Culture

American Nations - Colin Woodard

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America – by Colin Woodard
Recommendation: 8/10. Date read: 7/28/20.

Challenges the perspective that the Americans are living through a uniquely divisive moment in time. Instead, Woodard suggests Americans have been deeply divided since the days of Jamestown and Plymouth. The original North American colonies were settled by people from distinct regions with unique religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics. Since the colonial period, the eleven rival regional cultures in North America have regarded one another as competitors for land, settlers, and capital. Woodard offers insight into why specific regions hold a particular set of beliefs, the power of early influence, and the dangers in blindly adopting ideologies. It’s a powerful book and source of perspective to help you navigate current events without getting trapped into a tribe mentality.

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.


My Notes:

Illusion of Unity:
Americans have been deeply divided for centuries—original North American colonies were settlement by people from British Islands, France, the Netherlands, Spain. Each with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics. Saw the other as competition for land, settlers, and capital. 

“American’s most essential and abiding division are not between red and blue states…the United States is a federation comprised of the whole or part of eleven regional nations, so of which truly do not see eye to eye with one another.” CW

The 11 rival regional cultures: Yankeedom, Tidewater, Greater Appalachia, The Deep South, New Netherland, New France, The Midlands, First Nation, El Norte, The Far West, The Left Coast.

These regional cultures have been fundamental in shaping the way we think, as well as North American history, politics, and governance.

Power of Early Influence:
“Thus, in terms of lasting impact, the activities of a few hundred, or even a few score, initial colonizers can mean much more for the cultural geography of a place than the contributions of tens of thousands of new immigrants of a few generations later.” Wilbur Zelinsky

Goals in each region:
Early Yankeedom and Midlands—building a religious utopia.

New Netherland—individual freedoms of conscience, speech, religion, assembly.

New France—complex network of Indian alliances.

Chesapeake colonies (Tidewater)—recreate the genteel manor life of rural England in the New World.

Greater Appalachia—warrior culture, self-reliant, suspicious of outside authority, valued individual liberty and personal honor above all else.

Tidewater:
“Tidewater’s semifeudal model required a vast and permanent underclass to play the role of serfs, on whose toil the entire system depended. But from the 1670s onward, the gentry had an increasingly difficult time finding enough poor Englishmen willing to take on this role.” Slave traders offered a solution. Slave caste grew from 10% of Tidewater’s population in 1700 to 40% in 1760. 

“The south was not founded to create slavery; slavery was recruited to perpetuate the South.”

In the early years, Tidewater was settled largely by young, unskilled male servants.

Yankeedom:
Central myth of American history is that founders of Yankeedom were champions of religious freedom, fleeing religious persecution. Only true of a few hundred pilgrims (English Calvinists) in Cape Cod in 1620. Vast majority were Puritans who “forbade anyone to settle in their colony who failed to pass a test of religious conformity.”

“Early Yankeedom was less tolerant of moral or religious deviance than the England its settlers had left behind.”

Expectation that everyone should read the Bible required everyone to be literate. This led to a proliferation of schoolhouses and requirement that all children be sent to school. 

New Englanders always intended to rule themselves so they were never beholden to nobles or corporations. 

New England’s colonists were skilled craftsmen, lawyer, doctors. Came over as families. Gave them more of a normal distribution of age and gender ratios than other regions. Allowed their population to grow faster. 1660, Yankeedom population was around 60k (twice Tidewater). 

Deep South:
“From the outset, Deep Southern culture was based on radical disparities in wealth and power, with a tiny elite commanding total obedience and enforcing it with state-sponsored terror.” CW

“Most of the other nations were societies with slaves, not slave societies per se. Only in Tidewater and the Deep South did slavery become the central organizing principle of the economy and culture. “ CW

Civil War: If not for Deep Southerners attacks on federal post offices, mints, arsenals, and military bases in 1861, they might have negotiated a peaceful secession. Prior to South Carolina’s militia assault on Fort Sumter, Yankeedom lacked allies in its desire for force. This proved to be the catalyst that mobilized other regions who were previously disinterested coming to the aid of the North. 

Greater Appalachia:
Embraced a self-sufficient way of life, living off the land and moving every few years. Life in Britain taught them not to invest too much time and wealth in fixed property which was easily destroyed in time of war. 

