Developing Your Culture: Get It Wrong Until You Get It Right With Arnie Malham
When done right, culture has the potential to be a real competitive advantage for your business. But how do you build a culture by design and not by default?
Intentional or not, every company has a culture — whether it’s good, bad, or somewhere in between. If you don’t like your culture, there’s one area that can fix it: your leadership. Arnie Malham says that almost 100% of the time, culture reflects leadership. So, if you have a bad culture, you need to take a look in the mirror. Luckily, there are some actionable steps you can take to turn your culture around.
Once you’ve realized that culture starts with you, the next step is all about focusing on your team. When Arnie first started his agency, he thought he could run everything from production to strategy to client success. Eventually, he realized that it had less to do with him, but more to do with the team as a whole. Once he recognized this, he knew that his job was all about supporting the team to lead clients forward.
As a leader, you should allow employees to grow beyond your expertise. Your team needs to know more about the business and your clients’ business than you do. Why is this? When you build up your team to this level of knowledge, the company gets stronger, your culture gets stronger, and your business flourishes.
But there’s one important culture aspect that Arnie highlights: allow yourself to get it wrong before you get it right. And it doesn’t end there. Even though culture starts with the leadership team, you have to give your employees grace and allow them to get it wrong, too. After all, it’s your team that’s working with clients, developing their expertise, and helping the business grow.
Listen to this episode of The Judd Shaw Way Podcast with Judd Shaw featuring entrepreneur and author, Arnie Malham. Together, they talk about the key steps to developing your culture, why it’s okay to get things wrong, and the best ways to empower your team.
In this episode:
- [0:50] Judd Shaw introduces his guest, Arnie Malham, and the topic of the day: developing a culture of "wow"
- [3:15] Arnie discusses why he founded cj Advertising and how he learned to empower the team
- [6:56] Judd’s experience working with cj Advertising — and his first impressions on their company culture
- [11:39] Arnie describes his book, Worth Doing Wrong, and why you shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes
- [13:25] What are the three things leaders need to start building a great culture?
- [16:02] How to craft the culture you want
- [19:05] Arnie talks about one program he initially got wrong: team member surveys
- [21:55] How the Better Book Club came about — and how it encourages reading
- [25:09] Why it’s important to have people outside the leadership team offer ideas
- [27:17] How can you measure success in your culture initiative?
- [31:14] The number one reason why a culture initiative will fail versus the number one strategy to ensure success
- [34:54] The value of feeling a culture (not just seeing it)
🎙️ Featured Guest 🎙️
Name: Arnie Malham
Short Bio: Arnie Malham is an entrepreneur who has founded and sold multiple businesses, including cj Advertising, Legal Intake Professionals, and Med View Services. He’s the Author of the book Worth Doing Wrong and is currently the founder and CEO of Better Book Club.
Company: cj Advertising | Better Book Club
Connect: LinkedIn | Email
🔑 Relevant Resources 🔑
- Worth Doing Wrong
- Chad Dudley
- Micki Love
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