英语书籍：Soup (End) 节选

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SOUP: A RECIPE TO NOURISH YOUR TEAM AND CULTURE by Jon Gordon



CHAPTER SEVEN
Teachers Are Everywhere

Nancy smiled. She knew everything Grandma said was true, yet she was
surprised to hear such great advice coming from her. She was
hesitant to talk about Soup, Inc., but she couldn't disagree with
what Grandma was saying. In her heart of hearts, she felt she was
different and could do a better job than her predecessors, yet her
lack of experience as a leader frightened her. She asked herself a
million times why she had ever accepted the job, but something had
compelled her to do it. She had always believed that teachers are
found everywhere, and she tried to learn from everyone she met. She
considered herself a lifelong learner. It was a lesson she had
learned from her father, who had been an NFL coach, and it was
something she carried with her throughout her life. But she had to
admit that the kitchen of a soup house was the least likely place
she expected to find the solutions she sought--and Grandma was the
least likely of teachers.

"So, how do you know so much about running a successful business?"
asked Nancy.

Grandma laughed. "Oh, I don't know much about business. That's
Peter's department. But I know about food. I know about people. I
know about parenting. And I know about life. The same principles
apply. Besides, I think if more people in the business world
listened to their grandmothers, they would do the right things, and
this would lead to success, not to mention a better world. Grandmas
keep it simple. "Simple is the key to success."

Nancy laughed. She couldn't argue with her. Grandma's business was
packed, and her soup was amazing. Nancy's company, on the other
hand, was losing customers and sales every day. Perhaps she was
making it too complicated. Perhaps the answers "were" simple. Since
she was the one responsible for stirring the pot, perhaps she just
needed to figure out what to put in the pot.

"Okay," she said, looking at Peter and Grandma, "so, who stirs the
pot matters, and I need to stir the pot. But what ingredients do I
need to put into the soup to make it successful? I hear you saying
that I'm the most important ingredient, but there has to be more."

There "was" more, but Grandma knew that Nancy had absorbed all she
could handle for now. She knew the best way to make great soup was
to add each ingredient one step at a time. Try to do too much at
once, and you might as well pour the soup down the drain.

"That's a conversation for tomorrow, my dear," Grandma said. "I
have a list of ingredients to share with you, but for now, I have
to get back to my soup and you have to get back to yours. Here,
take this wooden spoon as a symbol and as a reminder to stir the
pot. Think about what we talked about. Think about how you can stir
the pot. Come back tomorrow, and we'll start with the first
ingredient every leader and every soup maker must share."

"And take this," Peter said nervously as he handed Nancy a piece of
paper. "I hope you'll read it."

"What is it?" Nancy asked.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about the challenges you are
facing, and based on my culture and performance class in business
school and the article in the 'Times,' I wrote this and thought
that you would benefit from it."

"I'll take a look at it. Thank you, Peter. And thank you, Grandma,
for your insights," Nancy said as she walked out of the kitchen.
She ordered a bowl of soup to go for Brenda and made her way back
to the workplace, where the culture and the soup were rotting.


CHAPTER EIGHT
Soup = Culture

As much as Nancy wanted to continue talking with Grandma and Peter,
she was glad to be back in her office. She had lots of work to do
and decisions to make, but before diving in, she sat down and looked
at the paper Peter had given her. Written at the top of the paper
was "Soup = Culture." Peter shared one of the key reasons for their
success: The culture of Grandma's Soup House was a direct reflection
of Grandma and her principles and values. He had then written the
following:

1. "Soup = Culture." Just as soup is a direct reflection of the soup
maker, so is the business culture a direct reflection of the leader.
The soup and the culture at Grandma's were one and the same, and
both were a reflection of "who" stirs the pot, as well as the
values, principles, and ingredients the stirrer mixed into it.

2. "Culture drives behavior, and behavior drives habits." Culture
influences what your leaders and teams think, say, and do each day.
A lot of organizations focus on strategy and ignore culture, yet
culture trumps strategy every time.

3. "Soft is powerful." Many leaders think of culture creation as a
warm-and-fuzzy, feel-good, "soft" project that isn't urgent because
you can't quantify it with hard numbers. However, the most
successful organizations know that although culture "seems" soft, it
is really powerful and essential.

4. "You must nurture your culture." Too many organizations aren't
willing to invest the time and energy needed to create the culture
they desire. They talk about culture, but they don't invest in it.
Too many organizations focus on the fruit of the tree, such as stock
price, costs, sales numbers, and revenue targets, yet ignore the
root of the tree--their culture--and wonder why the fruit dries up.
For great fruit, you must nurture the root. You must focus on
creating a culture that will deliver the outcomes and fruit you
want. Sure, you have to measure sales, costs, and outcomes, but
these are merely a byproduct of your culture, teamwork,
productivity, and performance.

5. "Great leaders create great cultures." As a leader, you must work
really hard on creating the right culture and consider it your
number one priority. Culture affects motivation, and motivation
affects productivity and performance. It all starts with culture,
and the most important thing a leader can do is to create a "culture
of greatness."


CHAPTER NINE
A Culture of Greatness

Peter's letter went on to explain that whether you are a small-
business owner, a coach of a team, a manager, or the CEO of a
Fortune 500 company, your biggest priority is to create an
environment that fuels people and their performance. Best of all,
the recipe is simple. As Grandma said, success is simple, and so is
creating a culture of greatness. You just have to do it, and it
requires only three principles:

1. You create a culture of greatness by expecting great things to
happen--even during challenging times.

2. You create a culture of greatness by expecting your people to be
their best. You don't settle for anything less than excellence.

3. You create a culture of greatness by coaching, training, and
developing your team to be their best.

Peter wrote that although these three principles sound like common
sense, far too many organizations and teams expect their people to
be their best but they don't invest time and energy to help them be
their best, nor do they create an environment that is conducive to
success. They want great results, but they are not willing to do
what it takes to create a culture of greatness that fuels
performance and develops their people. Peter then encouraged Nancy
to make a commitment to create a culture of greatness at Soup,
Inc., which would be the key to turning the company around. He said
it would be important to consider the following:

* Culture is something that can't be delegated to human resources or
to a member of the leadership team. It has to be driven by a team
leader who is committed to and engaged in the process.

* It requires a lot of work up front, but not as much work as
dealing with the crises, problems, and challenges associated with
negative, dysfunctional, and subpar cultures.

* While most organizations waste a lot of time putting out fires,
you can spend your time building a great organization that rises
above the competition.

Peter finished his letter to Nancy by saying that all of this would
make more sense when Grandma shared the ingredients for making
great soup. Nancy sat at her desk, shaking her head. No wonder he
was recruited by so many companies. It was clear that Peter was a
smart young man. Most of all, he was right. Soup, Inc., certainly
didn't have a culture of greatness. It was more like a culture of
failure and dysfunction. She knew what needed to happen. She just
didn't know where to begin. And, with the board growing more and
more impatient, she hoped she had enough time to figure it out.


Hardcover: Today's read ends on page 34.