If you ask 10 people to define "organizational culture," you will get 11 different answers! Fortunately, from my consulting and writing on leadership and organizational change, I created my definition of organizational culture: "Corporate culture is how every employee knows she or he must act - even if no one is watching."

From my consulting experience, I devised a super-quick way to uncover an organization's culture: Discover the story all employees know and tell other employees. In fact, hearing the company's signature story is a right-of-passage for new employees. Hearing the story implicitly tells a new employee the actions and values the organization expects.