Winning cultures manage their mailing lists and other things to please the customer. Other kinds of companies use theirs only to sell. Yesterday I received a personal birthday card from Southwest Airlines. They obviously knew my birthday from their database, but then, so do a lot of other companies. With the exception of only one other organization that is very small and personal, this is the only similar card I received. Do we think it has something to do with their culture? You bet. Collaborative cultures concentrate on their customers and it pays.
