, whether they share information or hoard it, how they hold one another accountable, and how they react when someone makes a mistake.

If you want to understand a culture, ignore the banners. Observe the banks.