Culture Doesn't Matter

You read that right. Company culture doesn’t matter. And why should it? Would you really pick your next position based off some namby-pamby feel-good words? I wouldn’t. Mission statements about “making the world a better place” or “building a sustainable future” sound great but what’s the point? Does anyone really care where their next paycheck comes from as long as it comes?

No.

No one cares about some stupid words on a business card or a website, because culture isn’t the words, its the actions.

You can have all the nice words and pretty visuals, the multi-cultural stock photos on your recruiting site, the Diversity Report that blasted to all your shareholders as some sort of ultimate virtue-signal, but absolutely no one will care if those words are backed up by actions.

Because your company culture doesn’t mean shit if it’s not lived and demonstrated by leadership each and every day.

Someone might like the idea of good culture, but actually doing the work is a whole matter entirely. Maybe you listened to a Gary Vee podcast and he talked about how sometimes you need to fire your best people if they’re toxic to your team and said “yeah, that’s a good point, I’m going to do that too!”. Great. Now go do it. Its not so simple when you’re the one who has to find their replacement. To “do what is right, even when it is hard” might be a good slogan to put on an About Us page, but how does that translate into reality? Do the people you work with embody that ideal or is it just lip service to make people want to come work at your company instead of one that is probably a little more honest about itself? If its the latter, don’t be surprised when you find other corners being cut or ignored altogether.

After all, if the culture is to say one thing and do another, then why would it be a surprise to find some lies elsewhere?