Tony Silber on corporate culture: What most of US business needs to hear

I was blown away by Tony Silber's blog post, "When Corporate Cultures Break, They Can’t Be Easily Fixed" (12/02/09). Using publishing company fiascos to illustrate his points, Tony outlines the wrongheadedness that is destroying businesses across America. Sound too strong? I personally see this far too often. Decisionmakers are laying the groundwork for failure by refusing to adapt to post-Web transparency while retaining the worst practices of the brick-and-mortar days.

The Web has removed the emperor's clothes entirely. Poor business practices that hid behind PR companies are now exposed. Your policy IS your PR.

Notable quotes:

"These companies have been through too many cycles of change in ownership, changes in management, downsizings, layoffs, salary cuts, loss of talent, loss of spirit, loss of camaraderie."

"Job one should be fixing the culture."

"He fell into the idea of protecting his turf rather than working for everyone else."

"...firing a lot of experienced, talented, knowledgeable people..."

And the saddest part, from our perspective: These problems manifest themselves in the Web presence.

Truly, collaborate or die.