Dive Brief:
- With all the buzz around the New York Time's article on Amazon, company culture is front and center in the media.
- Writing at Fortune, Tim Huval, CHRO at Humana, says a vibrant and thriving company culture doesn’t just happen. It takes a tremendous amount of attention to detail, and it has to be modeled by the senior leadership team.
- Culture starts at the top, he writes, and employees need to see it in their leaders. If they don’t, any progress made won’t be sustainable.
Dive Insight:
Huval notes how when he started at Humana, he had health issues largely caused by lack of exercise, poor eating habits, etc. Being the top HR exec at a healthcare company meant he had to change his ways (Note: Pending regulatory approval, Humana is being acquired by Aetna for $37 billion as part of the recent spate of mega-mergers in the healthcare insurance industry).
Working with president and CEO Bruce Broussard to build a team that embodied the company's culture, Huval knew he had to start with himself. He took an honest look at his own habits and started modeling the behavior that they needed for the larger team.
Most of all, his changes helped change the company culture as well. Every business has its own culture, whether you manage it or not, he writes. We get the culture "we’re willing to accept." So, as he says, why not only accept the best?
