The organizational equivalent is the training experience. In the beginning of a new job, everything is unfamiliar. People's minds are open and eager, working hard to make sense of the things they observe. Whatever they internalize in those first few moments sticks — and, more important, is hard to unstick.

At Commerce Bank, if you recall, within the first ninety seconds, new hires learn that they (1) are part of a crazy tribe of congenitally happy people, (2) have a responsibility to go find others like them, and (3) must answer the phone with an attitude of "Wow!" In these three simple gestures, clocking in at less than two minutes, employees internalize what matters to the company. The firms that hand out binders in the first ninety seconds of orientation — what have they communicated as being important? The bureaucracy? Companies that really get it start the imprinting process in the recruiting phase. At this point, of course, it's part communication and part alignment. You want to identify people who are likely to be good cultural fits, but you also want to start making it clear what you're all about.

In our experience, a shared characteristic of successful, fast-growing companies is a relentless curiosity about what's not working. These companies aren't politically conflicted about how to acknowledge or discuss problems.They welcome them, openly, as opportunities. Again, Toyota was among the most visible organizations to celebrate this mentality, until it lost its way (hopefully, briefly) when it shifted its focus to growth rather than improvement. When new managers at Toyota got hired, their first assignment was to stand in a box outlined on the floor with red tape, facing the assembly line. The recruits weren't allowed to leave that box until they saw something that could be improved in the process. Keep in mind that this was the celebrated Toyota production system, perfected over more than a decade, and so some new hires spent their entire first week on the job just standing in that red box. Others spent less than an hour. Either way, it was seared into their souls that their responsibility as an employee was to make the place better.

At Commerce Bank, if you recall, within the first ninety seconds, new hires learn that they (1) are part of a crazy tribe of congenitally happy people, (2) have a responsibility to go find others like them, and (3) must answer the phone with an attitude of "Wow!" In these three simple gestures, clocking in at less than two minutes, employees internalize what matters to the company. The firms that hand out binders in the first ninety seconds of orientation — what have they communicated as being important? The bureaucracy? Companies that really get it start the imprinting process in the recruiting phase. At this point, of course, it's part communication and part alignment. You want to identify people who are likely to be good cultural fits, but you also want to start making it clear what you're all about.

In our experience, a shared characteristic of successful, fast-growing companies is a relentless curiosity about what's not working. These companies aren't politically conflicted about how to acknowledge or discuss problems.They welcome them, openly, as opportunities. Again, Toyota was among the most visible organizations to celebrate this mentality, until it lost its way (hopefully, briefly) when it shifted its focus to growth rather than improvement. When new managers at Toyota got hired, their first assignment was to stand in a box outlined on the floor with red tape, facing the assembly line. The recruits weren't allowed to leave that box until they saw something that could be improved in the process. Keep in mind that this was the celebrated Toyota production system, perfected over more than a decade, and so some new hires spent their entire first week on the job just standing in that red box. Others spent less than an hour. Either way, it was seared into their souls that their responsibility as an employee was to make the place better.