Culture myths holding firms back from growth

The conversation around growth starts as a simple one.

Growth is the driver that enables a firm to remain relevant and sustainable.

Why? Because it provides two important things:

1. Financial capital

2. Intellectual capital

These become the levers firms can pull to achieve their growth goals.

We can all nod along with that, right?

But when the conversation turns to how to achieve aggressive growth, many leaders get stuck on one thing:

Culture.

The conversation usually sounds like:

“Of course we want to grow, but…”:

• “We don’t want to change our culture.”

• “How will we maintain our culture of __________?”

• “We’re afraid aggressive growth will erode the great culture we’ve built.”

During my time as CEO of Baker Tilly US, we grew aggressively—from $475M to $1.5B—and enabled a culture that was stronger than ever.

To do it, we had to recognize and overcome three culture myths that hold firms back:

Myth #1: Aggressive growth erodes culture.

Let's say you're growing a garden.

You set up your garden, prepare the soil, and plant your seeds.

If you leave the garden completely unattended for the entire season, only to check back in 4 months and see what was produced, you might not be happy with the results.

Some crops might have made it, many died, and some were eaten by animals.

But you wouldn't plant your garden and turn your back on it, would you?

No! You'd be actively doing things to ensure issues were addressed and the environment was optimal for your garden to thrive.

I view culture the same way.

Strong culture and aggressive growth are not mutually exclusive.

If your firm decides to do what is required to grow at a more aggressive rate, you don't have to turn your back on your culture and hope for the best.

Similarly, people tend to think high growth means people become too focused on sales and individual performance.

When done right, high growth is a result of flawless execution of strategy, which takes everyone being engaged.

At Baker Tilly, our success was just that—everyone working together to execute strategy...aka building and leveraging a great culture, which resulted in outsized results.

Don’t forget that you play an active role in defining your strategy, rallying people around it, and shaping your culture along the way.

Reality: Aggressive growth will only erode culture if neglected.

Myth #2: Great culture should be maintained.

Lots of people get caught up on this one.

As you know, I think words matter and, in this case, the word "maintained" is the wrong way to look at culture.

An organization's culture is a living and breathing organism.

It's not meant to be "maintained" or "defended".

It's meant to be fostered, tended to, and continuously enriched along each new step in the growth journey.

For example, M&A is often viewed as a "threat" to culture.

At Baker Tilly, each time we acquired a firm, we intentionally found opportunities for leaders in the newly acquired firm to join leadership teams within Baker Tilly.

It wasn't so much about teaching newly acquired firms about Baker Tilly's culture as it was about blending the two to create something new.

The culture of Baker Tilly was enriched by the viewpoints of the leaders from newly acquired firms.

Those efforts further enabled our culture to shift and strengthen, despite many new faces. We created culture together.

Reality: Great culture should continuously evolve.

Myth #3: You get to dictate your culture.

Many firms want to cherry-pick their culture like it's a menu:

"We have a culture of entrepreneurship and don't want to lose it." "We want to have a more collaborative culture, and it's not happening."

You don't get to choose what your culture is simply by stating what you want or don't want it to be.

Culture is a reflection of the decisions that you continuously make.

If you say you want a culture of collaboration and teamwork but you financially incentivize your partners based on individual performance—well, you're unlikely to achieve the culture you're seeking.

Now, this isn't to say you shouldn't put intention behind the culture you want to create. You absolutely should.

My point is, when it comes to culture (and many other things), your actions speak louder than your words.

It's a great exercise to be intentional about the pillars of your ideal culture. Consider them. Write 'em down.

Then, the real work is to be willing to analyze if the way your firm is structured and the systems you have in place enable that culture, or detract from it.

Reality: The decisions you make will dictate your culture for you.

Final Takeaways

Each week I ask myself... "Why am I writing this piece?"

This time, it's because culture is often pinned as the enemy to growth, as though the two things are mutually exclusive, and that's simply not been my experience.

I believe this line of thinking is holding firms back from growth.

Great culture and aggressive growth can co-exist. In fact, great culture can be a catalyst for additional growth.

Like anything else, enabling great culture requires intentional thinking and decisive action—that's one of the many things I help CEOs and firm leadership teams navigate on their growth journey.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman