The Critical Importance of Company Culture

"Well, you made it to one year--congratulations, you survived."

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This was my Chief Marketing Officer talking to me in the executive lunch room. I had invited her to lunch to thank her for bringing me on board the year before. And though the previous year had been extremely difficult, I was naively optimistic about the upcoming year. 

Until that moment. 

Her words hit me like a rock: I wasn’t thriving—I was merely surviving. I was in a company where survival, not progress, was the goal. It was a culture where the company's assumptions, values, and behaviors did not match my own. There were hints along the way...

• Work was expected to be done within operating hours--never outside 8a-5p, Monday-Friday

• Political land-grabs were more valued than outcomes

• Internal opinions were prioritized over the voices of customers

But sometimes it takes an observation by someone outside of your immediate situation to help you see truth.

Most people think HR owns the company culture, and they certainly play an important role in defining and reinforcing it. "HR sets the stage for every employee to thrive by cultivating a culture that fuels growth, innovation, and success," says HR Professional Katy Duke Chamberlin, "At the same time, leadership must empower HR to act in this capacity."

Culture Does NOT Eat Strategy for Lunch

We've all heard the famous phrase, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." But Peter Drucker never actually said that. What he really said in his article for the Wall Street Journal was this: “culture—no matter how defined—is singularly persistent.”

And at the time of my celebratory lunch, my former company was so entirely persistent that it was devouring and rejecting the changes I was championing.

Drucker argued that for an organization’s strategy to succeed, management must ensure that its culture fosters—not fights—effective behaviors. Culture isn’t just an abstract concept; it shapes the decisions employees make daily. If culture resists change, strategy has no chance.

To address this challenge, senior leaders must always be asking:

• What do we, as senior management and as a company, do that helps you to produce the outcomes we all agree are necessary? 

• What do we do that hampers you from focusing on those outcomes?

Drucker further says that these questions need to be asked at every meeting and immediate action be taken on the feedback.

Final Thoughts

Culture is not an afterthought; it is the operating system of your company. If that system is flawed, no strategy--no matter how brilliant--will succeed. Leaders who fail to recognize and address cultural misalignment will find themselves in companies where survival, not success, becomes the norm.

Culture is shaped daily by leadership. It’s either intentional or accidental—so choose wisely. 

What kind of culture are you building?

Key Takeaways‍ ‍

• Thriving is the goal--surviving isn't: Build a culture that fuels progress, not just endurance.

• Culture drives everything: Culture isn’t a side effect—it’s the foundation of success or failure.

• Strategy fails without cultural alignment: Even the best strategy collapses if culture resists change.

• Leaders must ask the tough questions… : Are we enabling success—or getting in the way?

• …And model desired behaviors: Leaders set the tone—if they don’t model the culture, no one else will.