Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Many leaders and consultants tend to talk about company culture as a monolith—a cohesive set of behaviors, values, and attitudes that set the tone in a workplace. They talk about culture as a singular noun, as in, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
And while multiple cultures have always existed inside organizations—especially those that operate across different geographies where regional nuances can influence business practices—René Lacerte, founder and CEO of Bill, a financial operations platform for small businesses, is one of the few executives I’ve heard embrace company subcultures.
Subcultures help companies adapt
Lacerte maintains that subcultures have helped the company stay innovative, even as the company has grown in size and complexity. Bill just reported $1.3 billion in revenue for its fiscal year ending June 30, up 22% from 2023, and has acquired three companies since it was founded in 2016.
Now that Bill is no longer a startup, established parts of the company need to be accountable for financial targets; teams that are developing new features need the freedom to experiment.
“The mature team has to be more careful about some of the risks we take. A new team that is starting a new product can probably take a little bit more risk, if you will,” Lacerte says. “All these things can create different team dynamics.”
The power of the unseen
Lacerte also equates the presence of subcultures with the kind of varied thinking that has been a hallmark of many successful organizations. “If everybody just does what I say, that would be one culture, but that’s not very interesting,” he says. “But if we have a healthy debate, which means people share different mindsets, different points of view, different perspectives, then we’re going to get to a better outcome.”
More points for connection
Company culture—or cultures—matter. Gallup research shows that only 23% of employees surveyed say they feel connected to their organization’s culture. But those connected employees are four times as likely to be engaged at work and 43% less likely to be looking for another job.
Lacerte says one of the ways the company seeks to ensure employee-culture connections is by recognizing and rewarding people who exemplify Bill’s values, which for many years were listed as being “humble, fun, authentic, dedicated, and passionate.” Lacerte adds, “We also talk about what we can do better.” Based on those insights, he says that “one thing we added to our value set was the word ‘accountability.’”
Today, the company lists its values as being “humble, authentic, passionate, accountable, fun.” Making a change based on employee feedback? Sounds like a leadership team that’s leaning into the “humble” part of its values.
Does the fabric of your company include subcultures?
Does your company foster subcultures? If so, how do you make sure employees feel connected to their subculture or the company’s overall values? Send your insights and stories to me at [email protected]. I’d love to share examples in a future newsletter.
Read more: company culture(s)
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