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436 PART 5: THE LEADER AS SOCIAL ARCHITECT

IN THE LEAD Synapse are typically assertive, self-confident, and take pride in doing a superior job.
The company’s commitment to quality means “setting high standards and aspiring
to perfection in everything we do.” Those who perform well and meet, aggressive
goals are handsomely rewarded. Those who don’t are fi red. Synapse doesn’t tolerate
underperformers because leaders believe winners want to be with winners. And
although leaders encourage risk-taking and accept that failure is sometimes a neces-
sary collateral of progress, they refuse to forgive failure that is a result of careless-
ness or sloppy thinking.
The culture of winning at Synapse helped the company achieve its vision of
becoming the largest distributor of magazine subscriptions before its tenth birth-
day. After becoming a subsidiary of Time Inc. in 2001, leaders set a new vision to
become a billion-dollar global business. With the aggressive goals set by top leaders
and employees who thrive on the intense, competitive culture, it’s likely Synapse
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will achieve that vision in record time as well.
The emphasis on competitiveness and achieving results should not be taken to
mean that leaders at Synapse don’t care about their employees. They strive to cre-
ate an environment that is inspiring and fun in order to both motivate and reward
people. Yet the primary culture values are aggressiveness, achievement, personal ini-
tiative, and striving for perfection. People who don’t want to work hard and reach
high standards don’t last long at Synapse.

Clan Culture
Clan culture
Clan culture The clan culture has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of em-
culture with an internal
culture with an internal
focus on the involvement and
focus on the involvement and ployees to meet changing expectations from the external environment. More than
participation of employees to
participation of employees to any other, this culture places value on meeting the needs of organization members.
meet changing expectations Companies with clan cultures are generally friendly places to work, and employ-
meet changing expectations
from the external environment
from the external environment
ees may seem almost like a family. Leaders emphasize cooperation, consideration
of both employees and customers, and avoiding status differences. Leaders put a
premium on fairness and reaching agreement with others.
One company that achieves success with a clan culture is Sargento Foods Inc.,
which processes and markets cheese. Sargento’s commitment to employees
started with its founder, Leonard Gentine, Sr., whose philosophy was
Action Memo
“hire good people and treat them like family.” At Sargento, one of the
most important values is taking care of employees and making sure they
As a leader, you can align the organization’s
have whatever they need to be satisfied and productive. Even in diffi cult

culture to its strategy and the needs
times, Sargento maintains a commitment to comprehensive employee
of the external environment. You can

benefits and rewards such as profit sharing. The company’s lifelong learn-

choose to implement the appropriate
ing program offers 100 percent tuition reimbursement for full-time em-
culture (adaptability, achievement, clan, or
ployees to take classes from the associate to the doctoral level, even if the
bureaucratic) depending on environmental
classes aren’t related to their work at Sargento. Sargento also offers fl exible
requirements and the organization’s
strategic focus.
hours, and leaders encourage people to live a balanced life rather than work
long hours and express a hard-charging, competitive spirit. Other key values
include trust, fairness, and cooperation. At Sargento, employees care about
each other and the company, a focus that helps the company do more with fewer
resources and remain competitive against larger rivals such as Kraft and Borden. 52
Bureaucratic Culture
Bureaucratic culture
Bureaucratic culture The bureaucratic culture has an internal focus and consistency orientation for a
culture with an internal focus
culture with an internal focus stable environment. The culture supports a methodical, rational, orderly way of
and consistency orientation for a
and consistency orientation for a
stable environment
stable environment doing business. Following the rules and being thrifty are valued. The organization
succeeds by being highly integrated and effi cient.