A "Winning Viti-Culture"

In viticulture, the science of grape growing, the term terrior seems central. Terrior (tear-WAHR) is a French term referring to the distinctive location-based characteristics of a grape vine's plot. These characteristics include weather, soil type, slope, altitude, and others. Some say that a wine's taste and smell can, and perhaps more accurately should, reflect the character of its terrior. So important is terrior with respect to wine that in the "Old World" the perspective is that a winemaker's job is to simply shephard the vineyard's nuances into the bottle. In her book Great Wine Made Simple, Andrea Immer describes it this way: "Freedom of Expression is left up to Mother Nature". The notion of terrior also shows up in the European tradition of identifying wine based on where the grapes are grown instead of by the grape varietal, as is usually the case in the "New World" (Heck, I just recently learned that a Valpolicella isn't a grape, it's a place!*).

Regardless, though, of how omnipotent terrior may seem, it can't be considered separate from the grape variety being grown. Grape varieties prefer certain growing conditions. Whereas Zinfandel prefers relatively warm temperatures, Pinot Noir & Riesling, prefer relatively cool temperatures, and so on. Based on what I've read, the diehard opinion is that truly great wines are the result of grape varieties that have been perfectly matched to their environment. (I knew the winemaker was more than just a shephard!) As Matt Kramer asserts in his book Making Sense of Wine, "when you taste a wine that has it, you know it". Actually, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know it, but I don't mind trying.....

In the context of the corporation, terrior is a lot like corporate culture. As terrior represents the intrinsic characteristics of a place bestowed upon its wine, through the grape, corporate culture similarly represents characteristics of the work environment bestowed upon a company's products & services, through its workers. It follows, then, that leaders play the role of both "Mother Nature" and "winemaker" within their organizations - on the one hand constructing the cultural foundation while shepherding core values/tenets and matching people to the right roles, all in an attempt to optimize the outputs.

I'm particularly interested in corporate culture and the idea of leader as Mother Nature and winemaker. For one thing, I'm sensitive to cultural factors in the workplace and the impact it has on people, and I wholeheartedly believe that the leaders in an organization are responsible for creating and shepherding an effective culture. But, what makes it even more relevant for me is that I've recently proposed a "Winning Culture" strategy within my org, and I want to talk about it!

My next few posts will be dedicated to outlining the "Winning Culture" strategy. Thereafter, as appropriate, I'll discuss progress (or lack thereof), challenges & learnings. Your comments, ideas and observations will provide great value to the effort, so I hope you'll join in the discussion.

"Never Does Nature Say One Thing And Wisdom Another" - Juvenal

*Valpolicella, I've learned, is a blend of the Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara and sometimes Negrara grapes. One of my favorite wines is Amarone, which is a Valpolicella whose grapes have been left to ripen on the vine longer than normal. Once harvested, the grapes are set aside to dry for months, becoming raisinated and further concentrating their sugar. This style of winemaking, called recioto, results in an opulent, full-bodied masterpiece....at least in my opinion! Try the Tommasi Amarone and I bet you'll be hooked!