Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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

This is a wonderful book that delivers principles and examples of the processes that are used to create and manage strong brands. If, as Dr. McCracken argues, the prevailing culture is the locus of the values that shape consumer attitudes, then this is the book that offers insights into how to mine the culture to get to those values. It presents a strong case why corporations should have a senior manager dedicated to mining the culture. An enjoyable read filled with great stories.

If you're in the business of breaking free from the status quo...Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation is a must read. Because we're all trying to have impact, it makes sense to invest in developing a better, more comprehensive understanding of how to read the culture and then craft offerings to meet real needs and interests.

I like McCraken's awareness that there really are two angles to mastering culture. It helps "discover advantage, opportunity and innovation while making us alert to "cataclysmic change." If I'm leading an organization committed to making a difference, I've got to develop that awareness. This is a book that will help you do both.

After reading Chief Culture Officer, you will never again see the marketplace in quite the same light. Grant McCracken presents a compelling case for viewing strategy as a cultural endeavor, and not a combative one.

For my whole career in publishing as a writer, editor and now editor in chief I've wondered...What the hell am I? This book answers THAT question. I'm a CCO...and proud of it, if not paid for it. The formula(s) for HUGE corporate success are all contained in these pages. Most mega-corps still fail because they essentially FAIL finding and keeping creatives of the calibre discribed and perscribed by this book. Read it and reap...or read it and weep if you DON'T follow the path and potential so well captured here.

This book is long overdue. It brings culture into the forefront in creating a space for innovation. Definitely on my must read list for clients.

Grant McCracken has perhaps given corporate America a chance to thrive during these turbulent times; the key is to focus on what direction society is heading, and to stay one step ahead of it; a very simple strategy, but with profoundly complicated implementation.

For any organization to succeed in this day and age; where information is so vital; it must learn to understand the direction society is heading, right now. Losing focus of this can be fatal; that makes McCracken's advice critical for long-term survival. If you're a CEO of any corporation, your best bet is to grab a copy of this book, and get busy implementing the strategies.

Great case studies and interesting perspectives on "slow culture" and pop culture, hiring the right, intuitive people to balance out the office quotient of sometimes over practical and goal oriented managers. Here's a book on long term goals and growing the business in the long run--the rising importance of the role of a "Chief Cultural officer"