Dive Brief:
- An article at Forbes.com asks the provocative question: Are successful companies the new cults?
- Author J. Maureen Henderson writes that from hiring practices and employee policies to how we dissect and discuss their organizational cultures, the high-achieving companies we hold up as industry leaders have achieved cult status. Literally, she adds.
- Not every successful corporation has cultish qualities, she writes, but there are plenty of examples of these tendencies from companies that are household names. She then reels off brands such as Kraft (no rival food products in packed lunches), Zappos (no management and if you don't like it, take a hike) and, of course, Amazon, as portrayed in the recent New York Times blockbuster.
Dive Insight:
At their most basic level, Henderson writes, these companies are much like actual cults because they "feed a need for order, acceptance, belonging, self-improvement and structure." And they often come with rules that employees must follow to reach that acceptance.
Ultimately, Henderson writes, that Americans look to the business world to fulfill what could be deemed a spiritual need isn’t particularly surprising. As a society, she says, we’ve long romanticized business culture and equated business success to a whole host of virtues, chief among them leadership and fitness for power.
Food for thought and an interesting read for HR executives looking to see how their organization stacks up, for better or for worse.
