Creating a genuine company culture is a cornerstone of successful businesses today. This article presents valuable insights from industry leaders on how to build and maintain an authentic organizational environment. From embedding values in daily actions to fostering open communication, these expert tips offer practical guidance for leaders aiming to cultivate a thriving workplace culture.
- Lead by Example, Embed Values in Action
- Culture Emerges Through Consistent Behavior
- Embody Values Daily, Foster Open Communication
- Build Trust Through Transparent Leadership
- Align Actions with Core Principles
- Nurture Culture Through Intentional Practices
- Guide Cultural Flow with Purpose
- Integrate Values into Daily Operations
- Model Authenticity in Leadership Decisions
- Cultivate Alignment Through Behavioral Consistency
- Translate Values into Observable Behaviors
- Define and Live Core Values Daily
- Embody Culture Through Consistent Actions
- Create Alignment Through Shared Purpose
- Model Values in Small, Daily Decisions
- Ensure Behavioral Consistency Across Leadership
Lead by Example, Embed Values in Action
As a CEO, I ensure alignment between our company’s values, mission, actions, and impact through several key strategies. First, I begin by clearly defining our core values and mission statement, which serve as guiding principles for all our decisions. I personally lead by example, ensuring that my actions consistently reflect our company’s values, setting a positive tone for the entire organization. We integrate our values into various business processes, including performance evaluations, hiring practices, and decision-making frameworks. This ensures that our values are not just abstract concepts but are deeply embedded in our day-to-day operations. Most importantly, I prioritize fostering psychological safety within my team, actively involving them in all our business processes. This inclusive approach encourages open communication, diverse perspectives, and a shared commitment to our values and mission.
Catherine Mattice
Founder/CEO, Civility Partners
Culture Emerges Through Consistent Behavior
If your company values are painted on the wall but not actually lived, you’ve got a branding exercise, not a culture.
In my experience, authentic company culture doesn’t come from workshops, logos, or wordsmithing. It comes from behavior. Repeated, visible, consistent behavior—especially from the leadership team.
If you say you value openness, but your managers hoard information…
If you claim to champion innovation, but punish people for failing…
If you talk about “people first” but let toxic high performers run riot…
You’re not in alignment. And believe me, your team can smell the disconnect a mile off.
So how do you ensure your culture actually reflects the values of the leadership team?
Start by being brutally honest. What do you really value? Not the buzzwords, the real stuff! What gets rewarded? Who gets promoted? What gets tolerated?
Then audit the leadership team’s behavior against those values. If you say respect is key, are they showing it in how they handle disagreements? Are they interrupting people in meetings? Are they leading by example or hiding behind, “Do as I say, not as I do?”
Alignment is not about perfection, it’s about accountability. Own the gaps! Be willing to course-correct. Encourage your team to hold you to your own standards.
One of the most powerful things I do with clients is hold up the mirror. I show them how what they say they value is clashing with what they actually do. And when that’s out of sync, culture collapses.
Real culture work is messy. It’s confronting. But when you get it right, the results are game-changing. You build trust. You boost performance. You create a place where people genuinely want to work.
So stop writing values. Start living them!
Natalie Lewis
Founder and Director, Dynamic HR Services Ltd.
Embody Values Daily, Foster Open Communication
We lead by example, foster an environment for the company culture to flourish, and practice two-way communication with teams to ensure flexibility.
When we declare “Challenge” as one of our values, I ensure our leadership embodies that principle. For example, 60% of our management team consists of people promoted from consultant positions.
It sends a signal that we appreciate people who embrace challenges, learn, and improve. I also hope that my personal story of growing from a support consultant to the CEO promotes this value.
However, providing inspiration is not enough, so we create an environment where people can live our values. We’ve provided the teams with opportunities to enhance their skills so they can meet ambitious goals.
