Alex Osterwalder: How to Design Organizational Culture

At Business of Software Conference USA 2015, Alex Osterwalder described the key steps in designing an effective organizational culture.

In most companies, there is a gap between the actual culture and the desired culture.

“Your company’s culture is your operating system” – Dave Gray.

Why does culture matter and how can we design it?

Potential Culture Issues

  • Loudest people get promoted
  • Bonuses not correlated to current performance
  • Culture of fear
  • Managers don’t give feedback

What does a great company look like?

  • Makes a profit
  • Gets customers excited
  • Gets employees excited
  • Makes the world better

“The world is full of bankrupt companies with world-class cultures. Culture does not make a company” – Ben Horowitz

This applies to startups, but existing companies can suffer dramatically from bad culture.

Culture Map

  • Used to systematically design organizational cultures
  • Based in research on culture development and success
  • Uses experimentation and testing to design better organizational cultures

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AMA Held January 2017

AMA


Alex Osterwalder
Alex Osterwalder

Alex Osterwalder

Dr. Alexander (Alex) Osterwalder, founder & CEO of Strategyzer, is one of the world’s most influential strategy and innovation experts. A leading author, entrepreneur, and in-demand speaker, his work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started.

Ranked no. 4 of the top 50 management thinkers worldwide and a visiting professor at IMD, Osterwalder is known for simplifying the strategy development process and turning complex concepts into digestible visual models. Together with Yves Pigneur, he invented the Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, and Business Portfolio Map – practical tools that are trusted by millions of business practitioners from leading global companies, including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Mastercard, Sony, Fujitsu, 3M, Intel, Roche, Colgate-Palmolive, and many more.

Strategyzer is an innovation powerhouse, providing online courses, applications, and technology-enabled services to help organizations effectively and systematically manage strategy, growth, and transformation.

Osterwalder’s books include the international bestseller «Business Model Generation», «Value Proposition Design», «Testing Business Ideas», «The Invincible Company,» and «High-Impact Tools for Teams».

He holds the Strategy Award from Thinkers50 and the European Union’s inaugural Innovation Luminary Award. In 2019, Osterwalder chaired the prestigious Drucker Forum, the premiere annual business management conference. A frequent and popular keynote speaker, Osterwalder travels the world discussing his ideas and strategies at Fortune 500 companies, premiere innovation conferences, and leading universities.

He holds a doctorate from HEC Lausanne/Switzerland and is a founding member of The Constellation, a global not-for-profit organization connecting local responses to global issues around the world.

More by Alex.


Online workshops

New to AI in your business?
AI in Your Business: Where to Start
Set up your AI company OS. Two sessions, cohort of 12.
“I’ve been talking to it loads about positioning, sales framing, North Star metrics. I came up with a succinct statement that I really like.”
Marv Rance, InTouch
Register now Want to do it with just you? One-on-one option ›
Already set up your OS?
Building Your AI Company
Operating System
Not sure what to do next. Four weeks, cohort of 12, with Tim Barker and Mark Littlewood.
“I think about the business differently than I used to. I would never have come to that conclusion without this process.”
Stephen, cohort participant
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