Thursday, July 3, 2008

What Makes a Culture

I have been thinking a lot about culture lately. It comes some from the type of reading I've been doing but also the experiences I've had recently.
I've come to the realization that standards of a culture are what is accepted by a majority of the people as business or life as usual.
Whether it be a location, a group of people, a time in history or an industry.

I had this aha when I was helping out at the Women's Council of Realtor's golf outing. I am an affiliate member of this group.

The culture of this industry is that a cell phone attached to the ear is status quo for most -- the majority. Now I certainly realize that Realtors or their vendors need to be closely connected to their clients, but personally, I think the culture has taken it too far. I know that I am in the minority!

I was paired with another person at the betting hole. That person spent most of the time on not one, but two phones. Not all of it was business. So this person let the opportunity to get to know me better (I guess that tells me where I stand with this person) go by all the while keeping the phones humming. Conversely, it kept me from getting to know her better, too. As foursomes drove up to our hole, it was not unusual to the three or four of the people on their phones. That is the accepted culture.

What are you accepting that you might want to change in your life.

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