Chief Culture Officer : How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation

The American corporation--deaf and blind to the world around it--needs a new professional. It needs a Chief Culture Officer. Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world's biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCO would be the corporation's eyes and ears, allowing it to detect coming changes, even when they exist only as the weakest of signals. Trenchantly on point and bursting with insight and character, Chief Culture Officer is sure to expand your horizons--and your business. Trenchantly on point and bursting with insight, anthropologist Grant McCracken shows American corporations how keeping a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends can change their business practices for the better -- and ahead of the curve. Levi-Strauss, the jeans and apparel maker, missed out on the hip-hop trend. They didn't realize that those kids in baggy jeans represented a whole new -- and lucrative -- market opportunity, one they could have seen coming if they had but been paying attention to the shape of American culture. Levi Strauss isn't alone. Too many corporations outsource their understanding of culture to trend hunters, cool watchers, marketing experts, consulting firms, and, sometimes, teenage interns. The cost to Levi-Strauss was a billion dollars. The cost to the rest of corporate America is immeasurable. The lesson? The American corporation needs a new professional. It needs a Chief Culture Officer. Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world's biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends-from sneakers to slow food to preppies-while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCO's professionalism would allow the corporation to see coming changes, even when they only exist as the weakest of signals. Delightfully authoritative, trenchantly on point, bursting with insight and character, Chief Culture Officer is sure to expand your horizons-and your business. Corporations often have an alphabet soup of executives, but they donʼt have anyone to decipher the most complex problem of all: culture. Grant McCracken, an advisor to some of the worldʼs leading companies and consulting firms, argues that every company needs a Chief Culture Officeror suffer the competitive consequences. McCracken urges corporations to stop outsourcing culture to trend hunters, cool watchers, marketing experts, and consulting firms. He argues that the CCO will keep a finger on the pulse of fast-moving trends while developing a real understanding of the deep waves that move cu Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world's biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the American corporation needs a new professional--a Chief Culture Officer--who would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world How can you become Steve Jobs, A. G. Lafley, or David Ogilvy? Hint: read this book.