This guide provides detailed steps on creating a culture book, including gathering stories, defining organizational structure, and designing the book to reflect your brand’s ideals. It emphasizes the importance of storytelling and visual elements to make the culture book engaging and representative of your company’s ethos.
Innovation & Adaptation
Culture Codex
IA-01Company Culture Book
Chronicle your company's heart and soul. Create a book that encapsulates your company's history and workplace culture.
MarkingsCommunityCollaborationDiversityReflection(1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
1 Corinthians 12:12–27
From the card
Getting Started
- Gather Stories: Collect anecdotes, values, and moments that represent your company's journey and ethos.
- Involve the Team: Encourage contributions from all levels to reflect a multifaceted company culture.
- Choose a Format: Decide whether your culture book will be a physical copy, a digital version, or both.
- Design with Identity: Ensure the book's design resonates with your company's branding and aesthetic.
- Distribute and Discuss: Share the culture book with employees, new hires, and stakeholders, using it as a touchstone for conversations about your collective identity.
Tips for Success
- Update the culture book annually to include new milestones and narratives.
- Create a shared place on your company network to share artifacts easily.
- Incorporate the culture book as part of the onboarding process to help new team members learn about the company.
Continue exploring
3 resourcesResources
Zappos offers a virtual culture book that provides a glimpse into their company culture. This resource can serve as an inspiration for creating your own culture book, showcasing how to document and share your company’s values, traditions, and stories.
Andy Crouch’s *Culture Making *challenges Christians to move beyond critiquing or consuming culture and instead embrace their God-given role as creators. By cultivating and innovating cultural artifacts, Christians can shape society, reflect God’s glory, and foster justice, beauty, and truth. This book inspires active, intentional cultural engagement for lasting impact.
Keep the conversation going
Have a resource to suggest? We’d love to hear it.