Even before I set out to rebuild Jamba Juice, I was already a forward-thinker and knew the value of dreaming big. Use this idea to visualize the end point you want to reach and work your way back from that future.
Applying this forward-thinking mindset, I implemented this strategy at Nestlé Purina and later at Gillette, Safeway, and Jamba Juice. The goal has always been to clearly define what strategies will benefit the company, division, and department. Whether you consider it a foundation, a pillar, an enabler; Culture is always linked to strategy. Let's take Jamba Juice as an example.
My vision for Jamba to be a leading healthy lifestyle brand with strong financial growth did not align with the current situation. Friends looked at the company, which was in the middle of a financial crisis, was not seasonal, had a limited menu, and was in decline, and they said, “James, why would you take that job?'' But our forward-thinking mindset has enabled us to design an innovative, cross-functional culture and achieve our long-term vision.
At Jamba Juice, my team also used creative and inventive techniques to carefully hone our desired future state. This includes gathering input from the teaching team to create an illustrated plan and compiling it into a booklet. Creative tools like live sketching and hiring a graphic recording artist (or enlisting an artist member of your team) can help you unleash your thinking.
For Jamba Juice, this foundation opened up the possibility of a culture of creativity, innovation, and cross-departmental and cross-level collaboration. Once the team was encouraged to dream big and started working together more effectively, they were able to create and execute on my iterative turnaround plan. The first part, called Blend 1.0, included cutting costs, revitalizing the franchise system, expanding the menu, and leveraging consumer packaged goods (CPG) licenses. The next part, “Blend 2.0: Strategic Shift,” continued to refine Jamba's CPG strategy, begin international expansion, and launch JambaGo, a small self-serve smoothie station. By the end of 2012, Jamba Juice broke even and became profitable for the first time in six years. The realization of this long-term vision would not have been possible without intentional cultural design, which was likewise shaped by strategy. They work in lockstep.
In essence, cultural transformation is also business transformation. Designing culture means designing future business outcomes. To translate your vision into strategy, similar to the iterative Blend plan in Jamba, decide on 3-4 areas to invest in and follow milestones from there over 2-3 years.
The future-back method is similar to Amazon's press release method for product development, and I also use it with my team. In this approach, the product team begins by creating a mock press release announcing the future product to the target customer. This helps center who you're creating for throughout the product development process. You can also easily check the practicality of the product. On Amazon, these press releases typically include: Product name. Target customers. The problem the product solves. Benefits for customers. A quote from someone at your company that provides a moving explanation of why they developed that product and what they hope it will bring to customers. A call to action that tells customers how to take advantage of your product right away. There's also an optional FAQ that answers business or tactical questions about building the product.
To apply this method to your culture design, modify this outline as follows:
- Product name. Is there a word, series of words, or phrase that describes your vision for your culture?
- Target customers. Employees, suppliers, clients and other stakeholders affected by the culture plan
- The problem the product solves. What gaps did you see in your culture?
- Benefits for customers. How will workplace and business outcomes be improved?
- A quote from someone within your company that provides an inspiring explanation of why you developed the product and what you hope it will do for your customers. Consider including a statement from your CEO explaining why this transformation is important.
- A call to action that tells customers how to take advantage of your product right away. What can employees do now to participate in the change?
- Optional: FAQs that answer business or tactical questions about building your product. What questions and concerns can I expect?
After creating a press release, Amazon's next steps are to evaluate the opportunity, find a solution, get stakeholder approval, and create a backlog and assign tasks. These steps look similar in the cultural design process. After defining reality and creating a plan of action, the progression continues with implementation, iterating, and gaining stakeholder buy-in to bring the culture to life.
These processes always require a long-term investment to ensure a successful project with confidence in the vision that can be achieved by looking backwards into the future.
Reprinted with permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpt from Culture Design: How to build purposeful, high-performing, and resilient organizations.. Copyright 2025 James D. White and Krista White. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
