The Keeper of the Company Culture: The CEO

One of the themes in a recent The Ownership Culture Check-Up presentation was the importance of upper management's commitment to building a strong ownership culture. That commitment starts with the President and CEO. The CEO as Keeper of the Culture discusses the importance of strong leadership in developing and maintaining a strong ownership culture. By modeling and recognizing desired behaviors, the CEO of American Fidelity Assurance set the stage for a strong culture:

American Fidelity Assurance has built a strong culture of fairness and respect that looks to Bill, as the CEO, as an example for behavior and values. With a high degree of accountability for upholding the company values and a goal of maintaining people's confidence in the organization as a whole, Bill is well aware of his role in the culture of the organization and takes personal responsibility for upholding the culture already in place.

The CEO, a third generation leader, affects the culture via company security and fair practices:

When considering how a CEO's behavior can affect the culture of an entire organization and its success, Bill approaches the issue in two areas: company security and fair practices. He cites the positive, upbeat culture at American Fidelity as the source of people's confidence that the company is stable, especially since the company is privately held. Bill added, "I think when people can have a comfortable feeling about their jobs, it gives them the ability to focus on what they're doing as opposed to focusing on what their future looks like."

The article also discusses the company's five values ("AFs") of "always fair,... always flexible, future-oriented, focused on niche markets, and financially secure," and how they live out their AFs during their decision making process:

These values came into place 15 years ago after a process where the senior management team came together to conclude what American Fidelity was all about. Bill takes responsibility to adhere to these values – especially in decision making – even if it can be "uncomfortable," as he puts it. For him, there is no gap between corporate values and personal values: "It's important that the values you hold for yourself really are your values and not just something you are trying to do that's not real."

We previously discussed the importance of the Relationship Between the CEO and Human Resources in building, improving, and sustaining a strong company culture.