Never Ignore Culture

A Decade of Leadership Lessons

This is the second in my retrospective series, revisiting lessons from Enlightened Entrepreneurship a decade after its publication. In my late 20s, I wrote about the importance of culture—how it shapes organizations, attracts talent, and influences everything from strategy to execution. At the time, I understood culture as something important, but I saw it as more of a nice-to-have rather than a mission-critical factor.

Now, after another ten years of leading companies, navigating crises, and managing teams across industries, I see culture differently. It’s not just important—it’s everything. A company’s culture determines how decisions get made, how people show up to work (physically or virtually), and how an organization survives change. Culture isn’t a project or an initiative. It’s the foundation on which everything else is built.

So, what have I learned about culture in the past decade?

Culture Is What You Allow, Not What You Say

When I was younger, I thought culture was about values—statements that a company commits to and reinforces through team meetings, posters on the wall, and leadership messaging. I assumed that if a company said it valued innovation, collaboration, or transparency, then that’s what would define the culture.

I was wrong.

Culture isn’t what you write down—it’s what you tolerate. It’s the behaviors that go unchallenged, the standards that slip when no one is watching, the way people act when leadership isn’t in the room. A company might claim to value transparency, but if employees see leaders withholding information, dodging tough conversations, or playing office politics, they’ll quickly realize the stated values don’t mean much.

The real test of culture isn’t in good times when everything is running smoothly—it’s in moments of difficulty. If a company says it values integrity but allows a high-performing employee to get away with toxic behavior, then integrity isn’t really part of the culture. The lesson? Pay attention to what you allow. That’s the culture you’re actually building.

Culture Is Built in the Small Moments

There’s a tendency to think of culture in broad strokes—defining company values, setting policies, or launching major initiatives. But culture isn’t built in grand gestures. It’s built in the everyday moments that seem small but collectively shape how people work together.

It’s in how feedback is given—whether people feel safe speaking up or if they keep quiet to avoid confrontation. It’s in how meetings are run—whether they’re efficient and purposeful or draining and performative. It’s in how leadership handles mistakes—whether they foster learning or default to blame.

One of the biggest culture shifts I’ve seen over the past decade is the rise of remote and hybrid work. The old ways of reinforcing culture—hallway conversations, shared lunches, impromptu office drop-ins—don’t happen as naturally anymore. This means leaders have to be intentional about culture in a way they didn’t before. You can’t rely on osmosis. You have to embed culture into processes, communication, and leadership behaviors that people experience daily, whether they’re in an office or working from home.

Culture Drives Performance (For Better or Worse)

A lot of leaders still treat culture as a secondary concern, something to think about after the “real work” is done. But that’s backward. Culture isn’t just about making work enjoyable—it’s about making work effective.

A strong culture creates alignment, accountability, and momentum. A weak or toxic culture breeds inefficiency, confusion, and turnover. If you want a high-performing team, you don’t start with performance metrics—you start with culture.

The highest-performing teams I’ve led and worked with didn’t just have smart, talented people. They had clarity. They knew what was expected of them. They trusted their colleagues. They could make decisions without second-guessing politics or hidden agendas. They didn’t waste energy navigating bureaucracy or dysfunction. The culture enabled their best work.

By contrast, I’ve seen talented teams grind to a halt in companies where the culture was broken. Smart people who should have been solving big problems instead spent their time managing internal chaos, working around bad leadership, or trying to figure out the “unwritten rules” that dictated how things actually got done. The cost of a bad culture isn’t just disengagement—it’s wasted potential.

The Leader’s Role in Culture

If culture is everything, then leadership is culture’s primary architect. Leaders don’t just influence culture—they define it. Not through what they say, but through how they act, what they reinforce, and what they let slide.

Over the past decade, I’ve learned that shaping culture is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort. It requires constant attention. It means making tough calls, setting clear expectations, and ensuring that company values are more than just words.

The best leaders I’ve worked with and learned from have a few things in common when it comes to culture:

• They model the behavior they expect. They don’t just talk about accountability, excellence, or transparency—they live it.

• They protect culture fiercely. They don’t tolerate toxic behavior, even from top performers.

• They listen and adapt. They recognize that culture evolves and are willing to adjust while staying true to core values.

And perhaps most importantly, they recognize that culture is never “set.” It’s either actively maintained or it starts to drift.

The Culture Test

If I had to distill my view on culture into one test, it would be this:

If a new employee joined your company today, and you didn’t give them a handbook, a training session, or a speech about company values—how long would it take for them to figure out what kind of culture they’re in?

Would they see leaders leading by example? Would they see high standards consistently enforced? Would they see collaboration, accountability, and trust in action?

Or would they see a disconnect between what’s said and what’s done? Would they see pockets of dysfunction tolerated because they’re “just how things are”?

That’s the real culture test. Because at the end of the day, culture isn’t about what you say. It’s about what people see, experience, and absorb every single day.

And as I’ve learned over the past decade, ignoring culture isn’t just a mistake—it’s the fastest way to fail.

Final Thoughts

A decade ago, I understood culture was important. But I didn’t yet grasp how foundational it really is. Now, after leading multiple teams, working across industries, and seeing firsthand how culture makes or breaks a company, I don’t just believe in its importance—I act on it every day.

If there’s one lesson I’d pass on to my younger self, it’s this: Culture isn’t a side project. It’s the job.

And if you ignore it, you’ll learn that lesson the hard way.