To strengthen hard skills, we offer more formal options such as internal learning; to boost teamwork, leadership, and adaptability, we organize charity, ecological, and sport activities. In countries with larger teams, people enjoy offline events like runs and hikes; globally dispersed teams can access online events like book clubs and online team games.
These options allow them to step out of their comfort zones and achieve personal growth in new ways. It also promotes a friendly atmosphere in a team, encouraging people to open up and demonstrate their strengths.
All the above is a good place to start, but there’s one more thing for a long-term effect. As I’ve been leading teams for over a decade, I’ve learned that culture is not static; it evolves along with the company.
For us, it meant seeking continuous feedback from teams to see how they view the culture, what they appreciate, and where they would love to see improvement. Regular meetings, anonymous feedback systems, and open-door policies allow us to identify gaps between the values we declare and those we actually practice.
Company culture isn’t rooted in mission statements and inspirational posters. Teams pick up on daily actions of their leaders and reflect the actual culture of the environment they work in.
Daria Leshchenko
CEO and Managing Partner, SupportYourApp
Build Trust Through Transparent Leadership
Authenticity in culture doesn’t begin with a set of brand values on a wall—it begins with self-awareness, structural accountability, and a willingness to name the gap between intention and impact.
I help organizations uncover the silent dynamics shaping their cultures—those unspoken, often invisible patterns that emerge when values are aspirational but not operationalized. A common pitfall I see is what I call the “performance of care”—where leadership says they value well-being, trust, or inclusion, but the lived employee experience tells a different story.
To create authentic culture, I use a tool I call the Seven Agreements of a Safe & Sound Workplace. These aren’t platitudes—they’re behavioral contracts that bridge the space between what we claim and how we lead. For example, “Be Mindful of Actions, Behaviors, and Their Impact” helps leadership see how their daily decisions—scheduling practices, communication norms, performance expectations—either reinforce or contradict their values. Culture becomes authentic when it’s auditable—when your values show up in your policies, not just your messaging.
One of the first steps I take with clients is a cultural integrity audit: a trauma-informed look at where there’s friction between what the organization says it believes and what its systems and stakeholders actually reinforce. Do your feedback processes honor psychological safety? Does your flexibility policy align with the lived needs of caregivers and marginalized groups? Are your accountability systems punitive or relational?
Over time, this process builds a culture that isn’t just branded but embodied. One where employees feel safe to speak truth to power, and where leadership isn’t above the Agreements—they model them. That’s where authenticity lives: not in consistency of message, but in consistency of behavior under pressure.
The bottom line? If your culture isn’t safe, it can’t be authentic. If it isn’t authentic, it can’t be trusted. And if it isn’t trusted, no value statement will save it. Culture is built—and rebuilt—in the quiet moments when no one’s watching.
Anita Roach
Founder, Safe & Sound Workplace Alliance
Align Actions with Core Principles
Culture isn’t built—it emerges. And it will emerge either by default or design. What we do at Legacy is treat culture like product design: we iterate, we test, we prototype. We ask, “What behavior does this choice reinforce?” If we reinforce burnout, that’s the culture. If we reinforce curiosity, same. Culture isn’t language—it’s pressure points.
Something I don’t usually hear mentioned: the best cultures are self-correcting. Meaning, if it’s going wrong–values aren’t aligning, trust is eroding—the system identifies it and corrects it. Not through policy from HR, but through shared expectations. To get to that place, we make culture part of the micro-moments: onboarding, how we have meetings, how we give feedback, even how we disagree.
You’ll know it’s working when you don’t need to give others permission to do the right thing. They just do it. That’s when you no longer have to manage culture—and can let it guide you.
Vasilii Kiselev
CEO & Co-Founder, Legacy Online School
Nurture Culture Through Intentional Practices
Creating an authentic company culture begins with leaders activating their inclusive leadership skills to align actions with organizational values. Inclusive leadership ensures all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered.
Here are actionable steps to create such a culture:
1. Foster Open Communication: Leaders should build safe spaces for transparent dialogue, such as town halls or one-on-one check-ins, to stay connected to employees’ experiences and concerns.
