Surprise? Penney’s didn’t bite the Apple

Once again, culture eats strategy for lunch!  If you are one of those “culture skeptics,” just look at the J. C. Penney upheaval.  It illuminates the cultural struggle that has apparently been boiling this year and has resulted in explosions over the last two weeks.  

You can just imagine these rock stars from Apple – Ron Johnson, Michael Kramer and Dan Walker – coming in to turnaround the struggling 111-year-old retailer.  I was excited to hear the news that Mr. Johnson had brought in his compatriots from Apple.  I had high hopes that the trio might create a cool new JCP.

The turmoil at Penney’s reminds me of HP when Carly Fiorina was ousted and Mark Hurd was brought in to save the day.  It was clear that Ms. Fiorina did not fit the culture, nor did she "meet the company where it was" to facilitate an evolutionary culture change. She didn’t even seem to get support from the Board – the very people who brought her in to HP to shake things up.  Instead, the board replaced Ms. Fiorina with Mark Hurd whose leadership profile fit the “HP way” culture very well.  So much for culture change!

So I am disappointed to see three seasoned, talented leaders so completely underestimate the power of JCP’s current culture.  Did arrogance blind them to reality?

I suppose I'm most disappointed because, when the three joined JCP, I recognized the tremendous opportunity they had to identify the gaps between the current culture and the desired culture and to create a deliberate approach to close those gaps.  From where I sit, they did nothing to bridge the gaps; they charged ahead as though their new Apple-like strategy would magically create an Apple-like exciting vibe in a traditional, low-tech retail company.  I think they could have done great things for JCP if they had understood the power of corporate culture, but they blew it.

Please comment!  Do you agree that this is another example of leaders underestimating how critical company culture is in driving business strategy?  Did I miss something; were they doing things to try to bridge the gap between the current and desired cultures?