“When they did need cash, they distilled corn into a more portable, storable, and valuable product: whiskey, which would remain the de facto currency of Appalachia for the next two centuries.” CW

“‘Hoosier’—a Southern slang term for a frontier hick—was adopted as a badge of honor by the Appalachian people of Indiana. 

A Common Struggle:
What brought these rival cultures was an effort to preserve their respective, culture, character, and power structure. “They were joined in a temporary partnership against a common thread: the British establishment’s ham-fisted attempt to assimilate them into a homogenous empire central controlled from London.” 

By the time England tried to impose uniformity and centralization of power, many of the regions were several generations old and had their own traditions, values, and interests. 

Articles of Confederation created more of a political entity (like the EU) that was a voluntary alliance of sovereign states. Not a nation state.

The Left Coast:
Gold rush, 1848: “In what was one of the largest spontaneous migrations in human history to that point, 300,000 arrived in California in just five years, increasing the new American territory’s non-Indian population twentyfold. Within twenty-four months San Francisco grew from a village of 800 to a city of 20,000.”

WW2:
Pearl Harbor united the regions together like never before. Borderlanders fought to avenge attack, Tidewater and Depp South wished to uphold national honor and defend Anglo-Norman brethren, Midlanders backed the war as a struggle against military despotism, Yankees/New Netherlanders/Left Coasters emphasize the anti-authoritarian aspect of the struggle. El Norte and the Far West embraced war which brought resources and investment to their long-neglected regions.

Hitler and Hirohito did more for the development of the Far West and El Norte than any other agent in their histories. Previously they were exploited as internal colonies. But during war were given industrial bases, shipyards, naval bases, aircraft plants, steel mills, nuclear weapons labs, test sites. 

Modern Day:
Nations of the Dixie bloc create policies to ensure they remain low-wage resource colonies controlled by a one-party political system which serves interests of a wealth elite. To keep wages low, make it difficult to organize unions. Taxes kept too low to support public schools, urban planning, land-use zoning. 

Foreign policy: Yankees = anti-interventionist, anti-imperial, idealistic, intellectual, seek foreign policies that will civilize the world, so they dominate Foreign Affairs Committee. Dixie-bloc = martial and honor bound, aim to dominate and focus on power, so they dominate the Armed Services Committee. 

Divergent approaches to economic development, tax policy, and social spending only increase tensions between the cultural blocs. 

What You Do Is Who You Are – Ben Horowitz

What You Do Is Who You Are – by Ben Horowitz
Date read: 11/14/19. Recommendation: 8/10.

“Culturally, what you believe means nearly nothing. What you do is who you are.” Horowitz’s latest book is all about leading and creating a purposeful culture at work. He defines culture as a set of actions, rather than the beliefs or corporate values that might be taped on the wall. While he pulls relevant case studies in the modern era – Uber, Netflix, McDonald’s – the book is built upon historical accounts of Toussaint Louverture, Genghis Khan, and the samurai. Each highlights a key lesson in culture, leadership, and how to create meaning. Horowitz reminds leaders that their perspective on the culture isn’t relevant – that’s rarely what your people experience. The real question is what employees have to do to survive and succeed? What behaviors get them ahead?

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Why culture matters:
Startups who outsource engineering almost always fail: “It turns out that it’s easy to build an app or a website that meets the specification of some initial idea, but far more difficult to build something that will scale, evolve, handle edge cases gracefully, etc.” BH

“We at Apple had forgotten who we were. One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are.” Steve Jobs

“Culture begins with deciding what you value most.” BH

Culture = a set of actions, not beliefs. 

Virtues vs. Values:
Virtues are what you do. Values are what you believe.

Corporate values are worthless because they emphasize beliefs instead of actions.

“Culturally, what you believe means nearly nothing. What you do is who you are.” BH

Create shocking rules:
Should shock people and force them to ask why and must be something they encounter on a daily basis. This helps program the culture. 

Tom Coughlin (New York Giants): If you are on time, you are late. Meetings would start five minutes early. Fined players who failed to be there by that time. It was memorable, forced people to ask why, encountered daily, and helped build discipline.

Leadership:
“When you are a leader, even your accidental actions set the culture.” BH

Emphasize the “why” behind your values and the vision with every chance you get. That’s what gets remembered. 

