Cookies and Broken Bones
The Operating System of Your Culture
Twenty years ago, I watched Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, electrify a conference audience. Long before Crave, Crumbl, or Sprinkles Cupcakes, her stores were the irresistible OG. You couldn’t step off an escalator in a department store without the buttery aroma of her cookies making your mouth water.
As I savored the white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookie she passed out, I was captivated. She told how, at twenty, she built both her recipe and her business from scratch. One small shop became an empire in malls and airports.
Debbi grew up stretching every dollar. Her father, a Navy welder earning $15,000 a year, said their true wealth was found in family, friends, and doing what they loved. Because her mother was a mediocre cook, Debbi started baking cookies. After years of margarine and imitation vanilla extract, she used her first paycheck to buy real ingredients. The difference amazed her and sparked a dream.
For months, Debbi walked into banks with her business plan in one hand and warm cookies in the other. The bankers devoured the cookies and still said no. Every morning, she told herself, “Somewhere, there’s a person who wants to say yes.” She found that “Yes” in a banker on the verge of retirement, who listened to his heart and approved the loan.
On opening day, Debbi bet her husband she could sell $50 in cookies. When no customers came inside, she took a tray of warm cookies out onto the sidewalk and gave out samples. By closing, she had sold $75 and discovered she wasn’t just offering cookies, she was delivering joy. The experience mattered as much as the taste.
Scaling Joy
As the chain grew to 275 stores, Debbi obsessed over culture: How do customers feel? mattered more than How many units did we sell? She became president and hired an executive team. “I was a kid with no money, no formal education, and no job experience,” she said, “All I had was a dream and a recipe, and I built a business out of it.”
Her make-or-break moment came when advisors warned the company had to succeed without her at the center. So, she booked a three-week vacation, before email, cell phones, and the internet as we know it today. With no lifeline, her leadership team had to steer alone. To her delight, she returned to thriving stores and realized a culture’s true test is what people do when the founder isn’t in the room.
The Healed Femur
There’s a commonly shared anecdote* that Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture, expecting her to describe fishhooks or grinding stones.
Mead thought for a moment and responded, “A healed femur.”
She explained that a broken femur in the animal kingdom often meant death: the wounded would be hunted, unable to escape danger or find food. A healed femur suggests the injured was protected, fed, and nursed back to health. Compassion, community, and cooperation are key traits of civilization.
The Operating System of Culture
I’ve been thinking about what the modern healed femurs” look like inside organizations. Not the values on a website or the rehearsed response given to the unhelpful question, “What’s the culture like here?” The unspoken rules and experiences revealed in everyday moments. The team that covers for colleagues on vacation and doesn’t ping them. The leader who schedules one-on-ones after a reorg to hear what’s on their mind. Sending a handwritten card to an employee after their pet dies.
These small acts make up the code of the operating system. It's the same type of code that let Mrs. Fields thrive even when the founder was on holiday. The operating system makes up the space between formal processes and lived experiences.
Questions for Your Culture’s Operating System:
Purpose / Vision / Strategy
Is the purpose clear, and do people see how their work connects?
Do you intentionally design for belonging so all voices—new hires, remote teammates, and quiet contributors—feel seen and valued?
Is there space to experiment, iterate, and learn in real time?
Communications
Do you develop your message based on what your audience values, understands, and needs in that moment?
Are channels two-way and not just top-down?
Can everyone easily find important information, delivered with clarity and empathy?
Decision Making
Are diverse perspectives invited before choices are locked?
Is the “why” behind each decision transparent, with dialogue about its impact?
Do leaders slow down to gather input from those most affected?
Development / Feedback
Is credit consistently given publicly and fairly?
Can anyone offer feedback regardless of level?
Do leaders model learning by admitting what they’re still learning and figuring out?
Team Dynamics
Are mistakes treated with curiosity and learning instead of embarrassment and blame?
When someone is going through something difficult, does the team rally so the person returns to, “We’ve got your back”?
Is conflict surfaced and handled respectfully, not avoided?
Uncertainty
When conditions shift, do leaders communicate openly or fall silent?
Do teams get the context they need to navigate change?
Is your team slow to make decisions?
Like Debbi Fields’ three-week absence, changes test the operating system of your culture. The real indicators of a healthy organization are the quiet, human moments of care, the healed femurs. Leaders who notice and nurture those moments don’t just assemble high-performing teams; they build cultures that endure. Because in the end, cookies crumble, but culture sticks.
*Some people say this exchange never happened, and it's folklore, just like the story about JFK and the Janitor.
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Want to learn more about your team’s operating system? Just like the operating system of your phone needs regular updates, so does the operating system on your team. Start a conversation.
