When I stepped on stage to deliver a keynote based on my Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Culture is the Way, I felt an incredible sense of energy and purpose. It wasn’t just the adrenaline of speaking to 800 IT leaders at Service Management World—it was the opportunity to connect and to share a vision for something bigger than ourselves. Together, we explored a challenge that many leaders face today: how to build organizations that don’t just keep up with the pace of change but thrive with purpose, impact, and an organizational culture that brings out the best in people.
Throughout my speech, I shared a vision that transcends daily operations or industry buzzwords. I talked about a truth many of us feel deep down but struggle to articulate—every employee wants to belong to an organizational culture that brings out their best. And it’s the role of leaders at every level to create and continually build that type of organizational culture.
What Makes a Winning Organizational Culture
Over the years, I’ve drawn much inspiration from the best coaches in professional sports, primarily in football. Their job aligns closely with ours as organizational leaders—they must unite diverse individuals, instill discipline, and sustain high performance over a period of time. From their successes, I distilled three principles that all business leaders can take away from them in terms of building a winning organizational culture:
- Foster a Burning Desire to Improve Culture. Culture isn’t a box to check. Building and maintaining it is a lifelong endeavor, requiring relentless commitment from leadership. It’s about daily investments, not sporadic campaigns.
- Coach, Don’t Just Manage. Employees crave mentorship, not micromanagement. A coach provides feedback, challenges potential, and celebrates growth. It’s about empowering people to thrive both as professionals and as individuals.
- Generate Positive Energy. Leadership sets the tone. The energy we bring to work each day directly impacts everyone around us. Positivity isn’t just feel-good fluff—it’s a driving force behind creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
I shared stories of leaders—ordinary people with extraordinary drive—bringing these principles to life in their organizations.
Why Culture Is Non-Negotiable
The statistics are sobering, and I highlighted them to underscore the urgency of this conversation. Nearly $8.9 trillion is lost in global GDP due to low engagement. To put that in perspective, 62% of the workforce admits to being disconnected from their roles, while over 50% are actively looking for new opportunities.
This data illustrates the stakes. Disengagement doesn’t just hurt morale—it erodes innovation, productivity, and the ability to retain top talent. At its core, most disengagement stems from the lack of a defined and meaningful organizational culture.
Here’s the good news. Creating such a culture doesn’t require unlimited resources or monumental changes. It begins with a commitment to actions that foster purpose, community, and connection. Employees don’t want to feel like cogs in a machine. They want to be part of something greater, to have leaders who walk alongside them, and to have their strengths celebrated rather than their weaknesses magnified.
Common Myths About Organizational Culture
Throughout the keynote, I challenged widely held assumptions. Organizational culture isn’t about trendy perks or casual dress codes. It’s not “rah-rah” mission statements or empty commitments. And it’s not about making everyone happy.
True organizational culture goes much deeper. It’s about shared beliefs, purposeful behaviors, and creating experiences that inspire people to become the best version of themselves.
A Practical Framework for Building Exceptional Culture
To make the abstract more actionable, I offered the audience a five-step framework to create a world-class organizational culture that endures over time. This approach isn’t just theoretical—it’s based on a decade of experience partnering with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
- Define. First, gain clarity by designing the environment you envision. Write a Cultural Purpose Statement (CPS), a guiding mantra that aligns the team.
- Discover. Build trust and psychological safety by seeking feedback from your people. What’s working? What needs improvement? Listening is one thing, but responding with action is where transformation begins.
- Launch. Culture is not an announcement; it’s a marathon. Consistently cascade and embed the vision across every touchpoint.
- Impact. Treat culture as a foundation, not a standalone initiative. Resist the urge to check a box and move on. The goal is sustained impact over time.
- Lead. The secret sauce of every successful culture is leadership. Exemplary leaders embody the behaviors they wish to see, creating alignment that drives execution.
The Ultimate Differentiator
To close the keynote, I left the audience with this thought: in its most simplistic form, organizational culture is behavior at scale. The way your teams operate behind closed doors, the passion they bring to their daily work, the alignment of their hearts and minds—this is culture in its truest sense. And it’s the number one determinant of an organization’s ability to thrive.
Building and sustaining organizational culture is not a luxury; it’s a business necessity. When leaders earnestly invest in their people, define their culture, and commit to cultural excellence, the rewards are transformational. Think higher engagement, stronger retention, and teams brimming with creative energy, driving consistent results.
Leadership is the ultimate differentiator. Leaders, at their best, inspire individuals to pursue greatness within an organizational culture that makes it possible.
Culture is the way forward. It’s time to step up, build something extraordinary, and lead with intent.
If you’re ready to elevate your organization’s culture, we’d love to help you on that journey. Reach out, and together, we can build a foundation that drives speed, impact, and excellence.