June is Here!

If you are new here, welcome. The community around Culture is the Strategy has grown in ways that continue to surprise us, and we are genuinely glad you are here. The book turns one year old this summer, and we are marking the occasion with something we know a lot of you have been asking for: the Audible version is being mastered right now and should be available in late June or early July. We will send the link the moment it drops.

CULTURE IS THE STRATEGY LEARNING: Chapter 10 — Breaking Benchmarks

There is a moment in every high-performing organization when people stop trying to match the competition and start making the competition irrelevant. Chapter 10 is about that moment. It does not happen because of a new strategy deck or a consultant’s report. It happens because the people inside the organization feel something their competitors’ employees do not: purpose, trust, and the quiet certainty that they genuinely belong there.

When those three things are present, something shifts. People find solutions others cannot see. They move faster because they trust each other. They stay long enough to get really good. The benchmark-breakers are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones with the most human cultures. The small intentional act this month is one question, asked sincerely to your team: “Do you feel like your work here means something?” If the answer comes back uncertain, that is the benchmark to break first.

Action Items for the Month

1. Ask your team this week, “Do you feel like your work here means something?” Then listen without filling the silence.

2. Find one person this month who quietly keeps the team running and tell them, specifically, what you see them doing.

3. Look at your last 30 days. Where did your team find a creative solution no one expected? Name it out loud to them.

4. Identify one policy or process that exists only because “that’s how we’ve always done it.” If there’s no real reason for it, remove it.

5. Share a recent competitor win with your team and ask, “What would it take for us to do that better?” Make it a real conversation, not a rhetorical one.

Let’s Talk Culture

“Anthropic Tops CNBC Disruptor 50 — Here’s Why” — CNBC — Anthropic did not hit No. 1 on this year’s Disruptor 50 list on product alone. Analysts point to its safety-first culture and the trust it has built with enterprise customers as the core of its competitive position. That is Chapter 10 playing out in real time.

“Anthropic vs. OpenAI in 2026: Revenue, Culture, Compensation and Who’s Hiring” — JobsByCulture — A side-by-side look at two of the most watched companies in the world right now. Anthropic’s 80% two-year retention rate, the highest of any frontier AI lab, makes a pointed case for what a culture of purpose and trust actually produces.

“Announcing the 2026 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For” — Great Place to Work / Globe Newswire — Companies on this year’s list have delivered an annualized stock return of 13.4% over 28 years, versus 9.2% for the Russell 3000. If anyone in your organization still thinks culture is a soft metric, hand them this.

“Apple’s Company Culture: What Employees Say About the Internal World” — Panmore / TechBloat — Apple’s culture of excellence, creative accountability, and purpose-driven work has underpinned one of the most sustained runs of performance in business history. Worth reading for what it gets right, and what the next generation of leaders is starting to push back on.

Thank You

Thank you for being part of this conversation, whether you have been here since day one or just found us. Reply and tell us what benchmarks your culture is chasing right now. We’d love to hear it.

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Bulk orders: BulkOrders@cultureisthestrategybook.com

Annette + Jeff

www.cultureisthestrategybook.com

The response to Culture is the Strategy keeps surprising us. Readers are sharing stories about small moments that changed something real in their organizations, and that is exactly why we wrote it. If you know someone wrestling with their culture right now, the book is now available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

Learning from the Book: Chapter 8 — Life Happens!

One of the most dangerous assumptions in business is that professionalism means leaving your personal life at the door. That sounds reasonable. It just happens to be wrong. Employees are whole people, not interchangeable parts. They have kids who get sick, parents in decline, and weeks that come apart before Monday is over.

Chapter 8 makes this simple: when leaders respond to those human moments with genuine care, loyalty goes up. Discretionary effort, the kind you cannot mandate into a policy, goes up. And when leaders respond with indifference or process, people keep doing their jobs while quietly looking for a way out. The small intentional act here is not a program or a benefit package. It is one question, asked sincerely: “What do you need from me right now?” That question is the culture.

Action Items for April

1. Ask one person on your team this week, “How are you really doing?” and then wait for the real answer.

2. The next time a team member mentions something hard going on at home, write it down. Follow up in a week.

3. Look at your team’s PTO balances this month. If no one is taking time off, that is a signal worth paying attention to.

4. In your next team meeting, say explicitly: “If life gets in the way, come talk to me. We will figure it out.”

5. Think about the last time someone on your team went through something difficult. Did they feel like a person was in their corner, or did they feel like a process was?

