Chief Culture Officer

How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation

By: Grant McCracken

Narrated by: Fred Berman

Levi-Strauss, the jeans and apparel maker, missed out on the hip-hop trend. They didn't realize that those kids in baggy jeans represented a whole new and lucrative market opportunity, one they could have seen coming if they had but been paying attention to the shape of American culture. Levi Strauss isn't alone. Too many corporations outsource their understanding of culture to trend hunters, cool watchers, marketing experts, consulting firms, and, sometimes, teenage interns. The cost to Levi-Strauss was a billion dollars. The cost to the rest of corporate America is immeasurable. The lesson? The American corporation needs a new professional. It needs a Chief Culture Officer.

Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world's biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends, from sneakers to slow food to preppies, while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCOs professionalism would allow the corporation to see coming changes, even when they only exist as the weakest of signals.

Delightfully authoritative, trenchantly on point, bursting with insight and character, Chief Culture Officer is sure to expand your horizons and your business.

©2009 Grant McCracken (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The title of this book is a lie. It's not merely for companies that decide they need a Chief Culture Officer, or even just for those who aspire to that job. It's for you. Right now. If your job involves marketing, inventing, selling or simply investing in companies that make stuff, this book is a must read." (Seth Godin)

Brilliant overview for the layperson & the academi

Would you listen to Chief Culture Officer again? Why?

There are many insights in the book, it would be absolutely essential to listen to it time & again.

What did you like best about this story?

It gave me an overview of the concept, specifics about skillsets for a CCO & introduced me ( a layperson) to consumer culture.

Any additional comments?

Must listen - the narrator has done a fantastic job.