The United States destroyed its enemies in World War II becauseit out-produced them. Its manufacturing capacity was enormous andefficient. Its workforce was inspired and committed.

The government, suppliers, and competitors all collaborated toproduce the biggest manufacturing juggernaut the world had everknown. It seemed there was no end to America’s manufacturingmight.

Related: Who creates a company's culture?

But there was.

The end to America being a manufacturing powerhouse began duringthe recession of 2008. Millions of middle-class manufacturing jobswere lost. And they never came back.

In fact, since 1979, manufacturing employment has plummeted byover 33 percent. That is worse than the job losses during the GreatDepression.

So what happened? How did the world’s mightiest manufacturingmachine end up as the equivalent of room service to China? How didthe nation with the workforce that won the war end up with aworkforce outsourced to India? How did the most motivated,inspired, and productive workforce on the planet end up caring moreabout their bowling scores than their production numbers?

There is no shortage of explanations. Some experts claim Chinais to blame. Others cite United States trade policies. And stillothers say it is because of the rise of the millennials.

However, very few people point to the real reason.

And that is a failure of American leadership on an epic scale; afailure of government to work with manufacturing instead of againstit; a failure of business to adapt to the global marketplaceinstead of running from it. But most of all, it is a failure ofleadership to harness and unleash the remarkable potential of theAmerican worker.

You can’t unleash this massive potential without creating a“culture by design, not default." A culture by design has a bedrockof carefully selected company-wide values that motivates employees,delights customers, serves their communities and sparks innovationand creativity. But most companies have cultures “by default, notdesign."

Related: 5 steps to building and sustaining a culture ofinnovation

They have what I call “bumper sticker” values. Bumper stickervalues are created in boardrooms because they sound cool. But theydon’t reflect the real, underlying values of the organization.

One has to look no further than the Wells Fargo bogus accountsdebacle to illustrate this. Two of Wells Fargo’s key values are“ethics” and “what’s right for their customers." And yet what theydid was clearly neither.

How can a company with those supposed ethics commit such an act?It can only be because while those values look good on a bumpersticker, the real, underlying values at Wells Fargo are “profitabove all else."

Now don’t misunderstand me: Profit has to be the number onegoal. The problem with that as a core value, above all else ispeople will act that way. And when they do, relationships betweenemployees and customers suffer, quality suffers, the books getcooked, and all other manner of bad outcomes.

That is why it is so important to build a culture by design.Cultures by design contain foundational values that driveorganizational behavior toward remarkable outcomes. Cultures bydefault contain foundational values that drive organizationalbehavior toward bad outcomes.

The key point here is that you should choose values and not letvalues choose you. Here are some simple steps to get started:

1. Understand the values your organization currentlyhas. Some, perhaps all, the values may be perfectlyappropriate. Some may not be. But remember, the underlying valuesare probably different than the bumper sticker values. Conduct ananonymous survey of every single employee and ask them. Don’t makethis a human resource exercise. It has to come right from the topto be taken seriously.

2. Once you know the underlying values of the organization, decidewhich ones are worth keeping, nourishing, and promoting and whichones need to be discarded. And then you and your senior leadershipteam can decide which new values need to be implemented. This isnot a slogan exercise. It is a gut-wrenching soul-searchingmission. Which values should you choose? It will be different inevery company but you should choose values that driveorganizational behavior toward remarkable outcomes. Don’t choosevalues that sound cool in the C-suite but stupid to employees.Choose values that everyone in the organization can get behind andfeel good about. Sound like a tough job? It is. The last time I didthis it took a year.

3. Declare to the organization the new values that have been chosenand why. If you have chosen well, people will applaud you when youtell them. If you have chosen poorly, you’ll be a water coolerjoke. Be very deliberate and comprehensive when you announce thenew values. Explain completely what each value means, why it waschosen, and what you expect from employees in terms of behavior tosupport the values.

4. Now comes the most crucial part. You must be certain your seniorexecutives live these values day by day. You can’t expect “peoplefrom below to do what the top does not." Some of your executiveswon’t go along with the new values. Ask them to leave the company.Yes, you read that right. One loose cannon on the values ship canscuttle the whole effort.

5. Align all organization policies and practices to support the newvalues. Make them part of performance appraisals, standards forpromotions, and compensation increases. Don’t let this become a“check the box to keep human resources happy” exercise.

6. Once the values are firmly entrenched, don’t let anybody in thefront door that doesn’t believe in them. Do a “values check” aspart of the interview process.

7. And finally, this has to be a CEO initiative or it will fail.Think of this as a strategic culture plan, requiring years toexecute, not months. And give it the same time, importance,attention, and resources as you do the strategic operatingplan.