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 They tend to have cultures of “concealment” rather than “transparency”.

CORPORATE CULTURE CHAMPIONS AND CULTURE
FRANKENSTEINS ARE CREATED

A corporate culture champion is created by systematic effort. It begins with a
corporate leader (typically but not always) a CEO who has a strong belief in the
importance of culture as an intangible asset. We have documented the examples of
several corporate culture champions in our book, Corporate Culture: The Ultimate
Strategic Asset (Stanford University Press, 2011).38 These examples include well-
known companies such as Starbucks, Google, Southwest Airlines, and Walmart.
They also include lesser known but true culture champions such as Emergent
BioSolutions, Smartmatic, and Infogix.
Similarly, a Culture Frankenstein must be created. It takes effort to create a toxic
culture! Examples of companies that have created a culture Frankenstein to one
degree or another include not just those listed above but also: Wells Fargo with its
problem of a dysfunctional incentive system that led employees to create
unauthorized accounts; Toyota which experienced the so-called “sudden
acceleration problem” that led to several injuries and deaths; and Uber, whose
dysfunctional culture led to: 1) accusations of sexual harassment at
corporate, 2) a claim of intellectual property theft, and 3) a culture of ill-
treatment of Uber drivers.39

HOW TO CREATE A CORPORATE CULTURE
CHAMPION

Unfortunately, an in depth discussion of what must be done to create a corporate
culture champion is beyond the scope of this article. However, we will identify
some of the key steps here. We will also describe an opportunity below for those
interested to gain a deeper understanding.

38 See Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle, Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset, Stanford
University Press, 2016.
39 Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, Business, Thursday March 2, 2017, p. 1, 4.

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