Culture Isn't Window Dressing, It's Strategy

Sep 25 / Steve Lowisz

Years ago, I made a hire that looked perfect on paper. Great résumé. Solid experience. The interviews went smooth. I was convinced they’d be a difference-maker.

Six months later, the cracks started to show.

People stopped speaking up in meetings. Gossip was everywhere. Accountability slipped. Projects stalled.

The problem wasn’t their skillset. The problem was culture. I hadn’t hired someone who fit the culture we needed, and it nearly cost me the team.

That’s when it hit me: culture doesn’t just happen in the background. It’s built. And if you don’t build it on purpose, it gets built by accident. Accidents never give you the culture you want.

I’ve let culture “just happen” before and every time, the results were the same:

  • Gossip spreads.
  • Accountability dies.
  • Chaos takes over.


We’ve all heard the line: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I’ll tell you this: culture is strategy.


Where Leaders Go Wrong


Too many leaders think culture is a poster on the wall or a speech at the company meeting. I’ve watched it play out for decades:

  • You can’t out-execute a toxic culture.
  • You can’t hire enough superstars to fix a broken culture.
  • You can’t expect a strategy to succeed if your culture works against it.

Every hire shapes your culture. Every promotion. Every person you reward. Every person you tolerate. That’s the real culture, not the one in your vision statement, but the one people live in every day.

Leaders set the tone, whether they mean to or not. We recorded a short video on how leadership shapes culture linked HERE.

The Hard Questions


Before your next hire or promotion, ask yourself:

  • Will this person strengthen the culture we want, or slowly erode it?
  • Do they align with how we behave, not just what we do?
  • Am I filling today’s role, or am I building tomorrow’s culture?

One wrong hire can undo years of hard work. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it.

A Simple Gut Check


If you want to know your culture, write this down:

  • What behaviors do I reward?
  • What do I tolerate?

That’s it. That’s your culture. Not the polished version, not the glossy brochure. The real one.

Reward accountability, ownership, and clarity, you’ll get a culture that performs.

Tolerate excuses, gossip, or mediocrity, you’ll get a culture that rots from the inside out.

Culture By Design


Culture doesn’t build itself. You’re either shaping it on purpose or you’re letting it drift into chaos.

So here’s my challenge: define your culture in one sentence. Then pick the one word that describes your culture right now. Be honest. That word will tell you more than any employee survey ever will.

At the Lowisz Leadership Institute, I don’t teach leaders to drive people harder. I teach them to guide people, to build cultures of accountability, independence, and resilience.

Because at the end of the day, culture isn’t a perk or a tagline.
It’s the difference between a company that survives and one that leads.

What’s the one word that describes your culture today?