Understanding the Two Types of Company Cultures

A friend once told me there are 2 types of waiters.

You can distinguish them by how they respond to you when you ask them what they would recommend from the menu.

The first type will recommend the same 3 - 4 dishes to everyone.

The second type will first ask you what your preferences are and then based on those, highlight suitable options.

But this has less to do with the individuals and more with the restaurant's training & mandate.

Some restaurants will assign a rule to the waiters. When X happens, do Y. The waiters just execute. (type 1)

Others will share the goal: make customers happy. These waiters improvise as needed to meet the goal. (type 2)

You'll find the same types in organizations with product teams.

1- The CEO or management comes up with a feature inspired by their own isolated thinking or competition. They then force feed it down to product teams to design, build & deliver.

Or

2- The leadership gives a problem to the team and trusts them to find the best way to solve it.

Therefore, hiring top product managers is NOT enough.

The company culture needs to afford them the freedom to solve for the actual problem, and not just materialize a predetermined wish list.