Page 35 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

Starting a Cultural Crystal
If you have ever seen ice form or played with an elementary crystal-
growing science kit, you know that crystals are formed in a predict-
able yet irregular pattern. They start with a small unit or seed crystal
of the material that is structured in a certain way, then they grow
irregularly as additional material attaches to that unit and “learns”
how to organize in the same way. The creation of the initial seed,
or nucleation, usually happens slowly and sometimes accidentally;
the subsequent growth of the crystal can be much faster. One good
example of this is the creation of ice on a pond when the tempera-
ture falls just below freezing; one or more areas freeze slowly and
then the new pattern spreads out from there. (That’s why airlines
are so diligent about wing de-icing: just a few ice crystals on the
wing at takeoff can easily “teach” airborne moisture to join them
as wing ice during fl ight, an example of the type of crystal growth
you defi nitely don’t want!)
How can you most effectively make an impact on the world around
you? The answer is the same whether you are a CEO, a fi rst-line man-
ager, a line worker, or an executive: grow a crystal. Start fi rst with
yourself, then move to the people around you, and work outward
from there to improve the network around you (see Figure 1.2).
You are the seed, and you can show those around you how to
organize in a new way. Affecting this type of change in your imme-
diate environment—and by extension, building or changing the cul-
ture around you—works like the creation of a crystalline structure.
You begin alone, as you envision the type of change you would like
to make. Then you reach out—fi rst to one or two people, then to a
few more—and your crystal slowly grows. With it grows your reach,
your infl uence, and the stability of the mini-environment you are
attempting to create. Large crystals, after all, are far stronger than
small ones. After enough cold weather, you can drive your truck out
onto a frozen lake. Just don’t try it too early in the winter.
Emma’s cultural crystal—although she didn’t call it that—was
already well formed when I met her. She knew all about how to
shape the environment by using her power to demonstrate as a

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