The buzzword du jour for
corporations is "culture”. Either you have it - or you don't. In which
case, send in the consultants! But what is it? Yogurt? Beer? Penicillin? All
are cultured. If corporations are people - and the Supreme Court says they are,
a corporation's 'culture' must be - its people. Anheuser-Busch, 150 years old
is all about beer. Yoplait is yogurt. Dr. Alexander Fleming was shocked to find
out he had invented a cash cow for Big Pharma.
So, a corporation's
culture is its people - plus its products. But what if the company provides a
service instead of a product - what culture do they have? AT&T, for
instance, touts 'service.' Some may disagree with that description.
Culture is also applied
to countries, which are after all, people. No other land has the culture of
America, made up of immigrants, who work and serve together for a better
society. All other countries are tribal in nature – Japan is for Japanese,
Italy for Italians, Germany for, well, you know.
Cities too, are
culturally unique – Los Angeles is perhaps not more special to Americans who
live in Chicago, New York or Miami, for instance. But L.A. is exceptional for
its culture – you can drive in an hour or two to the mountains to ski, if
there’s ever snow again – or go to the beach. Live in hills, when there’s no
fire, or just under the Hollywood sign. Planes and busses daily disgorge new
residents determined to be movie stars, and tourists who want to bask in the
direct sun, or light reflected from the footprints of stars on the sidewalk at
Grauman’s Chinese theatre.
L.A’s Downtown is one of
the wonders of the West Coast.
A new wave of culture is
budding in Downtown LA. Cool and hip companies boasting young, tech savvy
workers are locating from Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach to Downtown LA.
Firms like augmented reality Google glass maker, DAQRI, to hip fashion firms
like Nasty Gal, are nesting in Downtown, causing hip ripple effects in unlikely
neighborhoods like the Ace Hotel block, where we now can enjoy a street
cappuccino seated at Ikea-esque café tables on astroturf, as Uber drops a ride
nearby. The sidewalks can’t keep up with the “cool” and “hip” spillover, so
lanes once used for cars boast places that are supposed to feel sidewalk
café-like out of a French film. Yet, there are growing pains.
Downtown LA is like a
gangly teenage boy whose voice is dropping octaves before the rest of him has
caught up. Is the City truly on it’s way to being a grown up? With some
ninety-six plus development projects in various stages of development, it seems
some would agree that adulthood is on the horizon.
The question is this:
What will LA’s resulting culture be? How in years to come will it be defined
and labeled? Hip? Cool? Trendy? Conservative? Diverse? Respectful? Caring?
Tech-like? Sustainable? Healthy? Cutting edge? Where on the Myers-Briggs personality
test does LA live?
The finalization of
those ninety-six plus developments, like the Bloc, the Broad Museum, Metropolis
and others, will be our defining cultural tipping point. Hopefully, along the
way, as we stroll the streets while sipping a latte, with our “selfie sticks”, we
won’t forget those in our picture frame lying on the streets with only a
sidewalk to call home. The true definition of our “corporate culture” in years
to come, will lie in how we as a City pull together to aid the homeless. The
actions and decisions we make/take now on this polarizing plight, will indeed
prove to define us more than that new museum, mall or sidewalk café in the
years to come.
Unitedway.com/
homeforgood; skidrowhoustingtrust.org; sharednecessities.org
