"For him [Pullman] there was never any distinction between culture and business; indeed, his business was founded upon the manufacture of a new life-style of travel...Pullman's meticulous attention to monopolizing the means of supervision also had another purpose. He wished to change the behavior of his customers and his workers through manipulation of the cultural environment - to transform them into better customers and workers" (Gilbert 146-147).
Pullman wanted to combine culture and business into one. For him, it was one combined idea. For other's, it was separate. He wanted the highest standard of commitment and work from his employees, and he wanted his customers to spend as much money and love the company as much as possible. He loved his work culture and wanted to make it an enjoyable place to be -- his work was his life, so he wanted to make it a good enough place to spend a lot of time.
Thinking about this concept of combining business and culture into one kinda fits my recent experience of interviewing with Northwestern Mutual (this morning, actually) for a summer internship in 2012. It went really well, and I left smiling and excited about the position. The recruiter was very excited and happy to be where he is -- I was reminded of how important a friendly, happy, supportive work environment really is. My recruiter combines his business and culture into one -- to have the best, most profitable clients as possible, as well as leading the best, most talented set of interns as he possibly can.
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