Why Culture May Be Your Biggest Weapon Yet

When I was in primary school (Year 3, if I remember correctly), we learned about culture. We had to chant the definition until it practically lived in our heads. The teacher would yell, “What is culture?” and we would chorus, “Culture is the way of life of a people.” The first thing that struck me was that odd phrase: a people. My tiny brain could not compute. “A” is singular, “people” is plural. English was fighting for its life that day. And of course, being the curious child that I was, I asked my teacher who calmly explained that “a people” meant “a group of people.” Ah. That made sense. And from that moment, I absolutely overused "a people" any chance I got. Anyways, today’s piece isn’t about all the ways I tormented my teachers. It’s about culture. And before we begin, let’s just say I’ve been looking forward to writing you all week. And by you, I mean my subscribers. If you’re reading this and you aren’t subscribed… well… you can still join us. Hehe. Why culture? On Friday mornings, I open my laptop and write about whatever’s on my mind. Sometimes it reflects my week; other times it’s just something I’m itching to rant about. This week, it’s culture. If you’ve been following me, you’d recall that at Metrifox, we’re foodies. At this point, I’m convinced I need to add “must have a healthy relationship with food” to our hiring requirements. No one can survive here otherwise 😅 Every Thursday, a workflow runs on our #lunch-orders channel. Everyone gets to order what they want delivered to them for lunch the next day. I started this after we went live, partly to appreciate my team, but also to reinforce something important: I want to build a company where people feel seen, appreciated, and cared for. I didn’t realize how much impact this tiny gesture would have. They started doing some really funny stuff like someone deciding to order what the next person orders, and that next person choosing to order the least desirable thing, so they could laugh at the utter ridiculousness of anyone letting someone else decide their lunch. Or is it how they are constantly getting inspiration for the next week from what other people ordered? I’d just sit there in a corner, sheepishly grinning while scrolling through their orders, having absolutely no idea what half of them were. Like… what in the world is a cheesemelt sub? The Unexpected During a recent Friday meeting, someone mentioned that the lunch tradition had massively improved their joy at work. Everyone agreed. They were excited about the meals, the shared laughs, the experiments, the bonding, and most importantly—being appreciated. I sat there stunned. It wasn’t the food. It was the feeling. The feeling of home. The feeling of ease. The feeling of “Wow, I really enjoy working here.” A simple weekly gesture had reinforced our culture of appreciation without a policy, a memo, or a lecture. This is what we do here: We appreciate. We honour excellence. We give credit. We show care. Building Culture Culture doesn’t just fall from the sky. You have to build it; brick by brick, choice by choice, action by action. If your foundation is straw, you cannot expect to raise a mansion. Culture is the same: if you want “this is how we do things here” to stick, you must model it consistently. Want a culture of appreciation? Appreciate people. Want honest feedback? Give honest feedback consistently. Want trust? Demonstrate trust. Culture is not vibes. It's reinforced behavior; and as a parent, I see this play out at home every single day. I recently learned about Michael Easter’s 2% Rule. It says that only 2% of people choose the harder path for long-term gain when an easier option exists. In other words, only 2% take the stairs when there’s an elevator. Jeez. I live on the first floor. Why the hell was I taking the elevator? So I started taking the stairs. My kids still took the elevator… for two days. Then, without me saying anything, they started following me. My son eagerly, my daughter dramatically. On rainy days when it’s really cold, she still takes the elevator—and guess what? That’s okay. Culture isn’t instant. Steven Bartlett put this really nicely 👇🏿 If the culture is strong enough, the new people become the culture. If the culture is weak, the culture becomes like the new people. Another Example Did you notice something seemingly unrelated in the Slack screenshots I shared? Hehe.... Our display photos! They're avatars! When I created our Slack workspace, I set my display photo as an avatar. It was deliberate: I wanted the “We’re professional, but we don’t do stiff or overly formal here” kind of vibe. For me, it was important to build a culture where people didn’t feel the need to be too official. I wanted us to focus on the most important thing, which was building stuff, without sacrificing the fun along the way. I never asked anyone to follow suit. Yet, they did. Solomon joined us this week as an intern, and I reminded him to upload a photo. Lo and behold Solomon! My 2 cents If you want things done a certain way, words are not your greatest weapon. A one-off action is not your greatest weapon. A PowerPoint presentation is definitely not your greatest weapon. Your greatest weapon is culture. And culture is built by one thing: consistent action. You lead by doing. You model the behavior you want. You repeat it long enough that it becomes the norm. If you want kids to clean their rooms, show them by keeping yours clean. Ermmmm… maybe that’s not a great example. If it’s working for your child, please let me know 🫣 But still, the point stands: culture is your strongest lever. And while it takes effort to build, it pays off in ways you do not expect. That’s it for today! Have a great weekend amigos… and…. 'til next time 🫡