Benchmarking cultures of other companies is like chasing mirages of watery oases in the desert: the vision motivates you to move toward it, but the reality gives you no idea of how to get there.

In a few weeks, I’m joining a professional group and doing a tour of the company, Zappos, after which we’ll hear from one of their executives about their remarkable, almost cult-like culture of customer focus.  It will no doubt be instructive.

But only to a limited degree.  Zappos is simply the new Southwest Airlines: the model culture for leaders from other companies to envy and to emulate.

And like those who have tried to turn their company into Southwest Airlines, the effort will undoubtedly be a frustrating experience, ultimately fruitless.  Think about it: After hundreds, if not thousands of corporate visitors studying the culture of Southwest Airlines, what company immediately comes to mind when asked “Name a company, other than Zappo’s, whose culture is just like that of Southwest Airlines?” I’ll be darned if I can think of one. Please, if you’ve got an obvious answer, I’m anxious to know.

Why is benchmarking the culture of Zappos or, for that matter, Southwest Airlines likely to be fruitless?  Simple: they were born that way.  You weren’t! Their cultures were built on the values and visions of their founders, and employees were either hired for those values or self-selected to stay with the company because of them.  Yours was built on the values and visions of your founder. Different visions, different values, different founders. Not better or worse. Just different.

That’s why the all-too-common result of trying to make your employees act like those of another company is a pale imitation of the real thing. Have you ever tried to become somebody else?

If you want to see what I mean, go to an Apple Store.  And then, go to an ATT or Verizon wireless store. Which founder is more in touch with the contemporary consumer experience: Apple’s Steve Jobs or 19th century inventor and Bell founder Alexander Graham Bell?  It’s no wonder that employees at the ATT and Verizon stores, despite their well-meaning efforts to be helpful, all too often wind up apologizing for less than stellar customer service by complaining about the bureaucratic procedures of their corporate parent.

So while “role models” like Zappos or Southwest Airlines may help expand your sense of the possible, there’s not much more they can do. Unlike you, they’ve never tried to dramatically change their culture, and they have no expertise at doing so. So enjoy the visit. But when you return, I suggest you spend some time finding the rare company that’s successfully transformed their culture, and benchmark it. It will be more sobering than fun. But also more useful. Having worked on and consulted to companies going through the process, I can tell you it’s a marathon, requiring patience, persistence, and long-term commitment. But it can be done.

That said, there’s still enough executives out there thirsting for the oasis of easy culture transformation that the halls of those “role model” companies will still be crowded with vision-inspired corporate travelers. But like must hallucinating travelers in a knowledge desert, they’ll end up empty-handed, thirstier than when they started.