Corporate culture and the ship of Theseus
Summary
If culture is the moving average of behaviour over time, then a change in corporate culture is inevitable. To retain their cultural distinctiveness, though, corporations must identify what truly makes them special – i.e. their immutable core.
The Ship of Theseus is a classic philosophical puzzle about identity and change. Imagine a ship in an Athenian museum – the ship of Theseus. As the wooden planks of this ship rot over the years, the Athenians replace each plank with new, stronger wood. Such replacements are inevitable if you wish to preserve the ship.
But these replacements raise an interesting question.
If the Athenians were to replace all the planks of the ship with new planks, is it still the ship of Theseus?
And here’s the twist. What if someone were to collect all the old planks, somehow restore them and reassemble them into a ship? Would this new ship be the ship of Theseus?
In Indian politics, there’s a parallel to this idea. The preamble of the Indian Constitution describes India as a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.” The words “socialist” and “secular” made their way into the preamble through an amendment in 1976. That constitutional amendment came through during India’s infamous emergency rule. The Indira Gandhi government exercised unchecked power to the extent that many would describe it as autocratic. But the emergency ended, Indira Gandhi lost the next election and her own seat, and the rest is history. The constitutional amendment, though, was up for a stiff legal challenge.
In 1994 and 2024, SR Bommai and Dr Balram Singh challenged the validity of the word “secular” in the preamble. After all, it was an act of historical falsity to insert this word in 1976, into a preamble dated November 26, 1949! On both occasions, the Supreme Court dismissed these challenges, stating that secularism is part of the “basic structure” or, as I’d like to call it, the “immutable core” of the Indian constitution. The word secular may be relatively new, but the theme of secularism is as old as independent India itself. Secularism is one of the core principles that reflects the vision of our constituent assembly.*
Since 1950, there have been 106 amendments to the Indian Constitution. Is it still the Indian Constitution? I reckon so. The story of my country’s constitution and the identity questions from the ship of Theseus discussion are intriguing in the context of corporate culture. They prompt us to view identity as more than the sum of its parts. Change is inevitable. Over the decades, corporations will likely change several of their planks, either publicly or implicitly. Words, the values poster, the employer brand, and even the company’s mission may change. The challenge for culture architects is to identify the company's immutable core that remains constant across cultural iterations. Unless, of course, the idea is to reimagine the company from the ground up.
Consider a company like Patagonia. Over the decades, it has changed its products, leadership, and marketing. Several planks are new. Yet, “protect our home planet” remains part of its "basic structure". Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t follow the 5:1 principle for pay anymore – i.e. the highest paid person shouldn’t earn more than 5x the lowest paid person. Yet, the belief that “ice cream can change the world” is immutable. These core principles act as filters for every replacement plank. As a leader, you must identify your organisation’s immutable core. Without it, you aren't preserving the ship. You’re merely assembling a random pile of wood.
*PS: You could argue that retaining the word “secular” doesn’t make India a truly secular country. You’d be right to make that argument. But that’s a rabbit hole I’ll avoid in this post.