A century ago the greatest business conflict was between labor and the capital that paid for it. In 2010, the conflict is between the customer and the worker; the company is only the middle man. The consumer turns to the company and says "I want more for less." The company turns to its employees and says, "If we don't give them more for less (music, spot rates, contest-awards), we're in trouble and we can't guarantee you a job; only our customers (listeners and ad clients) can. Tensions between our marketplace, corporate officers, shareholders, listeners, and operating people in the field are only going to increase. 
 
Who says you can't create a "culture" anymore? Culture is something "great" companies have, while lesser competitors don't. How a company spends its money and time says a hell of a lot about what it values. A culture is not something we order or create by a committee but instead, something that grows from the understanding that people are our only true asset:
 
The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers (listeners or ad clients)
 
Manage in the good times for the bad times
 
Hire for attitude and train for skills, since attitudes are rarely changed but skills can be learned
 
Take the opposition seriously, but not yourself
 
Some irreverence is okay
 
Memorialize your peoples' triumphs
 
Make your vision "the boss"
 
Limit committees and keep them ad hoc
 
Keep a warrior spirit in the hallways
 
Fall down seven times, get up eight
 
Most people rise to leadership through a calling or a cause. Lightening swift technology and changing global rhythms may make these traditional inspirations harder to identify, yet if you walk the halls of the very best organizations you'll witness a higher level of company awareness and sense-of-purpose.
 
Success is rarely ever permanent and it's certainly never singularly achieved. Leadership is based on mutual influence: leaders both create, and are created. Motivation comes from showing people that you believe in them. An ancient Japanese maxim articulates it this way: "If he works for you, you work for him."
 
There is an age-old fallacy that says, "It's easier to get to the top than it is to stay there." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, history records that once positioned as a leadership company practicing the art and science of recruiting, developing, and retaining better people than its competition ensures its relative permanence on the pinnacle, with a whispering voice reminding us that all glory is fleeting.