Matt Emmens wrote the book on keeping a business culture
fresh and relevant.
No, really, he did.
Published in January, Emmens co-wrote a book with author
Beth Kephart called “Zenobia: The Curious Book of Business.”
It’s a fable that illustrates what can happen if weeds are allowed
to grow under a business’s culture.
“It starts with a quote from an Italian author about a city that is
built on stilts,” says the chairman and CEO of Shire plc. “At one
time, there was water there, but now it’s on stilts in the desert.
That is kind of poignant about a culture and structure that is no
longer relevant. That’s what the whole book is about. You have
people doing things the way they have always done it and the
world passed them by.”
Emmens calls business culture one of his hot-button issues.
Many times over the course of his career, he has seen businesses fall by the wayside because the people within the company,
management and employees alike, failed to adapt the culture to
keep up with the times.
It’s the biggest reason why Emmens places a high priority on
having an adaptable culture and adaptable people at Shire, a
global specialty biopharmaceutical company that had $1.8 billion in 2006 revenue.
“That’s my biggest fear in business, that you’re going to set up
a wonderful culture but it’s no longer relevant,” he says. “Then
your performance falls off over the years, and sooner or later,
your company is in trouble, and it’s largely due to lack of awareness and stifled creativity.”
Emmens says finding capable employees and developing a
culture that gives them the latitude to create and innovate is the
only way you can expect your business to flourish over the long
haul. This is how he has accomplished that at Shire.