Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation [Hardcover]

Grant McCracken (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2009

Levi-Strauss, the jeans and apparel maker, missed out on the hip-hop trend. They didn’t realize that those kids in baggy jeans represented a whole new—and lucrative—market opportunity, one they could have seen coming if they had but been paying attention to the shape of American culture.

Levi Strauss isn’t alone. Too many corporations outsource their understanding of culture to trend hunters, cool watchers, marketing experts, consulting firms, and, sometimes, teenage interns. The cost to Levi-Strauss was a billion dollars. The cost to the rest of corporate America is immeasurable.

The lesson? The American corporation needs a new professional. It needs a Chief Culture Officer.

Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world’s biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends—from sneakers to slow food to preppies—while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCO’s professionalism would allow the corporation to see coming changes, even when they only exist as the weakest of signals.

Delightfully authoritative, trenchantly on point, bursting with insight and character, Chief Culture Officer is sure to expand your horizons—and your business.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. McCracken (Flock and Flow), a research affiliate at Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT, argues that every company needs a chief cultural officer to anticipate cultural trends rather than passively waiting and reacting. CCOs should have the ability to process massive amounts of data and spot crucial developments among an array of possibilities; they will be able to see the future coming, no matter which industry they serve, and create value for shareholders, move product, create profit and increase the bottom line. McCracken provides an impressive list of individuals deeply connected and in tune with the zeitgeist including Steve Jobs, A.G. Lafley, Mary Minnick, Joss Whedon and Johnny Depp—who fought Disney in order to create a campy male lead in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie—as well as such corporations as Starbucks and Nike that have refashioned culture. McCracken's case is persuasive, and his book, peppered with pop culture references and enlivened by his restlessly inquisitive nature (and ability to strike up conversation with just about anyone), makes for enlightening and entertaining reading. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Seth Godin, author of Tribes & Purple Cow
“The title of this book is a lie. It's not merely for companies that decide they need a Chief Culture Officer, or even just for those who aspire to that job. It's for you. Right now. If your job involves marketing, inventing, selling or simply investing in companies that make stuff, this book is a must read.”

John Deighton, Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
“For those who are open to its thrall, Chief Culture Officer will change the trajectory of their lives.”

Faris Yakob, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Strategist, McCann Erickson New York
“In Chief Culture Officer, Grant McCracken highlights the increasing importance of cultural understanding for brands that wish to remain relevant—and profitable—in the protean flux of the modern marketplace, as he carves out a new role for the 21st century corporation. The best marketers can hope for is to create something that resonates so strongly it becomes part of our cultural fabric. This book is an indispensable tool for achieving that goal.”

Tyler Cowen, author of Create Your Own Economy
“I have deep admiration and respect for Grant McCracken, a nimble thinker who combines a mastery of marketing, culture, anthropology, and modern business practice. Chief Culture Officer has many lessons for anyone interested in understanding how to run a successful business in the early 21st century. It will prove one of the most stimulating books of the year.”

Philip Kotler, author of Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence
“Marketing gets failing grades when it comes to understanding and using culture. In Chief Culture Officer—a delectable cultural soup that is sure to stir your taste buds—Grant McCracken makes a compelling case that culture will be marketing’s next silver bullet. I whole-heartedly endorse his call for bringing culture-thinking into the company.”

Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey through Silicon Valley
“This is a marvel of a business book: highly entertaining, original, and provocative. Entrepreneurs who want to understand their customers, target market, and the cultural dynamics that shape the business world—which is to say all entrepreneurs—need to read it.”

Richard Grefé, CEO, AIGA | the professional association for design
“Grant McCracken, once again, sees clearly the patterns in which innovation, enterprise, and smart people can influence change, create value, and respond to popular culture, where real people experience choice. The book is terrific and spot on.”

Marian Salzman, partner and chief marketing officer, Porter Novelli
“Grant McCracken has cracked the holy grail of what’s next to blend talent management, corporate strategy, and trendspotting, and his storytelling style captivates and educates. I am blown away.”

Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
“Building on decades of eye-opening research into the culture of consumption, Grant McCracken demonstrates why many companies get blindsided by cultural factors that were hidden in plain view, and offers a compelling argument for why they need to bring cultural expertise into their executive suite. Here's hoping more corporate executives hear his call.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465018327
• ISBN-13: 978-0465018321
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Trained as an anthropologist (Ph.D. University of Chicago), Grant has studied American culture and commerce for 25 years.

He has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and worked for many organizations including Timberland, New York Historical Society, Diageo, IKEA, Sesame Street, Nike, and Kimberly Clark.

He started the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum, where he did the first museum exhibit on youth cultures.

He has taught anthropology at the University of Cambridge, ethnography at MIT, and marketing at the Harvard Business School. He is presently a research affiliate in the Department of Comparative Media at MIT.

He is a long time student of culture and commerce. He has explored this theme in two books: Culture and Consumption I, and Culture and Consumption II.

He has also looked at how Americans invent and reinvent themselves. He had explored this theme in two more books: Big Hair and Transformations: identity construction in a contemporary culture.

He is the student of American culture. Plenitude published in 1997 looked at the new explosive growth of contemporary culture. In Flock and Flow, he shows how contemporary culture and commerce change.

Two years ago, he published a book called Chief Culture Officer with Basic Books that argues that culture now creates so much opportunity and danger for the organization that need senior managers who focus on it full time. He is hoping this will create a new occupational destination for graduates in the arts and humanities.

This spring Grant is publishing a book called Culturematic with the Harvard Business Review Press.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Capitalism Meets Culture January 12, 2010

By Shara J. Karasic

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fabulous book! Years ago I sat in a graduate anthropology class, fascinated by culture but unable to truly understand how obtuse language and postmodernist theories could illuminate it, or allow us to use knowledge of culture to solve real problems. I ended up not pursuing anthropology academically and instead made a career in online community, where it's really important to understand people who use your site and get what will be popular or viral and what tiny details will matter a lot. I have sometimes worked for big corporations that were not quite living and breathing - it puzzled me how to penetrate the mind of the CFO and CEO and make them understand that we really had to get in the mind of the people using our product. Well, here's a great guide to applying anthropology to the business world - in fact, Grant McCracken shows us that every successful brand will need a Chief Cultural Officer at its helm.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love it! January 7, 2010

By Stefano Somenzi

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If, like me, you have ever got the feeling that there is something fake or missing in the corporate culture message of the company you work for, than this book is a must have. You will see how culture is the place you go for innovation and for granting your business a competitive advantage.

If, like me, you've seen some of your best work poisoned by "death by committee" than you'll enjoy reading this book. You'll learn how some CEOs have managed to liberate good ideas from bureaucracy.

If, like me, you think you have to do something in your company to grant there is a methodical approach in culture understanding and leveraging , than this book is going to be a great companion for your journey. You'll learn how your company can minimize risks by embracing culture as a vital piece of a business model design.

To Grant McCracken I can simply say: Thank You!

Stefano Somenzi
RtM Consulting
Managing Partner

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A must read, but must not read all of it April 27, 2010

By R. G. Porter

Format:Hardcover

It's a great idea, with a few good examples of having an ear on culture to truly bring positive change to society and profit to corporations, and a lot of examples of corporations appropriating and exploiting culture. A lot of the examples were just successful marketing campaigns -- things like Coca-Cola and the "Coke side of Life", and Nike's "Just do it", un-inspirational marketing campaigns. Some were good, too, like Dove's campaign.
My main problem with this book is it seems to take too defensive of a stance. If you are convinced a CCO is a good idea after the first couple chapters (or before you buy the book), the rest of the book is basically filler. I would have much preferred a far shorter book with far fewer examples and more about two-way relationships between corporations/business and culture.
My message here is not "don't buy it", but that some may not need the whole book.