From kid programmer in 1971 to
Forbes cover story in 2003,
Joy, Inc. author Richard Sheridan (U-M grad BS Computer Science '80, MS Computer Engineering '82) has never shied from challenges, opportunities nor the limelight. While his focus has always been around technology, his passion is actually process, teamwork and organizational design, with one inordinately popular goal: the Business Value of Joy! Sheridan is an avid reader and historian, and his software design and development team at
Menlo Innovations didn't invent a new culture, but copied an old one ... Edison's Menlo Park New Jersey lab. Henry Ford's recreation of the Menlo Park Lab in Greenfield Village was a childhood inspiration!
Some call it agile, some call it lean … Sheridan and his team call it joyful. And it produces results, business and otherwise. Five Inc. magazine revenue growth awards, invites to the White House, speaking engagements around the nation, numerous articles and culture awards and so much public interest, the company is doing a tour a day of the Menlo Software Factory™.
The Terroir of Joy, Work and Culture
Terroir is a french term which refers to a "sense of place" or more exactly, the earth of a place, with the thought that a place's "earth" is unique and the food grown there expresses the qualities of that earth. Often applied to wine regions, it reflects not only the earth, but the choices of the people who work that earth. For example, what kind of grapes do they grow there? Where exactly are they planted? How are they tended and harvested? Each region has their own differentiation and the connoisseur can taste the difference.
So it is with companies and human culture. Each region has its cultural terroir. New York City, Silicon Valley, Detroit, and Las Vegas each have their own "flavor" when it comes to companies, products and the types of workplaces you'll find there.
There's something in the earth of Ann Arbor that lends itself to positive culture and it's been here for a long time. I just released a book called
Joy, Inc. - How We Built a Workplace People Love, so the idea of positive culture has been on my mind for a while. While we are very proud of the culture we've created at Menlo, it would have been impossible for us to grow such a culture without the grand influence of the positivity already here. We drew from many sources and people, and most of them are right here in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti region.
In my earliest work life in Ann Arbor, I had the great fortune to meet Kathy Macdonald of The Macdonald Group. Kathy was a neighbor and great friend, and it just so happened my wife worked for Kathy. When I went to visit Kathy's office, I found myself fascinated with the business books on her shelf. This was one of my first tastes of reading business books, and Kathy was so giving, she let me borrow book after book from her shelves. This began my pursuit of great business culture. These authors became my teachers. Kathy still fills my head with grand ideas all these years later.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, my future co-founder, James Goebel, was getting a similar fill of positive culture long before I met him. As he pursued an MBA at EMU, there were a few professors and courses that greatly affected James' thinking. In particular, professors Christine Day and Diana Wong planted the seeds of radically positive management approaches. I would eventually meet James in 1999, when I brought him in as a consultant during my time as VP of R&D at Interface Systems, Inc. We were meant for one another. All these years later, Diana Wong and her company, Sensei Change, provide companies the same opportunities for positive change that James learned in her class.
It was also during this time at Interface Systems, that I first came into contact with Dannemiller Tyson, a management consulting firm founded by Kathy Dannemiller. Many organizational development leaders can trace their roots to Dannemiller Tyson, including Stas' Kazmierski, who would eventually become a managing partner with Maggie Bayless at ZingTrain, the amazing management training business within the Zingerman's Community of Businesses.
No inventory of positive thinkers that are planted in the terroir of Ann Arbor would be complete without honoring Zingerman's Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw. Their culture drips of positivity more than their Ruebens drip of Russian dressing. Ari has eloquently captured their practical philosophies in his Guide to Good Leading Series that just released his third book. If you've never heard Ari talk of "The Energy Crisis in Workplaces" and the "12 Natural Laws of Business", make it a point to hear him sometime. It will change your work life.
It would be impossible to miss the great work being done by the University of Michigan in the area of positive culture. The Center for Positive Organizations at The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at U-M includes such wonderful thought leaders as Chris White, Robert Quinn, Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Gretchen Spreitzer and so many others. The department of industrial operations engineering boasts professor Jeff Liker, who has made a career of studying and documenting the amazing Toyota culture, and his U-M colleague Mike Rother has taken an even deeper dive into what makes the Toyota Way work with his book,
Toyota Kata. There is U-M professor and "Dean of Innovation" Jeff DeGraff, who has been focused on creativity and innovation for over a decade. His Innovatrium sits at the corner of East University and South University. There is also U-M professor Dan Denison and the Denison Consulting Group whose Denison Model has been helping organizations evaluate their current culture for a long time.
My friend Rob Pasick and his Leaders Connect program have been introducing all of the above to the business community for well over a decade. And more recently, Marissa Smith, founder of The Whole Brain Group, has collaborated with Bo Burlingham to bring the Small Giants Community into Ann Arbor.
With all of this positive fruit of the "earth" here in Ann Arbor, there is little reason not to pursue your own great corporate culture. The terroir is right for your organization to pursue its own version of a joyful and positive culture. There are many ways to get started. Start by becoming a reader again, (if you have stopped). Start with Ari's book,
Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading. Check out all the books from U-M Ross School authors. Check out my book. Ask people you admire what books they are reading. Become a student again, a student of culture. Take some classes; ZingTrain has some great ones. Visit my company; we offer free tours every month.
Along the way, start running some simple and inexpensive experiments in changing your culture. You don't need to be the boss or the owner to try some simple cultural experiments. Start a book club at work. Do it over lunch. Have everyone read a different book and present it to the others at lunch. Agree together to take one simple step and see how it works. Give it a chance. Change can be hard to recognize right away.
Think about conferences on this subject. There are many:. the Inc. Top Small Company Workplaces, Great Places to Work, WorldBlu, Small Giants. Check them out. Make the investment and attend one.
If you get very serious about change, many of the people I've mentioned above can help. Or they can point you to people who can. Have fun, explore, get curious, and try stuff.
Now get on your way!