Let’s Talk Culture

“Employee Well-being in 2026: Why the Old Playbook Is Dead” — Solhapp — A sharp look at why one-time wellness programs are failing and what integrated, people-first approaches actually look like in practice.

“State of Workplace Empathy” — Businessolver — Data every leader should see: 27% of employees call their organization unempathetic, and those employees are 1.5x more likely to walk out the door.

“8 Mental Health Trends for 2026 and What They Mean for Your Workplace” — Spring Health — A practical breakdown of what is actually affecting your team’s mental bandwidth this year, from AI anxiety to caregiver fatigue.

“Why Mental Health Should Be a Workplace Strategic Priority in 2026” — WorldatWork — Makes the business case clearly: this is not a benefits conversation, it is a performance and retention conversation.

Thank You!

Thank you for being part of this conversation. Reply and tell us what’s keeping you up at night when it comes to your culture. We’d love to hear it.

Leave a comment

Annette + Jeff

Buy the Book

www.cultureisthestrategybook.com

Happy New Year! This month we kick off with clarity, purpose, and action — because culture isn’t something you talk about, it’s something you build every day.
In Culture Is the Strategy, we make it clear: culture is your strongest competitive advantage — the real driver behind engagement, retention, trust, performance, and sustainable growth.

Culture Isn’t a Buzzword — It’s the Operating System

Too many companies treat culture as perks, pizza, or workplace swag. The truth is deeper:

Culture shapes behavior, trust, collaboration, and decision-making — whether intentional or not.

“Culture isn’t a buzzword. It’s your biggest competitive advantage.”

January Actions:
✔ Audit one daily behavior, meeting cadence, or decision process that signals who you are as an organization.

✔ Talk with your team about “what culture looks like in action” — not just what it sounds like on paper.

Intentional Acts Build Cultural Strength

Culture Is the Strategy follows leaders in real companies as they transform fractured cultures into thriving organizations. They show how small, intentional acts of leadership — rooted in trust and purpose — drive measurable results.

Topics to Reflect On:

• Identify small actions your leaders can take this week that reinforce trust.

• Ask: Are our values real lived actions, or just words on a wall?

• What one action can reinforce belonging and accountability?

January Focus: “Culture by Design”

Culture happens every day — either by default or by design. Let’s choose design:

This month’s mini-challenge:
🔹 Define or reaffirm one core cultural behavior that matters most
🔹 Align it with how decisions get made
🔹 Embed it into a daily habit

Culture isn’t fluffy — it’s the system that drives performance.

A Quick Update on the Book

Thank you for making Culture Is the Strategy a bestseller!

We’ve heard from readers across the globe (seriously, people carried it to beaches on four continents!) about the fast read and immediate takeaways.

We have heard from many readers and would love to hear from you as well! The goal of incremental improvement must involve feedback and putting that into practice.

So, let’s hear from you!

Leave a comment

Let’s Talk Culture!

Here are some of the latest articles and insights on changing workplace culture in 2026 — including trends, expert perspectives, and actionable guidance from business/HR thought leaders and research sources:

1. 5 Trends That Will Shape Workplace Culture in 2026 — Forbes
Explores key drivers like AI, values alignment, employee-led initiatives, and culture as a competitive advantage. (Forbes)

2. 3 Tips to Replace Employee Stagnation with Curiosity in 2026 — SmartBrief
Leadership angle on combating disengagement by fostering curiosity and purpose. (SmartBrief)

3. Future of Work Trends 2026: Strategic Insights for CHROs — Gartner
Strategic lens on navigating disruption and culture alongside human-machine collaboration. (Gartner)

4. 7 Workforce Trends That Could Impact You in 2026 — HRMorning
Overview of broader workforce dynamics that influence culture, retention, and employee engagement. (HRMorning)

5. 5 Trends That Will Shape HR in 2026 — HR Dive
Focuses on HR strategy, including culture, AI, workforce structure, and leadership imperatives. (HR Dive)

6. 2026 Workplace Trends: EDI Reckoning & End of RTO Debate — PeopleManagement.co.uk
Discusses equity, inclusion, shift in return-to-office rationale, and productivity pressures. (People Management)

7. Workplace Trends for 2026: Preparing for New Labor Market Reality — IMD
Academic-informed business view on flexible work, inclusion and leadership readiness. (IMD Business School)

8. Work Culture Trends To Watch in 2026 — BusinessToday.com.my
Summarizes digitalization, evolving expectations, hybrid work and culture shifts worldwide. (BusinessToday)

Thank You!

