How Company Culture Shapes Success Why entrepreneurs must prioritise culture from day one

Company culture often makes or breaks an organisation. According to Charlie Coode, founder of Culture15, a London based organisation that focuses on helping businesses measure, manage, and improve their company culture, understanding culture is one of the most powerful drivers of business success.

Coode shares valuable insights on how company culture shapes success, drives growth, and serves as a critical tool for leadership in rapidly scaling businesses.

Success (or failure) is entirely a result of culture
For Coode, culture is not a vague, abstract concept but the very fabric of how a business operates. He defines culture as "how work gets done," which includes how decisions are made, how people collaborate, and how information flows through an organisation. Business outcomes are directly tied to the collective actions that define a company's culture.

He points to some of the biggest successes and failures in recent business history as examples. "Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla – as well as failures like Enron, Lehman Brothers, Nokia, Kodak, and Boeing – can all be attributed, at least in part, to culture," he says. The alignment between culture and execution is crucial to any organisation's ability to deliver on its strategy.

Preserving culture during rapid growth
As a company grows, preserving the culture that initially led to success can be challenging. "Rapidly growing companies face major cultural challenges," Coode explains. He notes that a company's early-stage culture, which may have been instrumental to its success, often becomes an obstacle to further growth. Founder-led companies, in particular, face difficulties, as the culture is typically tied closely to the founder's personality and leadership style.

Coode stresses the need to be intentional and proactive in managing culture during this phase of growth. "Too often, startups and high-growth companies trumpet their culture as a key differentiator but fail to manage it rigorously," he warns. "Leaving culture to individual interpretation runs the risk of drift and dilution." To avoid this, Coode advises entrepreneurs to clearly define their target culture and to continuously communicate, model, and track it as the company scales.

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How leaders can use culture as a tool for growth
For entrepreneurs, culture isn't just a nice-to-have – it's a business imperative. Coode believes that culture should be directly linked to business strategy and leadership behaviours. "Culture needs to be linked to strategy so it's not seen as an HR initiative or a personal preference," he emphasises. Leaders must model desired behaviours and hold themselves accountable for shaping the company's culture in line with its goals.

To make culture measurable and actionable, Coode recommends that progress toward a target culture be tracked and included in managers' KPIs. "If collaboration is key to success, you won't be successful if your bonus scheme focuses only on individual achievements," he says, underscoring the importance of aligning institutional practices with cultural goals.

The role of AI in shaping company culture
As businesses look to the future, artificial intelligence (AI) is set to play a transformative role in culture management. Coode sees AI as a game-changer in understanding and enhancing workplace culture. "Properly trained, the latest language models can interpret what people say or write, attribute it to a measurable value, and provide recommendations on how to better align behaviours with the target culture," he says.

AI allows companies to access rich, quantified data on what people are actually saying, providing an "always-on source of advice" that is context-specific. According to Coode, this insight into workplace behaviour is not only more accessible but also far less costly than traditional consulting approaches.

Key metrics for assessing company culture
When it comes to measuring culture, Coode suggests tracking behaviours rather than abstract values. He encourages entrepreneurs to clearly define the behaviours that reflect their desired culture and to measure how closely those behaviours align with the company's goals. "The focus should be on closing the Culture Gap – the difference between target and actual behaviour – and incentivizing managers to play their part in this process," Coode advises.

Building a robust culture from day one
For new entrepreneurs, Coode's advice is clear: make culture a priority from day one. "Your early hires will determine the direction your culture takes over time," he says. "Be clear about your cultural expectations, and be prepared for personal change. As the founder, your ability to evolve is often the key to your company's growth."

Coode also emphasises the importance of staying focused on culture as the business grows, warning that "there is no destination with culture, only an ongoing focus." He advises founders to embed cultural goals into the core KPIs of the business and to prioritise behaviour over values in their culture narrative. "People don't experience your values; they only experience behaviours," he explains. "Be clear on what's acceptable, and provide regular feedback."

Perhaps the most critical advice Coode offers is for leaders to demonstrate commitment to the company's culture by being willing to make tough decisions. "Be prepared to fire your top performers if they aren't living the values. This is the ultimate test of whether culture really matters," he asserts. Firing a high performer sends a powerful message to the rest of the organisation about the importance of cultural alignment.

From defining and tracking cultural behaviours to embracing AI for deeper insights, Coode's approach emphasises intentionality and continuous evolution. As he puts it, "There is no destination with culture – only an ongoing focus."

For entrepreneurs, the takeaway is clear: culture isn't just a competitive advantage; it's the foundation upon which long-term success is built.

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