Saving the Soul of Your Company

I have recently been seeing more and more articles lamenting DisneyWorld’s hellish fall from grace.

I personally, and many other loyal fans, went from an annual family pilgrimage to doubting that if we ever had grandchildren, we’d bring them there.

He’s killing the soul of the company

But until I read Jason Aten ‘s article in Inc (citing the Wall Street Journal)   I didn’t understand the depth of the problem.

It was more than the inconveniences, price hikes, lack of maintenance and even that the “Magic was gone.” The changes were killing the soul of Disney. That was the real problem. It was like the old Disney was gone and had been replaced with an (at best) soulless changling.

The first job of a CEO is protecting soul of the company

I have dealt with other companies that went from wonderful to “meh,” because they stopped inspiring their rank and file employees; often after an acquisition or growth spirit. They stopped going down the right path. But this was more extreme, it was leadership actively rushing down the wrong path.

Aten rightly says that the first job of a CEO is to protect soul of the company. I had never thought about it that way. He is right. And it’s doubly true for a startup founder.

What is the soul of your company?

What are you doing to protect your it?