cul·ture
ˈkəlCHər/
the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group

my organization—like many these days—is on a quest to build a culture of innovation. yesterday brought an update about this effort, announcing the launch of a quarterly digital magazine. coincidentally, there was a post from google for entrepreneurs on my google plus feed talking about the great meeting they had with dozens of city leaders and entrepreneurs in boston to discuss ways to make the city a better place for startups. a meeting where over 50 new ideas were generated and collected and which action will be taken against.

pretty stark contrast between the work that google is doing, and a digital publication that will be released 4 times a year in a format which isn’t easily readable on mobile devices.

culture is, as the definition says, related to the attitudes and more importantly the behaviors of a particular group. if you want to build a culture of innovation in your organization, it starts with changing behavior, and—frankly—the best way to do that is not through a quarterly digital magazine. it’s through actually doing things. it’s through modeling the behavior you want to see.

people always ask, “how is google so innovative?” i think the answer is simple, and it’s what aristotle said so many years ago: these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions.