It is challenging for an industrial era company to embrace the geek way due to deep-rooted dysfunctional norms and toxic cultures that hinder positive change. Most alpha geeks express reluctance in turning around large, bureaucratic companies due to the difficulty of changing ingrained norms. Microsoft's successful turnaround under Satya Nadella's leadership showcases the potential for transformation by unblocking conflicting imperatives, instilling ownership, adopting a fast iterative approach, encouraging authenticity, vulnerability, and openness. Nadella focused on unjamming people, removing impediments, and fostering the original energy of employees to build cool things, which revived the company's culture from a low psychological safety environment to one driven by a passion for innovation.
What's different about companies that accomplish amazing things? Perhaps surprisingly, says Andrew McAfee of MIT, it has nothing to do with being agile or with better technology. Instead, they've developed what he calls "geek" cultures, which emphasize intense cooperation, rapid learning curves, and a lack of hierarchy. Listen as McAfee talks about his book The Geek Way with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and how focusing on company norms, as opposed to organizational charts and structure, is a key to realizing big ambitions. They also discuss the role that data and evidence play in geek companies' decision-making and why the willingness to embrace failure is a winning strategy.