How I See Culture & How We Are Building It
Culture doesn’t exist because you wrote it down—it exists because you live it, enforce it, and protect it every single day. Most companies don’t have a real culture because they refuse to make the hard decisions required to sustain one.
Culture isn’t perks. It isn’t policies. It isn’t a branding tool. Culture is what happens when no one is watching. It’s the expectations that get reinforced, the behaviors that are tolerated, and the standards that are upheld.
I believe that a strong culture is built on two things that most companies fail to balance:
- High standards – If you are here, you are expected to operate at your best.
- Deep support – If you are giving your best, you will never have to struggle alone.
This isn’t about creating a perfect culture—because perfection doesn’t exist. It’s about creating a culture that pushes people beyond what they thought they were capable of.
It’s a place where you can fail—but only if you’re trying. A place where leadership doesn’t just demand results—it carries the weight of making people better.
A culture built this way isn’t just about engagement—it directly impacts performance and retention. Research shows that companies with high standards and strong peer accountability see a 41% lower turnover rate and outperform industry peers by 20% in financial returns. When people know they are in an environment where they will be challenged, supported, and expected to contribute at a high level, they are more likely to commit, improve, and stay.
How We Are Building This Culture
Culture isn’t set by words or policies—it’s created through the daily actions, expectations, and behaviors that define how people operate. It’s built through the standards leaders enforce, the support systems in place, and the way success and failure are handled. Most companies assume that culture is something that takes shape naturally, but if it isn’t actively built, it deteriorates. That’s why we approach culture with the same discipline and intent as we do operations and investment strategy.
At the foundation of this culture is a simple but powerful balance: high standards and deep support. If you’re here, you are expected to operate at your best, but if you are trying and struggling, you will never struggle alone. The best cultures push people to become more than they thought they were capable of, while ensuring that no one is left behind when they hit a breaking point.
This balance is not just about creating a strong team—it directly impacts performance and retention. Studies show that companies that set clear performance expectations while providing strong leadership support see a 41% reduction in voluntary turnover and 33% higher productivity. Organizations that fail to reinforce high standards under the guise of being “nice” tend to suffer from disengagement, lower accountability, and declining overall execution.
In this culture, commitment matters. You are here because you want to be here, not because you are forced to be. When people operate in an environment where they feel ownership over their performance—where they know their work has meaning and their contributions are valued—their engagement increases exponentially. Gallup’s research shows that employees who feel they are part of a high-accountability, high-purpose culture are 57% more productive and 87% less likely to leave. That’s the kind of culture we are creating.
Failure is expected here, but mediocrity is not tolerated. If you’re pushing yourself to do something new, something difficult, something outside your comfort zone, failure is inevitable. It’s a sign of growth. But there is a difference between failing because
you’re pushing forward and failing because you aren’t putting in the effort. The latter has no place here. The best cultures create environments where people feel safe enough to take risks but also accountable enough to own their mistakes and improve.
Leadership in this culture is not about a title—it’s about a responsibility to make others better. People follow competence, decisiveness, and character, not job descriptions. That’s why the strongest teams promote leaders based on their ability
to raise the bar, drive execution, and lift those around them. Studies have shown that organizations that prioritize leadership development through action and accountability, rather than hierarchy, outperform their peers by 37% in financial results and retain high performers 55% longer. A weak culture allows leadership to be dictated by tenure or office politics. A strong culture recognizes and rewards those who take responsibility for shaping the team.
Most organizations misunderstand what accountability really means. They see it as a tool for punishment when, in reality, accountability is an act of care. Holding someone to a high standard is not about being hard for the sake of it—it’s about
respecting them enough to expect their best. The worst thing you can do for someone is let them stay weak, let them avoid responsibility, or let them drift into complacency. That’s not leadership, and it’s certainly not how strong cultures are built.
This approach to culture isn’t theoretical—it has a direct impact on business outcomes. High-accountability cultures lead to faster decision-making, stronger execution, and greater adaptability in the face of challenges. They create teams that operate with a sense of ownership rather than compliance, resulting in 20% higher operational efficiency and a 30% reduction in costly mistakes. In industries where execution speed and precision determine success, this isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a competitive advantage.
Ultimately, this is not a culture where people just show up for a paycheck—it’s a place where people invest in themselves, in each other, and in the mission. We are building something that people don’t just work for—they commit to. And that is why they will never want to leave.
How This Shows Up Every Day
Culture isn’t built in an annual strategy meeting, nor is it something that can be measured through surveys or corporate mission statements. Culture is built through the behaviors that get reinforced, the standards that are upheld, and the decisions that are made in real time. It’s not an abstract concept—it is something that people feel in their day-to-day interactions, and it either makes them stronger or weakens them.
In an environment where culture is truly alive, people don’t wait for leadership to enforce standards—they hold themselves and each other accountable. That’s because accountability here isn’t just a top-down function; it’s peer-driven. When you work in a culture where everyone is committed to excellence, you don’t have to wonder whether the person next to you is putting in the same effort you are. You don’t have to guess whether leadership is willing to make the hard decisions. You know—because it’s visible every day.
This kind of culture isn’t just about performance—it directly impacts engagement and retention. Research shows that organizations where peer accountability is strong experience 25% lower attrition rates and 32% higher overall team effectiveness. When people know that everyone is held to the same standard, trust increases, execution becomes sharper, and the organization moves faster.
Culture is measured by actions, not words. It’s not what people say in a meeting or what gets written in a company memo—it’s what actually happens when standards are tested. If someone is misaligned with the values of this organization, it doesn’t get ignored, excused, or tolerated. It gets addressed immediately, not out of punishment, but because low standards in one area lead to low standards in every area.
In most companies, culture is treated as something separate from execution—something managed by HR rather than by leadership at every level. That’s why most companies fail to sustain strong cultures. Here, culture isn’t owned by one person or one team—it’s owned by everyone. Every leader, at every level, is responsible for setting and protecting the standard. If you are in a leadership
position, your job is not to talk about culture—it’s to live it, reinforce it, and ensure it is never compromised.
This isn’t about micromanagement or excessive control—it’s about creating an environment where people take ownership of the culture themselves. In organizations where culture is strong, people don’t look to management to fix problems—they take action themselves. That’s why high-accountability cultures see 34% higher operational efficiency, faster problem resolution, and significantly
stronger execution under pressure. When culture is real, it becomes a force multiplier for performance.
This is why we are intentional about how we build and reinforce our culture every single day. It’s not just something we expect—it’s something we protect. And because of that, it will be one of our biggest competitive advantages.
Final Thought
This isn’t just about building a company—it’s about building a team that people never want to leave because they know they will never find anything like it again.
Culture isn’t something you declare—it’s something you fight for.
Most companies will never get this right. We will.
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