2. Model Inclusive Behaviors: Exemplify company values in everyday actions. For example, prioritize equity by ensuring fair opportunities for promotions and key assignments.
3. Develop Self-Awareness: Training in unconscious bias and self-reflection helps leaders identify and address personal blind spots that could undermine inclusivity.
4. Practice Active Listening: Leaders should listen attentively to employees’ perspectives, asking questions and valuing their input, which fosters stronger relationships and trust.
5. Empower Diverse Voices: Establish mentorship programs, support Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and offer platforms for underrepresented team members to lead and contribute.
6. Create Accountability Structures: Link leadership and team performance reviews to inclusive practices, reinforcing alignment with company values.
7. Align Words with Actions: Consistent behavior, shared vulnerabilities, and commitment to growth ensure leaders’ actions match their principles.
Activating inclusive leadership skills not only strengthens organizational culture but builds an environment where everyone feels connected to shared values, fostering trust, engagement, and long-term success.
Vivian Acquah CDE®
Certified Diversity Executive, Amplify DEI
Guide Cultural Flow with Purpose
To ensure a company’s culture is authentic and reflects the values of its leadership team, you must first be clear about what those values truly are. Often, leadership talks about integrity, innovation, or teamwork, but the real challenge is living those values every day. A company culture isn’t just a list of words; it’s how people behave when no one’s watching, how decisions are made in everyday situations, and how leadership reacts in moments of crisis.
Consider a local coffee shop you visit frequently. If the owner talks a big game about great customer service but the baristas are rude and the service is slow, the culture is clearly misaligned. The owner’s words don’t match the reality of the service. This same principle applies to any business, whether small or large. The disconnect between what leadership says and what happens on the ground causes a breakdown in culture. If leaders don’t walk the talk, employees won’t follow, and the culture will be a facade.
First, leaders must lead by example. If they emphasize honesty, they need to be transparent with the team, even when it’s uncomfortable. Second, build feedback loops. Employees should feel like they can speak up when something doesn’t align with the company’s stated values. If they don’t feel heard, you’ll never get real insight into the culture. This might mean holding regular meetings or using surveys where employees can be honest without fear of repercussion.
When leadership started actively listening to customer complaints and made strategic changes, they saw not just a shift in customer satisfaction but also a more engaged, motivated workforce. The culture began to truly reflect what leadership had always said.
Aligning your company culture with your leadership values takes work, but it’s necessary for long-term success. It’s not about the slogans you put on posters or the values listed in a company handbook. It’s about how those values show up in everyday decisions and actions. If your team sees leadership acting in line with the values you talk about, the culture becomes genuine. If not, the disconnect will be obvious, and your team will notice.
Justin Abrams
Founder & CEO, Aryo Consulting Group
Integrate Values into Daily Operations
It starts with embodying those values in our daily actions. As the founding attorney, my commitment to justice, empathy, and unwavering client advocacy isn’t just a professional stance; it permeates how I interact with my team. We foster an environment where open communication is encouraged, where every team member understands the impact of their role in helping our clients, and where ethical conduct is non-negotiable. Our firm’s culture is driven by the genuine care we have for our clients and each other.
To ensure alignment, we prioritize consistent and transparent communication about our firm’s mission and the importance of our work. Regular team meetings involve not just case updates but also discussions about our values in action, sharing stories of client impact, and reinforcing our commitment to their well-being. In addition, we actively seek feedback from our team and recognize and reward behaviors that exemplify our core values. By leading by example, consistently communicating our purpose, and fostering a collaborative environment where everyone feels valued and understands our shared mission to seek justice for the injured, we ensure our culture remains authentic and aligned with our leadership’s principles.
Doug Burnetti
President & CEO, Burnetti P.A.
