Primed to Perform

If your organization’s identity is not clear, compelling, consistent, and credible, take some time to answer a few important questions:
• What objective unites and inspires my organization, business unit, and team?
• What behavioral code empowers people to make decisions and solve problems in a consistent, values-based way?
• What pieces of heritage will help celebrate and maintain our unique identity? Which new traditions should be seeded for tomorrow

The French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once wrote, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the

Lisa Endlich, an author

Although the firm had a long-established practice of hiring M.B.A.s, Levy, a man without a degree, had his own system for staff recruitment. Early in the morning, before the markets opened, he would invite high school seniors into the office to play bridge or poker with him. He would play whichever game each visitor knew best, watching how his opponent’s mind worked. Did he remember which cards had been played? Could he judge risk? Under pressure, could he keep his wits about him? These were the skills he sought. Successful trading, Levy believed, rested on ability as well as steely nerves, integrity, and luck. For years many of the firm’s best traders had no higher education, but had passed Levy’s entrance exam.45

Bower deeply believed that perpetuating the Firm mattered much more than economic gain.”

Bower sent a memo banning argyle socks. Stories like this became lore, creating a rich and powerful heritage.

Bower fired a highly profitable partner because he was doing too much low-impact work for his client

The collective personal impressions made by each of us as individuals,” and
2. “The Firm’s objectives, major policies, and working approaches which guide (or should guide) each individual in what he does, writes, and says in carrying on Firm activities.”

leader alone could not build a firm’s identity: it must be embodied in the behavior of each and every employee.

Spacek defined a clear goal for the company: to operate according to the highest levels of ethics