Investment industry leaders acknowledge the power of culture

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[{"type":"text","content":"ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a poll of C-suite investment leaders, an overwhelming majority (89%) believe that organizational culture is more important than business strategy in influencing good organizational outcomes. The survey,* which involved representatives from 15 investment organizations around the world with total assets under management of over US$8.5 trillion, was conducted as part of the Thinking Ahead Institute’s Power of Culture leadership study and white paper, which is being released publicly today.\n “This is tremendous validation of our thesis that a strong emphasis on culture, when synchronized with purpose, is a prerequisite for organizational success,” said Roger Urwin, co-founder of the Thinking Ahead Institute. “The importance of effective organizational purpose and actively managed culture has grown in recognition considerably of late, especially among leading investment organizations whose leaders acknowledge their key role in enhancing differentiation and resilience.” The poll also shows how topical this subject has become recently; more than three-quarters of the group (80%) believe that more attention has been focused on organizational culture during the COVID-19 crisis. The cultural areas identified by this group as requiring the most work are inclusion and diversity (92%), people and teamwork ethos (79%), and innovation (62%). The institute’s white paper highlights leadership commitment to elevating and actively shaping culture in an organization as the most important factor for building a competitive edge and generating sustainable business performance. It also points to the cultural considerations leaders rely on when building their value proposition, including: Paying sufficient regard to organizational purpose, beyond a focus on short-term business resultsUnderstanding and respecting the assessment of so-called soft or intangible factorsDeveloping the language, facts and tools necessary to communicate culture “Now is a very difficult period for industry leaders, perhaps the most challenging in a generation,” said Urwin. “Notwithstanding, we believe that organizations that invest proportionately more time and attention in cultural progression will be more resilient as a result, particularly if they work with a dashboard to check in on progress. Beyond that, the b...

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