Culture, by design not default

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It is interesting how culture can be defined

» The arts or other manifestations of human achievement regarded collectively

» The ideas, values, customs and social behavior of particular people or society

» The biological cultivation of living material in a medium i.e. tissue culture and so on

We celebrated International Women’s Day at our studio that has a proud 1:1 gender ratio across subject matter experts and design polyglots. It got me thinking about all the leading ladies in my life. My aunt who is a mother of two and a working professional (among her many other avatars) has balanced her roles beautifully. An intriguing story she once told me about her first-born – when he’d get uneasy and kick when he was in her womb, she would often sing to him or play music. As a colicky baby, the same tunes would calm him down and today alongside his career as an accomplished musician. Her second born may not have kicked around much in her belly, hence did not have the benefit of her humming nor any natural inclination to music but I wonder what she might have done in his young age to nurture the skills he is good at?

Apparently a developed human fetus brain has 100 billion neurons. At birth, an infant has 50 trillion connections or synapses between neurons. This is like a basic wiring plan - a gift from nature. Nurture provides for key synaptic connections to occur (or be pruned for lack of them) for brain/skill development and evolution. Much like the human brain, corporations too could be viewed as being neuroplastic. Culture is analogous to the basic wiring plan (but unfortunately not gifted by nature or necessarily in the genes of every corporation for optimal evolution). It typically develops organically and is usually rendered by default and not necessarily by design. In fact, it is rarely nurtured by design thinking which helps connect the dots for development and innovation. In intelligent corporations, culture must therefore be cultivated by design in both senses of the word.

Innovation (Culture + Design Thinking) = Evolution (Nature + Nurture)

To build on this analogy for cultivating the right culture, filling nature’s boots isn’t easy. From my experience, below are 10 tonics that may help cultivate your organisation’s culture or nature for innovation:

Parenting is probably the most primal form of cultivating culture by design. Modern day biologists have excommunicated the ‘vs.’ in the nature vs. nurture debate to recognise the value of both for evolution. In my view, for corporations, we must cultivate the right culture by design and nurture it using design thinking to responsibly parent for innovation.

The author is EVP at Godrej Properties