A few key people in the right places carry the entire culture.

observation — attributed to Paul Bulencea & Claus Raasted

Claus Raasted calls it herd competence. People mirror each other socially. Walk into a room of fifty friendly, smiling, vulnerable people and you decide you had better be that too. The implication is that the team does not need to train fifty culture bearers, only a handful. If the first participant to share says I'm Bob, I'm a mechanic, the room sets at that level. If the first participant says I'm Robert, my daughter died and that shaped my life, the room sets at a different level. The College places returning alumni and team members deliberately, knowing the first three minutes determine the next five days.

For convening designers and culture leaders. The observation has implications for every opening session, every panel kickoff, every small-group launch.

herd-competence, culture, modeling, mirroring