CEO: Out of the loop

[David Sandusky]

As the leader, how do you know if you are in touch with the company culture and subculture?

[jbliler]

I have seen this first-hand and it's frustrating. I have a massive amount of respect for Jet Blue's CEO & Founder, David Neeleman for dealing with this head-on. Once a week, he works in the trenches...cleaning airplanes, working with flight attendants, those tasks. He knows that he must experience it to gain the valuable insight of the culture. At the same time, he/she must open discussions with those he/she knows will speak their minds.

Most CEO's or Presidents do not do this, and some outright don't care. These are the one's that wash out or hop from company to company - at least i hope so. The one's who truly do care about the culture I have found to be some of the best leaders.

You know your in touch with the companies culture when the employees obviosly show an interest in the company's success. When they are happy, and they can see that the CEO cares about their culture they are more inclined to work as a team and make things happen. Those are my views...

[Bob Dodge]

I, too have seen this. I had a client who told me I could make a living ensuring employees knew what business companies were in, and that the employees knew what the mission and vision of the companies are. I had another client who took several attempts to find out that he had to "walk the line" personally (go ask employees specific questions) to find out if they were connected. Even better, some of my clients have learned to ask the employees what they felt senior management coudl do to make them successful.

[chris munro]

I find the only way is to ensure validation from multiple sources - yes walk the talk, yes to opn/brown bag meets/ your team feedback - I also experimented with a consistent formal web based feedback mecahnisim from an external firm - helped keep finger on 10000 people in 10 countries.

Having the 3rd party external factor is critical. Walking the halls and open door policy is minimum expectations for any leader trying to stay in the loop. The problem is it is too easy for people to "be on their best behavior" no matter how hard you try.
Great leaders need to provide a source for ideas and expression in internal blogs, with external consultants and more. And, a culture where mistakes are looked at as learning experiences for everyone. loosen up be real and and encourage others to be themselves.