"It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit."

Original date of this blog was January 26th, 2012...

The title of this entry was made famous by President Truman and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, however; I'm led to believe Charles Edward Montague, an English novelist and essayist was the first to coin the phrase in 1922. So, as I crack a cold one in honor Mr Montague, let's discuss...

On average, I try to read 30 articles a week from "thought leaders" and industry experts on all different types of real-world business applications. From 'How to Ace an interview' (which everyone seems to have an opinion on) to the smart phone arms race; I will forever be fascinated with finding and trying new things that I can apply to my day-to-day. With that being said, less than 1% of these articles really get my wheels turning, and that's precisely why I am publishing today. Two times this week, TLNT.com touched my fundamental soul with articles pertaining to culture in the workplace. You can find the first here, and the second here.

I realize the idea of "culture in the workplace" isn't something that evokes a whole new way of thinking, but I do think establishing an appropriate culture is pushed to the side, a lot of time, when people focus on the bottom-line. In my opinion, a clearly defined culture should be discussed and promoted more than anything else in the workplace - people talk about sales quotas, process orientation, and innovation all the time - but the true success of these things hinge upon a rock-solid culture.

In fact, as I transitioned into management and mulled over all the different things that would make-up my leadership style, each one of them boiled down to a team-oriented, thought provoking atmosphere. With that, a goal of the teams I've been associated with has been to talk about respect, new ideas, and leaning on teammates in every single meeting; at every single conference; and in every single department-wide email sent out. We've literally talked about these things until we're blue in the face, and just as someone start thinking it's over the top, we see another breakthrough!!

When processes break down, when workload is overflowing, and as "the going gets tough" - it's your culture that keeps the tough going....