Protect Your Company Culture Through Strong Leadership

To leaders of high growth companies.

A note of caution from the late, great John R Caldon, former Deputy MD of Macquarie Group.

“The problem, Adam, when a company is growing its head count by 25% or more each year is that within 2-years the newbies will be a majority. If you’re not careful, the newbies will soon enculturate you – not the other way around.”

“So what can you do about it?”, I asked.

“Well, it’s a real problem, Adam, and the only way to deal with it is for the senior leadership to double down on its vision and values. They need to be communicating them constantly and weeding out the silly buggers. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’re a real risk of losing your grip on the culture that brought you the success in the first place.”

By “silly buggers”, John was mischievously referring to those team members who no longer believe in the vision or who are no longer committed to the core values.