Act right: “As a leader, you can float along in a morally ambiguous frame of mind until you face a clarifying choice. Then you either evolve or you wall yourself up in moral corruption.” BH

“Your own perspective on the culture is not that relevant. Your view or your executive team’s view of your culture is rarely what your employees experience…The relevant question is, what must employees do to survive and succeed in your organization? What behaviors get them included in, or excluded from, the power base? What gets them ahead?” BH

“Good intentions, pursued without meticulous forethought and follow-through, often lead to catastrophe.” BH

What you do must matter:
Above all else, employees want to know that they matter, they’re making a difference, there’s meaningful work to be done, and they’re moving the bigger picture forward. Without this, it’s impossible to get people to care. 

If a culture can’t make quick decisions or has a void in leadership, it becomes defined by indifference.

Disagree and commit:
As a manager, the worst thing you can do is undermine decisions made above you – creates cultural chaos, makes your team feel marginalized and powerless, and end result is apathy and attrition. 

The way you get to the place of being able to articulate a decision you might not agree with is by asking why. It’s your job to understand the reasoning behind a decision, otherwise you have failed your team. 

Telling the truth isn’t natural. It requires courage. The easy thing to do is to tell someone what they want to hear.

You might not convince everyone you’re right. But everyone must feel heard and that you’ve acknowledged their concerns. This is the path towards disagreeing and committing. 

The Culture Code – Daniel Coyle

The Culture Code – by Daniel Coyle
Date read: 3/24/19. Recommendation: 7/10.

Short read discussing the foundations of great culture. Coyle references some of the world’s most successful organizations and leaders, including Pixar, Google, New Zealand’s All Blacks, Gregg Popovich, and the Navy SEALs. Each remarkable culture shares three key elements–building safety, sharing vulnerability, and establishing purpose. It’s worth skimming through for the few important takeaways and examples he shares.

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Foundations of culture:
1) Build safety: creates sense of belonging + identity
2) Share vulnerability: creates cooperation and trust
3) Establish purpose: creates shared goals + values

Building safety:
Belonging cues possess three main qualities: energy (invest in the exchange), individualization (treat the person as unique, valued), future orientation (signal relationship will continue).

Performance is more dependent on behaviors that communicate sense of safety and belonging than on words. 

Google AdWords: Jeff Dean, engineer at Google, took it upon himself to fix the AdWords engine in 2002. Up until that point any targeted ads were garbage. Dean didn’t ask permission or tell anyone, he just did it. As a result, Google ousted the largest payer in the game, Overture. Not because they were smarter, but because it was safer. Less bureaucracy, more autonomy. 

Gregg Popovich, coach of San Antonio Spurs, is one of the best at this. High trust, no bullshit, tells players/coaches the truth, and loves them immensely. 

Popovich methods:
-Personal connection: he cares about you (body language, attention, behavior).

-Performance feedback: telling the difficult truth and providing constructive criticism, emphasizes the high-standards of their culture.

-Perspective: regularly engages the team with person, direct questions focused on the bigger picture (politics, history, food) to emphasize that life is bigger than basketball and everyone is connected. 

Sharing Vulnerability:
Ask more uncomfortable/tough questions that generate vulnerability (e.g. “Is there something you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?”). Reciprocity here is key, second person has to reciprocate to keep it going. 

Vulnerability precedes trust. And without trust, you can’t create cooperation.

Leader must be vulnerable first. Ask your people these questions:
-What is one thing I currently do that you’d like me to continue?
-What is one thing I don’t do frequently enough that I should do more often?
-What can I do to make you more effective?

Link discipline to reconnection:
When a player on the Chicago Cubs violates a team rule, Joe Maddon requires them to purchase a bottle of wine and uncork it with him and spend time together. 

At BrainTrusts (See Pixar) teams are only allowed to highlight problems (not suggest solutions). Facilitates candor - small, targeted, less personal but impactful.

Establishing Purpose:
Focus less on creating one big signal or speech, instead focus on communicating many small, clear signals that add clarity to a single vision.

Aim to be consistent instead of worrying about being inspiring. 

What type of performance are you after?
High-proficiency environments: defined, reliable performance.
-Create priorities, define key behaviors, lighthouse signaling purpose (e.g. New Zealand’s All Blacks).

High-creativity environments: help create something new.
-Less about guiding or steering, more about creating the right conditions/environment (See Ed Catmull at Pixar). 

High-purpose cultures (whether proficient or creative) are dynamic, allow them to evolve:

“High-purpose environments don’t descend on groups from on high; they are dug out of the ground, over and over, as a group navigates its problems together and evolves to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world.” DC