Today, I'm introducing a guest blogger to this page. Responding to my recent posting on corporate monoculture, Senior principle Software Engineer and Six Sigma Expert Maysa-Maria Peterson comments. Maysa says:

So what is corporate culture? According to Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., “Corporate culture is a broad term used to define the unique personality or character of a particular company or organization, and includes such elements as core values and beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior.” Corporate culture thus guides how we think, act, and feel in our work environments. So understanding corporate culture is important because it affects us in many ways, such as hours worked per day or week, how you dress, whether you polish your nails or not, training and professional development, how people interact and corporate expectations. Slip over here for more ...

I've been looking at the effects of what I'm labeling 'monoculture' in organizations. In agriculture, monoculture refers to the practice of planting a single crop within a defined space. In the short run, monoculture farming can produce dramatic increases in productivity. Longer run, repeatedly growing a single crop can deplete the soil and require ever greater supplemental fertilizer use. It can also create the conditions for catastrophic crop failure, such as the Irish Potato Famine. The wine industry in Europe was devastated by susceptibility to Phylloxera during the late 19th century. Slip over here for more ...

Today, we're announcing the release of our periodic newsletter, Compass. This is Volume 11, Number 1. Continuously published since 1996, this newsletter has gone from a whim of Christmas cheer to become the journal of record for True North's evolving understanding of what works.

This issue focuses upon Tidings of Comfort and Joy, under the belief that we've spent plenty of time discussing what doesn't work. Time for a seasonal injection of something sweeter.

Here's the link to the newsletter.

Happy New Year! david