189. The Playbook for Building a Marquee Culture Within Your Organization - Mark Miller and Ted Vaughn

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Overview

Meet Mark and Ted. They know two how to build two things incredibly well: brand and culture. There’s an invisible threat most companies don’t realize is crushing their growth and success: culture. All too often, leaders think they have a “brand problem,” but oftentimes, it's really their culture. Mark and Ted are talking us through the six components of a "Marquee Culture” and navigating us on what to do with broken cultures. Tune in and learn some cool ideas their company is implementing to build culture.

Today’s Guest

Mark Miller and Ted Vaughn,
Co-Founders of Historic Agency and Co-Authors of Culture Built My Brand

“We did some research on top performing consumer brands, nonprofits that we had worked with, and even small businesses, and we found patterns. What we found was that their internal culture was so vibrant, and aligned with their brand that it was drawing both talent, customers, and donors to the organization in droves.”

— Mark Miller, Co-Founder, Historic Agency and Co-Author of Culture Built My Brand

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode highlights

Mark and Ted’s stories and journeys to where they are today (2:30)
Creating a “Marquee Culture” at your organization (8:00)
The 6 layers of marquee cultures (10:00)
Navigating and repairing broken cultures (18:00)
Powerful moments of philanthropy in Mark and Ted’s lives (21:00)
Mark and Ted’s One Good Thing: The more power you have in any organization, the more important it is for you to build a bridge over that power. (28:00)

Powerful quotes

“I think probably the most fulfilling career journey I've ever been on has been the intersection of brand and culture coming together and having that make sense.” -Ted

“What we realized as an agency is, it's not enough for your culture to just be healthy. You need to be healthy and structured in a way that is differentiated and aligned to your brand and to your brand value.” -Ted

“Health with alignment equals breakthrough success.” -Ted

“There's a lot of books written on organizational health, and we address that we want you to be more than healthy, we want your people to be the marquee, the banner, the lit up sign for your brand. Because if you get that, right, that in combination with all your products and services, and logo and marketing will be what what breaks you through your glass ceiling.” -Ted

“We did some research on top performing consumer brands, nonprofits that we had worked with, and even small businesses, and we found patterns. And what we found was that their internal culture was so vibrant, and aligned with their brand that it was drawing both talent, customers, and donors to the organization in droves.” -Mark

“How do your values actually dictate behavior? You know, what people think about you is your brand, but what impacts what they think about is your culture and your people, right?” -Mark

“Rituals are those experiences that serve to energize and invest your people. A lot of times we think about rituals as like, oh, all staff meeting, or we're going to go on a scavenger hunt, or we're going to do these crazy staff days, that in reality, the best rituals are when your people are so passionate about the brand, they serve that they do things organically that reflect and drive your brand from the inside out.” -Ted

“Sometimes the brands that need to be the most intentional about these things are the nonprofit's because we assume so much we assume our people are healthy, we assume our people are on brand, we assume we're working for the same cause. And those assumptions that can often create huge inefficiencies and gaps and problems in culture that are sometimes famous for a nonprofit that, frankly, the for profit world has figured out.” -Ted

“There's just so much power in activating people at a deeper level beyond just what their job description is.” -Jon

“Artifacts are the physical representation of the brand, or its values that you're trying to express to your people so they can actually touch it, you know, think more creatively about how you can remind people not just the logo, but of the types of behaviors that they need to be exhibiting as an organization.” -Mark

“So all these great ideas, whether they be rituals, or artifacts or principles, all these things fall apart because the organizational structure collapses, because there isn't good management, there isn't good supervision, there isn't good leadership. And if any sector deserves at the most, it's the nonprofit sector.” -Ted

“Most organizations, most nonprofits have values. The real question is, are those values actually shaping how your people behave?” -Mark

“A few years ago, we had the opportunity, serendipitously, to rebrand the organization that helped my dad get back on his feet.” -Mark

“I think too often, senior leaders assume that people are willing to tell them the truth assume that their people are being honest. And what I find time and time again, especially in nonprofits, unfortunately, is that the higher up you are in the food chain, the more self deluded you probably are to the reality of your organization.” -Ted

“The more power you have in any organization, the more important it is for you to build a bridge over that power to the people that are around you, under you, sideways to you doesn't matter. But if you don't build a bridge, people won't tell you the truth or give you the feedback that you desperately need. And that's on you.” -Ted

“You actually have to build a bridge in how you behave and how you understand power and decision making and culture in order to really hear the truth. And if we don't do that, as senior leaders, we'll perpetuate our own self delusion at the cost of our cause.” -Ted

“You have to give yourself permission to lead according to the season you're in. Not every brand is in the same place at the same time, there's a lifecycle.” -Ted

“If you get the book will, you can download the tools off of the website that we actually use with our clients on how to shape culture. So if you're like, “where do I start?”, the book is a great place.” -Mark

Connect with Mark

LinkedIn / Website / Book

Connect with Ted

LinkedIn / Website / Twitter / Book

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