Model Authenticity in Leadership Decisions
We put a lot of intention behind ensuring our culture truly reflects who we are, not just who we claim to be. It starts with being clear about what we value as a leadership team and making sure those values are evident in how we make decisions, communicate, and lead on a daily basis. Culture isn’t something you simply write on a wall and forget; it’s built through actions, especially the small ones.
One step we take is being highly transparent internally. If there’s a difficult decision to make or something isn’t working, we discuss it openly. This kind of honesty builds trust and creates an environment where people feel safe to be authentic, take risks, and challenge things when necessary.
We also place significant emphasis on hiring, bringing in people who not only possess the required skills but also resonate with our mission and approach. Every new hire slightly shifts the culture, so we’re careful to bring in individuals who will enhance it, not dilute it.
Finally, we check in regularly. This isn’t just through formal surveys, but also through casual conversations, team retrospectives, and feedback loops. It’s about staying closely attuned to how people are feeling and whether we’re still aligned. If something feels off, we don’t hesitate to make course corrections.
You can’t fake culture. It’s either lived or it’s not. We aim to live it every day.
Jamie Frew
CEO, Carepatron
Cultivate Alignment Through Behavioral Consistency
Culture isn’t a buzzword—it’s a way of life. As the Founder + CEO, I’ve always believed that how we show up is what defines us. Our culture is rooted in authenticity, clarity, and alignment, and it all begins with our mantra: LEADERS—Level Up, Excellence, Achievement, Diversity, Empathy, Relationships, Strength.
We don’t just write our values on a wall—we use them to make every decision. From hiring and partnerships to promotions and daily client experiences, our team knows that these seven pillars are the non-negotiables.
Level Up means we never settle. We invest in training, push boundaries, and expect every team member to strive toward personal and professional growth.
Excellence shows up in the details—the way we greet our clients, the treatments we provide, and the pride we take in our work. Good enough is never enough.
Achievement is celebrated monthly. We reward those who exceed expectations, honor milestones, and foster a culture of recognition.
Diversity isn’t just about representation—it’s about perspective. We invite different voices to the table and create space for unique strengths to shine.
Empathy is at the heart of our leadership. We lead with emotional intelligence, listen to understand, and create space for compassion in how we serve and support one another. With our clients, it means meeting them where they are—emotionally and physically—and creating personalized treatment experiences that reflect their unique journey. We see the whole person, not just the procedure, and that builds trust, loyalty, and real transformation.
Relationships are our foundation. Whether it’s team-to-team or team-to-client, we lead with respect, integrity, and trust.
Strength is what gets us through growing pains and big goals. We’re resilient, resourceful, and relentless in our pursuit of greatness.
Every leadership decision we make is filtered through this lens. When there’s a question about what’s next or how to handle a challenge, we ask, “Does this reflect our LEADERS values?”
We hold each other accountable—from leadership down—to not just talk about culture, but live it. That’s how you build a brand that’s not only admired, but deeply trusted.
We don’t just lead with values. We lead as values. And that makes all the difference.
Beth Donaldson
Founder + CEO, skinBe Med Spa
Translate Values into Observable Behaviors
Values, Mission, and Vision are all connected and build upon each other to create a company culture. Vision answers the question, “Where are we going? And by when?” Mission answers, “Why? For what purpose?” and Values answer, “What matters most?”
Values ground an organization; they are not the beliefs of any one individual but rather lived actions and behaviors that are represented across the whole organization. When selecting values, if employees can see themselves represented in these values through stories that are commonly shared, you are already halfway to creating an authentic values-driven workplace.
Here are a few ways you can create alignment that ensures a values-driven culture:
1. Create excitement! Highlight for your team where these values are already in action.
2. Share additional examples of what these behaviors look like, and include specific examples that staff members have shared to show that you listened to them.
3. Challenge employees to self-identify how they can better align their own work and behaviors to the core values.
4. Talk about values at annual performance reviews.
5. Reinforce the values in all communications. Put your values front and center in everything that you do. It’s not just what you do, but how you do it.
