When a strong contributor leaves, I don’t shrug and say, “She wasn’t performing anyway.” I ask, “What did we miss? What do we need to do better so we don’t lose the next one?” Excuses from the top become a script everyone else copies. Accountability does too. I’m writing this because culture is not slogans, it’s the behaviors leaders make normal when things get hard.
I choose to work only with companies that want to be a force for good and lead with care. That’s not a bumper sticker for me; it’s a filter.
Recently, I partnered with one of the largest Nordic travel groups, comprising nine brands that are expanding rapidly and family-owned. In our first meeting, the CEO looked at me and said, “We want to be a force for good.” The HR director added, “And we lead with care.” In two sentences, they captured what most strategy decks bury: sustainable success is built on purpose and care, not short-term wins dressed up as values.
Why a thriving company brought me in
They weren’t in crisis. They were growing, acquiring, and integrating. And they were wise enough to see the cliff: without a strong cultural identity, every merger becomes a painful copy‑paste of mismatched habits and hidden assumptions. Culture drift isn’t theoretical; it manifests in duplicated work, micropolitics, attrition of your best talent, and leaders spending their week refereeing conflicts that a shared identity would resolve.
My role was simple to describe and complex to deliver: architect a culture strategy that scales. That means defining non-negotiables, translating them into operational behaviors, and building mechanisms to ensure those behaviors survive the stress of growth.
Accountability over excuses
Let me start at the human level. When someone leaves, I run a short, disciplined process with leaders:
What signals did we miss or ignore?
Where did our systems or behaviors make it hard for this person to do their best work?
What one change will prevent us from repeating this loss?
No defensiveness. No gossip about the person who left. I’ve seen too many CEOs normalize blame, and the organization takes its cue from them. If I want leaders to model what should be copied, I can’t sugarcoat our role in attrition. Accountability is contagious; so are excuses.
Force for good, lead with care.
“Force for good” and “lead with care” are not words that are easily associated with force. They’re operating commitments. When a company actually runs on purpose and care:
Decisions factor impact, not just quarterly optics.
Managers are measured by how they develop people, not just by numbers alone.
Customers appreciate your consistency, even as you expand your offerings to include new brands, products, and geographies.
Will you always be number one on a leaderboard? Maybe not. But you build a business that lasts, attracts values-aligned talent, and weathers shocks better than a company held together by incentives and hope.
The rose model: individuality with a spine
To make this practical across multiple brands and teams, I use a simple metaphor: the rose.
Petals: every team, brand, and function keeps its uniqueness. Different markets, different rhythms, different strengths. That diversity is the beauty.
The rose core: the shared identity that holds the petals together. Without attachment to the core, the beauty falls apart.
The spine: the non-negotiables, clear principles and behaviors we expect everywhere, regardless of role, seniority, or location.
Non-negotiables are more than posters. They are lived standards that are reinforced through hiring, onboarding, feedback, performance evaluations, promotions, and, when necessary, exits. If someone breaches them, we call each other in, respectfully, directly, consistently. If we tolerate breaches, we teach everyone that our values are optional. Optional values are essentially no values at all.
How I operationalize the spine
Here’s the short version of the work I do to make culture stick:
Define 4–6 non-negotiable behaviors. Not vague values, behaviors. For example: “We give direct feedback within 48 hours of a missed commitment.”
Translate those behaviors into rituals and systems. Cadences for feedback, decision rights, hiring scorecards, onboarding checklists, and leadership standards.
Build the M&A cultural playbook. Pre‑deal cultural due diligence, a post‑close alignment sprint, and a 90‑day integration plan focused on reconciling rituals, not just org charts.
Measure and coach. Pulse checks tied to behaviors, leader coaching on modeling, and consequences that are predictable and fair.
This is how you prevent identity drift. This is how you keep the petals vibrant while the spine stays strong.
What my grandparents taught me about culture
I learned the power of shared purpose long before I had the language to express it. My Grandparents were poor farmers. They faced real struggles, including financial issues, adverse weather conditions, and the daily grind. They stayed together and grew stronger because they shared a purpose bigger than any single battle: to build a life, own their land, and leave something better behind. And they did. They retired with dignity.
Companies aren’t families, but they are human systems. Purpose, shared identity, and something meaningful to fight for, that’s what gets you through setbacks without splintering. When I see teams pull together through a tough quarter or a painful integration, I see echoes of my grandparents’ resilience. It’s not sentimental. It’s structural. Shared purpose is the load-bearing beam.
A simple way to start this week
When someone leaves, hold a blameless review within seven days. Name one systemic change you’ll make. Do it.
Write down your spine: 4–6 non-negotiable behaviors. Make them observable and teachable.
Pick two rituals to anchor them. For example, a weekly commitments review and a monthly cross-team learning session.
Model it visibly. As a leader, take feedback publicly, apologize quickly, and enforce standards consistently.
If you lead with care and act as a force for good, you may not win every quarter, but you will build something that lasts if you need help turning principles into mechanisms, especially as you scale or navigate mergers and acquisitions. I’m here for that work. Let’s build the rose, and keep the spine strong.
