4 leadership principles that drive company culture

There is a quote from leadership and company culture expert Larry Senn that says, “Culture is not an initiative. Culture is the enabler of all initiatives.” I couldn’t agree more.

At our startup, the values behind our culture fuel and inspire everything we do—from empowering customers with our technology to how we problem-solve and interact with one another. We refer to them as the “Four I’s”: instinct, integrity, intensity, and inclusion. 

Each of these words holds a lesson and contributes to our company culture in a specific way. No two company cultures are exactly alike, but there’s something to be learned from each of them. 

Here’s more on the “Four I’s”—and how to cultivate the leadership values they stand for:

Instinct

In both life and business, we can never expect prospects to come out and directly state their problems; it is up to us as individuals to hone our instincts to anticipate what those problems are. This is an especially critical skill for business leaders: Competition is fierce, new products and services emerge daily, and customers are not fully aware of the scope of their problems (or what they will be in the near future).

I learned this early during my initial entrepreneurial experiences, where I would constantly sweat the details instead of taking the plunge. My wife, who has that gut instinct, encouraged me to take the risk and go “all in” before I had all of the details figured out, and that was the push I needed to find the way.

Developing these instincts requires time and experiencing both successes and failures as the result of one’s decisions. While no two situations separated by time are the same, if leaders can ask hard questions and not fear the answers, they will be able to derive meaningful insights and strengthen their decision-making abilities. It is important not to take the easy way out and avoid asking these questions, or a fast-moving competitor could come up with a better solution. 

Integrity

I learned early lessons about integrity from my father who was running a large business conglomerate and had the ability to drastically alter our standard of living if he was willing to compromise his values. He chose not to, and witnessing him pass up short-term gains for potential long-term regret was impactful.

As a business leader, upholding a high level of integrity is vital to maintaining trust with both customers and your team. Where leaders most often go astray is when they take shortcuts and get rewarded for it, usually in hypergrowth scenarios. This makes it seem permissible for them to repeat that behavior, which inevitably leads to their downfall at some point. As the saying goes, “you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

I’ve found that the best way to maintain a high standard of leadership integrity is to surround oneself with people who hold similar values and keep others accountable. My cofounder, for example, helps keep me honest about what our technology can and cannot do. (The last thing we ever want is for a customer to feel like we pulled a bait-and-switch, so we are exceedingly clear about the capabilities and limitations of our technology.) Additionally, leaders should always stay open to criticism. One way to do this is by always asking customers—even very satisfied customers—how their experience could have been better. 

Intensity

Intensity is at the heart of every successful startup. There needs to be an intense sense of passion, urgency, and accountability to drive the company’s mission. This often comes naturally in the early days, but it can be hard to sustain after several years of successfully meeting goals and milestones. It is grueling, both emotionally and physically, not just for us as individuals, but also for our families to go through these experiences.  

This is why it is so important for leaders to continually challenge their teams to keep them engaged. We are constantly pushing ourselves to achieve higher performance, more ease of use, and to pursue exciting opportunities that emerge—without overextending our team. Leaders should always stay curious and open to new opportunities, and draw on inspiration from customers that are thriving as a result of their solutions.

Inclusion

It can be easy for businesses to fall into the trap of only hiring people they know. But companies are doing themselves and their employees a big disservice by failing to source from a larger and more diverse talent pool. Prioritizing inclusion is critical for diversity of thought and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Hiring people with similar backgrounds limits companies to only linear growth; hiring from diverse backgrounds enables exponential growth.

The value of company culture that embraces inclusion extends beyond just hiring: It is also about engaging with the larger community to gain perspectives around the types of challenges they are facing. For example, 22 million U.S. seniors don’t have access to broadband internet. Some years ago, I became involved with the technology committee in my community, and we have made it our mission to make sure everybody in town has access to at least two internet service providers at a reasonable cost. To me, inclusivity is about considering the “greater good” and not just catering to the people you can relate to. 

Final thoughts on leadership and company culture

Though every company’s culture is different, all organizations can benefit from strengthening the values behind the “Four I’s”. Today’s business landscape is challenging: Competition is at an all-time high, talent can be hard to come by, and retention is something many organizations are struggling with. Having a strong, healthy company culture can mitigate these challenges and should be at the top of every leader’s list of priorities.