How important is company culture to you?

For years, I thought company culture was a load of crap. In my mind, if you paid people well, gave them interesting work, and treated them fairly, the rest would sort itself out… right?

Boy, was I wrong.

I’ve seen too many founders scale their companies, hit real traction, build something meaningful, and then wake up one day and realise they don’t even recognise the business they created. Not only had their company culture drifted, but standards had slipped, and people no longer felt aligned.

If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, you might have wondered, “How the hell did we get here?” I’ve been there, and I’ll be honest, culture was never my strong suit.

Then I met Robert Glazer, a founder who actually managed to scale a global organisation while still retaining its values.

And not pretend values like integrity, teamwork, or “move fast and break things.” I’m talking about the kind of values that guide behaviour, shape decisions, and actually mean something in the day-to-day.

I was lucky enough to speak with Robert on the Lean Marketing Podcast. We dug into:

• How do you protect culture while growing fast?
• How do you hire people who actually align with your values — not just nod at them in an interview?
• How do you lead authentically when your team doubles, triples, or hits 100+ people?
• And how do you avoid becoming the kind of company you swore you’d never be?

In this article, I’m going to share some of the most powerful lessons from our conversation.

Lesson 1: Culture isn’t the perks you offer. It’s the behaviors you reward

Silicon Valley broke our definition of culture. Adding ping-pong tables and free snacks doesn’t create a powerful culture. Neither is a free flu shot at your desk, so you never leave the office. That’s definitely not the type of culture you should be striving for.

Robert said it perfectly:

“Culture is simply the behaviors you reward — not the words you print on the wall.”

If you celebrate 18-hour days, you’ll create a culture of burnout. Leave that to the Elon Musks of this world.

If you say you value excellence but promote speed-at-all-costs, your team will take shortcuts. Why? Because that’s what you’re actually rewarding.

Instead, reward ownership, initiative, and outcomes. People who feel appreciated and have clear goals are far happier and more likely to go the extra mile than those who don’t.

Lesson 2: Most companies have fake values that nobody follows

Robert told me a story about an office he saw with 25 different “core values” printed in giant letters on the wall. Words like respect, humility, honesty, and teamwork. A woman messaged him saying, “This looks exactly like our company’s core values. Where did you find them?”

He wrote back: “You may want to read the article… I was making fun of them.”

Here’s why most values fail:

• They’re generic
• They’re not behavior-driven
• They’re never enforced
• Leadership can’t even remember them
• They’re contradicted by what the company actually rewards

If your core values aren’t alive in your hiring, firing, promotions, awards, and performance reviews… they’re not values. They’re wall décor.

So let me ask you this, “What are your core values?” If you can’t name them off the top of your head, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Lesson 3: Your company’s culture will mirror you

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. A company’s brand and culture are derivatives of its founder.

You can see Steve Jobs in Apple, Richard Branson in Virgin, and Elon Musk in Tesla. For better or worse. And Robert agrees.

Your personal core values heavily shape your company’s values, especially in the early years. If you’re not intentional about that, your culture evolves by accident, and usually in the wrong direction.

The biggest threat to culture is the say–do gap. When what leaders say the company values doesn’t match what leaders do in reality.

Fix that gap, and culture becomes a superpower. Ignore it, and the rot spreads fast.

Lesson 4: You can’t keep everyone as the company grows

This is probably one of the most uncomfortable truths I’m going to share. And Robert put it best, “Every time you double your revenue, you break half your people and half your processes.”

It’s brutal, but it’s true. The person who was perfect for your company at $1M isn’t necessarily right for you at $10M. That enthusiastic utility player who could “do everything” often struggles once you have a 10-person team, because the business now needs specialists, operators, and leaders. Not generalists

For many founders, we avoid tough conversations. Instead of confronting the truth — that an employee has outgrown the role or the role has outgrown them — we delay. And the delay always makes things worse.

Robert explained the psychology behind it. He explained that leaders start to get annoyed with the employee. Not because the person is bad, but because it’s easier to fire someone you’re irritated with.

The better way? Deal with reality early and respectfully:

• “This role has outgrown your current skillset.”
• “We care about you and will support you, but this isn’t working.”
• “Let’s plan your next step — inside or outside the company.”

When handled with honesty, empathy, and clarity, transitions become growth moments instead of crises.

Take a look at your current team members and ask yourself, “Whose role has outgrown them?” It may be time to have an honest conversation with them. At least it gives them an opportunity to shape up or move on.

Lesson 5: Personal core values make better leaders

Another vital piece that Robert’s new book focuses on is your personal core values, something most founders completely overlook.

Your personal core values aren’t the company values. Nor are they inspirational posters or broad words like integrity, excellence, and teamwork.

They are your actual, foundational, individual values. The ones that drive your decisions, shape your leadership, and dictate your reactions.

Robert claims only 2% of people have identified and written down their personal core values. And those 2% lead differently. They make clearer decisions, create healthier relationships, run more aligned teams, and build cultures that last.

One of the most interesting exercises Robert shared was the anti-value test: Identify the behaviors and traits that infuriate you in others — and invert them. The opposite is often one of your core values. Brilliant.

So take a moment to jot down what you value in your personal life. Now compare it to your professional life. They shouldn’t be that dissimilar. And if they are, well you need to re-evaluate your company values.

Lesson 6: AI changes everything and this makes human values more Important

Both Robert and I use AI heavily. But we don’t use it to replace work. We use AI to enhance the work we do.

AI is my editor, the partner I can bounce my ideas off, my dedicated researcher, and productivity multiplier. That’s a wonderful thing. But it also comes with a danger: becoming a crutch instead of an amplifier.

The future belongs to leaders who:

• Use AI to accelerate their work
• Maintain the human creativity, and judgement machines can’t match
• Build teams who understand how to partner with technology
• Double down on authenticity, empathy, and real human connection

As Robert said:

“The only advantage we’ll have over machines is our humanity. If we stop developing that, we can’t beat the machine.”

Remember, AI doesn’t replace good people, it enables them to be better and do better work.

And that’s the six key lessons I’d like you to take away when it comes to building a company culture you can be proud of.

Read “The Compass Within” to transform your company culture

If you’re ready to build a world-class company culture, then you need to read The Compass Within by Robert Glaze. I believe it should be standard reading for every business owner. Because what he teaches isn’t just about being a better leader. It’s about building a business that grows without losing who you are in the process.

It’s one of the most practical and powerful guides I’ve seen for discovering your core values and using them to build better businesses, teams, and lives.

👉 Grab it here: https://geni.us/values

Scale the company you’re proud to be apart of

Yes, you absolutely can scale without losing your soul but only if you do it intentionally.

Building a genuinely good company culture requires clarity, courage, and consistency. It also starts from the top down. If you’re not living your values, your team won’t.

If you want to build a company that grows and stays true to who you are, this is where you start.

1. Define the behaviours you reward.
2. Live your values.
3. Close the say–do gap.
4. Have the hard conversations early.
5. Hire and fire based on alignment.
6. And don’t let growth outpace your leadership.

If you get your values right, everything else gets easier — decisions, hiring, delegation, communication, even team performance.

👉 Listen to our full conversation: https://leanmarketing.com/podcast/how-to-grow-a-business-that-reflects-your-values-with-robert-glazer

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