Strategic moves can be copied, or at least emulated. We can study what other companies do strategically, and then copy, to some extent, their approach within our context. Strategies and the organizations they are attached to are complex things, so it’s not as an easy task and there’s always a lot of adapting you need to do. But the learning process does contain that copying element. You find out what the successful people have done, and you emulate their approach.

That doesn’t work with culture, which can be somewhat frustrating. You go out and learn about companies that have cultures that are very clearly strong and do a good job at attracting the best employees and higher-value customers, and you want to do what they do. You want a culture as strong as theirs. So do you change your employee manual to be a 4×6 card like Nordstrom does? Do you offer your new employees a few thousand dollars to quit after their training like Zappos and now Amazon does? Do you make your employees work in pairs and share a computer like Menlo Innovations does?

Maybe, but probably not. The fact is, you can’t copy a culture. You can’t just do what they do and have your culture be as strong as their culture. They spent a lot of time building their culture. And so have you. Yours may not be very strong, but it is there, and all cultures have strong roots. So your task is not to copy the great cultures out there. Your task is to change your culture from what it is, to what it needs to be.

You can still learn a lot by studying the strong cultures. Don’t give up on that. But don’t be looking for best practices to copy. Look for insights that will guide you on your journey to create an organization worth working for.