Culture, Conformity & Authenticity

You need to figure out which is right for you and your values

Mining operations in the Klondike, c.1899. "Washing out Gold with the Rocker" Alaska and the Klondike, by John Scudder McLain, New York: McClure, Phillips & Co, 1905, p.1, (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

“But they’re always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.”
— Robert W. Service, 1911

It’s National Poetry month, so where better than in poetry to find some of the raw truths of human nature?

Let’s talk a little bit about culture fit.

Culture fit is what judgy teenagers are assessing as they silently judge each other. You see it at every lunch table in every high school cafeteria: smart kids sit at this table, cool kids at that one. The jocks in one corner, the theater kids in another. If you’ve ever seen The Breakfast Club¹, you know the various types.

When it comes to a work environment, you oft…