Culture = Values + Behaviors + Decisions

The biggest mistake companies make about culture?

They think culture is something that happens.

Hire good people.
Treat them well.
Have capable leaders.

Culture will take care of itself.

I've never found that to be true.

Recently I had the privilege of keynoting Luxor Workspaces' company summit on the topic of culture.

One of the ideas we explored was this:

Culture is what repeatedly happens around here.

It's reflected in the conversations we have.
The decisions we make.
The behaviors we reward.
The standards we hold ourselves to.

That's why I think about culture this way:

Culture = Values + Behaviors + Hard Decisions

Most companies stop at values.

They publish words like Integrity, Humility, Innovation, or Customer First.

The better companies define the behaviors that bring those values to life.

What does Integrity look like in Sales?
In Marketing?
In Customer Service?
In Operations?

Now people have something they can actually practice.

But culture doesn't become real until those values are tested.

What happens when living your values costs you something?

A sale.
A customer.
A difficult conversation.
Admitting you were wrong.
Holding a top performer accountable.

That's when culture leaves the employee handbook and becomes real for the entire company.

Anyone can claim a value when it's easy.

Culture is built when values influence difficult decisions.