6. Walk the talk. If, as a leadership team, you do not display the values you claim to champion, then do the values you selected really matter? Should your organization care if you do not? Making values-based decisions can additionally provide credibility to any leadership team and be used as a tool to articulate a decision to others.
7. Recognize when employees are living up to the organization’s values. Consider creating an award or building traditions that celebrate value alignment both formally and informally.
We specialize in building lasting organizational cultures that can withstand the tests of uncertain times. Answering the three questions of Mission, Vision, and Values creates the cornerstone of culture and a team that will help organizations thrive when facing complex challenges.
Luke Peters
Senior Manager, Business Operations, The Nebo Company
Define and Live Core Values Daily
We believe that culture is not a final destination but an ever-evolving journey. Like a winding river carving its path through lush landscapes, culture continuously flows and changes, shaping and being shaped by the world around it. As leaders, our responsibility is to guide that flow with intention.
The first priority is ensuring your team understands the importance of your Core Values, Company Vision, and the culture you’re building. Without alignment at the top, it’s nearly impossible to see it throughout the organization.
Before you can expect buy-in, you have to start by asking: Why? Why do these things matter? Think about the culture of companies you admire—what image comes to mind? Now think about how our clients might describe our company. And if I asked every team member about our Core Values and our Culture, what would they say?
What we discovered—and what most growing companies eventually realize—is that defining and agreeing on Core Values is the first step. Core Values capture your company’s DNA. They guide decision-making even when leadership isn’t around. They allow you to trust your team because you’re all anchored in the same beliefs.
Culture is how those values come to life. It reflects your vision, beliefs, and principles. It determines whether your best people stay or leave. It gives your team something to rally around during tough times. And when your culture aligns with your clients’ values, that’s when the magic happens—business flows naturally because people do business with those they like, know, and trust.
When we started, we didn’t have a formal culture; we hired people we clicked with. We built strong relationships, and things felt natural. Culture was something we just lived.
But as we grew, we started seeing cracks. Service quality declined. Not everyone had the same commitment to “Customer Service.” We rushed some hires when the talent pool got tight—and those compromises cost us. We learned the hard way that protecting our Core Values and Culture isn’t optional. It’s critical.
Now, we don’t just hire to fill roles. We hire to build culture. Interviews aren’t just about skills—they’re about alignment. Can this person enhance our culture? Or even help us uncover a new core value?
Culture isn’t something you check off a list—it’s a living, breathing part of your company, defined not by what’s written down, but by what your people say when leadership isn’t in the room.
Ivan Fernandez, CISSP
CEO, SPN Networks, Inc
Embody Culture Through Consistent Actions
One of my responsibilities at our job search site is culture, both in terms of defining it and helping to ensure that the culture we desire is the culture we actually have.
Organizations used to be able to pretend that the culture they wanted was the culture they had. The rise of Glassdoor and, subsequently, other review sites made that impossible as current and former employees could candidly share what the organization’s culture was actually like. It became evident that there was often a massive gap between the culture an organization claimed to have versus what it actually had.
It has also become apparent that different teams often have very different cultures, and that is acceptable. The culture that works for your sales team likely won’t work for your engineering team.
Every year during our Leadership Team’s two-day, annual meeting, we review our core values and unique attributes. Most years, we don’t update them at all as they accurately reflect who we want to be and who we are. Some years, we will update them to reflect a change that we want or simply a change that we can see has occurred. We then review and remind our entire team of these values and attributes every quarter.
Can all of our employees remember all of our core values and unique attributes at all times? No. However, if you were to ask two or more of our employees who have been with us for any length of time about our culture, you would almost certainly hear remarkable consistency. The words they use will differ. Some will feel better than others about the culture, particularly as it pertains to them. But the culture they articulate will be the culture that we believe we have, and that’s the culture that we want.
Steven Rothberg
Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, College Recruiter
Create Alignment Through Shared Purpose
As a psychotherapist with 20 years of experience and a mentor to therapists and purpose-driven business owners, I believe that authentic company culture doesn’t come from a mission statement; it comes from embodiment. The most aligned cultures are built when the leadership team lives their values in small, daily decisions, not just in big-picture ideals.
How I ensure authenticity and alignment:
It starts with clarity. You can’t build culture around values you haven’t truly defined. In my mentorship platform, The Round Table, and in my therapy practice, we regularly revisit foundational questions:
- What do we want people to feel in this space?
- What do we stand for even when no one’s watching?
- What kind of leadership energy are we modeling?
From there, it’s about integration. I hold myself and my team accountable to those values through the way we communicate, set boundaries, navigate challenges, and structure our time. If we say we value sustainability, that means we don’t glorify burnout. If we say we value growth, that means feedback is welcomed and normalized, not avoided.
I also pay close attention to the consistent feedback we receive from members and clients. I don’t shy away from it—I lean in. Feedback is part of the relationship, and it helps me see where our culture is truly resonating and where it may need refinement. At the same time, I stay grounded in the values and vision that led me to this work in the first place. I don’t make reactive decisions out of fear or urgency. I slow down, recalibrate, and lead from alignment, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Culture isn’t created once and left alone. It’s cultivated, moment by moment, choice by choice. And for me, staying in alignment with our values is how we maintain both trust and impact.
Dr. Victoria Grinman
Psychotherapist and Mentor to Mission Driven Entrepeneurs, Growing Kind Minds LLC
Model Values in Small, Daily Decisions
Authentic company culture can’t be manufactured—it’s either modeled or it’s just marketing. I’ve found that the clearest indicator of authenticity is behavioral alignment: what leaders say, what they do, and what they reward must all match. If the leadership team claims to value transparency but avoids hard conversations or hides uncomfortable truths, the culture will reflect that contradiction no matter what’s on the website.
To ensure alignment, I start by translating abstract values into observable behaviors. For example, “integrity” becomes “we speak up when something feels wrong, even if it’s uncomfortable.” Once values are operationalized, I embed them into hiring, onboarding, training, and daily decision-making—not just policies. I’ve also found it crucial to create feedback loops where employees can surface misalignments between leadership’s stated values and their lived experiences, without fear.
In startup environments, where speed and pressure can easily override reflection, I build lightweight rituals that anchor the culture—whether it’s pausing during team meetings to gut-check a decision against values, or storytelling during onboarding that shows how leadership handles challenges. Culture is most authentic when it’s tested—and still holds.
Ultimately, I believe the most powerful culture strategy is modeling. If leadership is willing to be vulnerable, course-correct publicly, and embody the values even when it’s hard, the culture will align naturally.
Elena Shturman
Corporate Compliance Expert, Ceribell, Inc
Ensure Behavioral Consistency Across Leadership
For me, culture isn’t something you put on a slide deck—it’s how your team actually behaves when no one’s watching. It shows up in how people collaborate, how they handle failure, and how decisions are made under pressure.
Back when I led a small team at Ring (now SQUAD, acquired by AWS), we built a platform that handled 300,000 requests per second. On paper, that sounds like a technical success—but in reality, it only worked because of how aligned the team was. We didn’t split people into silos. Everyone understood the whole system, and everyone had the freedom to contribute ideas, even if they didn’t hold a senior title. That created real ownership.
We also practiced what I’d call a “blameless but responsible” culture. If something broke, we didn’t point fingers—we dug into what went wrong and what we could learn. But at the same time, everyone knew they were accountable for their part. That mix of trust and responsibility created a team that was small, fast, and shockingly effective—when the project moved to another region, it took 40 people to replace our team of 7.
So how do you ensure alignment? You lead by example. You hire people who resonate with your values—not just with their resumes, but how they think and communicate. And then you create an environment where they can be themselves, take risks, and grow. Culture isn’t built overnight, but if you nurture it deliberately, it becomes your biggest advantage.
Serhii Mariiekha
Principal Software Engineer
