Fast Company published an article on their site entitled “Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch.” I barely got halfway through before my inner blogger started screaming “DISAGREE! DISAGREE!”

The major hypothesis of the article is that culture is more important than strategy, because without an organizational culture which favours accountability and responsibility, you can’t actually implement any strategy. I agree with that, but I also think many of the points the author, Shawn Parr, makes in support of his hypothesis actually prove that the relationship between culture and strategy is a two-way street.

A strong culture flourishes with a clear set of values and norms that actively guide the way a company operates. Employees are actively and passionately engaged in the business, operating from a sense of confidence and empowerment rather than navigating their days through miserably extensive procedures and mind-numbing bureaucracy.

There are lots of businesses out there that have a great culture. They are wonderful, nice places to come to work. Everybody’s having fun, everybody loves the company… but the company is slowly going bankrupt. Why? Because employees cannot productively engage in the business without knowing the purpose and direction they should be making an effort. That direction comes from… you guessed it… the strategy. Employees without a sense of the company’s strategy will engage all right… but in a shotgun scattered approach.

The article talks about accountability, which is a fabulous concept, but it depends on something: accountability to what? If there are no goals, no roadmap in place then you can have all the accountability in the world but it still doesn’t give you a successful company (or organization).

A poor culture can hamstring a good strategy, that is true. But a lack of strategy or a poor strategy can make the best culture in the world into nothing more than a big dance party on the Titanic. It’s going down… but aren’t we having fun?