book.chapter Develop fast company culture

A fast-paced, flexible company culture that encourages partnership and common goals is key for gaining a competitive advantage. When employees feel part of something significant and share a vision, passion and loyalty are generated. Dell's common goal and strategy is the belief that the direct sales model for selling computers is better, which translates into shared principles of responsibility, accountability, appreciation of facts and data, and establishing benchmarks for success based on creating value. Hiring people based on potential rather than past achievements creates tremendous energy, as if inviting people to grow with the company rather than just fill a role. This can be achieved by making everyone responsible for recruiting and training their successor, keeping the focus on continuous learning and development into new positions. Seeking talent should involve the entire company, not just HR. Rewarding the most successful people by narrowing their scope of responsibility allows them to sharpen their focus on new opportunities, rather than get overwhelmed by an ever-expanding role. This applies all the way up to the CEO position, which should be segmented across multiple people for a healthy growing business. The best managers remain deeply immersed in day-to-day operations through face-to-face customer and employee interactions, not just data gathering. By staying involved at all levels of the organization and dropping into real situations, they gain the information and instincts to react quickly to evolving situations. Maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit and competitive edge as a company scales requires valuing people as the most important asset and constantly working to keep the culture adaptable rather than static.