Thank you for being part of this journey. We believe that culture isn’t something you just hope for — it’s something you create, intentionally and collectively. We look forward to your participation, your ideas, and the impact we will generate together.

Thank you!

Annette & Jeff

We’ve heard from readers across the globe (seriously, people carried it to beaches on four continents!) about the fast read and immediate takeaways.

We have heard from many readers and would love to hear from you as well! The goal of incremental improvement has to involve feedback and putting that into practice.

So let us hear from you!

Share Culture is the Strategy

Where do I begin?

One of the main ideas that surfaces in conversations with readers is “where do I begin?”

Some leaders expressed a desire to begin bringing in concepts of the book to their teams, namely finding ways to identify what is wrong with their own cultures and how to make incremental changes for the better. The answer, we believe, is “anywhere” and by anywhere, we mean anywhere where you and your team stand on the same ground, can remove the barriers to free conversations, and make moves toward progress. If you cannot be vulnerable or just complain without action, this is a wasted effort.

One quick example from a reader: “I brought in your Trust Approach (Chapter 6) to my team over an offsite lunch. We discussed where we’ve missed the chance to build trust with our associates and it really helped build better relationships inside our own team during the discussion! My plan is to now do a lunch every month with my team and send them pre-read materials for the meal’s conversation.”

This has prompted us to think through how to best facilitate the discussion in that lunchroom and beyond. We are nearing completion with a discussion guide that will be available for purchase soon on our Substack.

We’ve heard many stories about how a piece of the book touched off a conversation with a teammate about how to improve culture and how it isn’t daunting when you undertake small, meaningful acts.

Enough housekeeping, let’s talk culture!

Here are several timely reads to fuel your thinking:

“A Modern Leader’s Guide to Company Culture” — O.C. Tanner (October 3, 2025) — Offers a clear framework: purpose, opportunity, success, appreciation, wellbeing, leadership. Explores how to measure and strengthen culture.

“To Change Company Culture, Focus on Systems — Not Communication” — Harvard Business Review (August 25, 2025) — Highlights the idea that culture change demands structural and behavioral alignment, not just slogans and speeches.

“Top 20 Articles on Workplace Culture: September 2025” — Inspiring Workplaces (October 7, 2025) — A curated list summarizing culture, leadership, inclusion, engagement, communication and more.

“Shaping Organizational Culture Is a Top Priority for HR, Says … ” — McLean & Company (April 17, 2025) — Presents research showing that culture is increasingly seen as HR’s primary value-add activity, moving from aspirational to strategic.

The Culture Catalyst: LinkedIn Subscription. Great poignant articles and interviews that discuss culture within an employer and the passionate people that drive improvements to it!

Expanding the network & gathering your feedback

As we continue to build this community around company culture and strategy, your input is invaluable. Here’s how you can help:

Expand the network: Know colleagues, peers or organizations who are deeply interested in culture, relationships, and strategy? Please feel free to forward this newsletter or this invitation to them. The richer our network, the more diverse the conversation.

Share

Your feedback matters: What topics would you like us to cover next? What’s keeping you up at night when it comes to culture? Any formats you prefer (short articles, podcasts, workshops, case studies)? Let us know by commenting on this post.

Leave a comment

Thank you for being part of this journey. We believe that culture isn’t something you just hope for — it’s something you create, intentionally and collectively. We look forward to your participation, your ideas, and the impact we will generate together.

Thank you!

Annette & Jeff

cultureisthestrategybook.com

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We’ve moved to Substack

After living in a house for a few years, you find things to upgrade. Fresh paint, new tile, replace that dishwasher that never worked right.

The same thing happened with our book. After writing, editing, marketing, speaking, working and more, we looked around and thought of a new coat of paint.

We are finalizing our Audible version of our book, gathering our notes from the field for additional content, and also upgrading our CultureistheStrategybook.com website. All coming soon. So, while we’re here, let’s fix the easy stuff: Substack improves our ability for the quick notes, newsletters and our primary ways of engaging with you.

Why this, why now?

Our monthly newsletter process as well as managing a few hundred emails became cumbersome. Our monthly newsletters and content will migrate to Substack. Easier signups, unsubscribes, a better archival process are all benefits to us and you. Easier ways to post content makes it easier for us to create content throughout the month instead of saving it for our newsletter. A chat for you to share stories, ask questions and lend expert advice.

Our existing content will be moving over shortly!

Like what you see? Share with a friend. This is how we grow… so many members were people referred by you.