The First Question I Ask About Any Top-Performing Team: Culture
When I evaluate a top-performing team, there’s one thing I try to understand before anything else: the culture.
Not the mission statement.
Not the values slide.
Not the glossy offsite photos.
I focus on the unspoken rules — how people actually operate when no one is performing for the room.
Because culture isn’t window dressing. It’s a primary variable that shapes execution.
➤ It influences how problems surface and how quickly they get solved
➤ When culture weakens, execution doesn’t collapse — it erodes quietly
➤ The best teams stay disciplined in the last 5 percent, the details everyone else ignores
That’s why we evaluate culture with the same seriousness we apply to financial statements, capital allocation, and leadership.
It either accelerates performance or quietly drags it down.
And every organization has blind spots.
Where does your culture push your execution forward — and where might it be slowing you down without anyone noticing?