Culture vs. Perks: The Dangerous Confusion

In this episode, we uncover the true essence of culture and its critical role in driving organizational success. Drawing from a recent keynote to top business executives, we debunk common myths—like confusing perks with culture—and explore why great cultures don’t always make everyone happy.

Discover how culture acts as the heartbeat of transformation, aligning teams, engaging hearts and minds, and bridging the gap between strategy and execution. Learn why the "Sunday Night Test" reveals the truth about your workplace and how behavior at scale defines success.

Whether you’re a leader, manager, or aspiring change-maker, this episode will challenge your perspective and inspire you to rethink how culture shapes your organization’s future.

Order your copy of Matt's bestselling book, Culture Is the Way, and discover actionable strategies to transform your organization today!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Debunking Common Misconceptions About Culture
• 1:08 Perks vs. Culture: Understanding the Difference
• 2:05 The True Definition of Culture
• 3:00 The Role of Culture in Organizational Success
• 3:58 Engaging Hearts and Minds Through Culture
• 4:51 Driving Alignment with Culture

Transcript

Matt Mayberry: 0:14

Culture is not the flexibility to work three days per week. Culture is not wearing whatever it is you want to work every single day. Culture is not having a manager that does not challenge you every single day. Culture is not reciting the company's mission statement or core values or holding it up as bulletin board material. Culture is not. Supposed to make everybody happy. Believe it or not, great cultures do not make everybody happy. Why? 'cause there's a certain level of standard that's not gonna make everybody happy, and culture certainly isn't a separate aspect of organizational or business execution. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to understand. That a lot of these things that I've mentioned and having sleep pods on the every floor of our headquarters, like these are perks. These are perks. That is not culture. Now, does it mean that we shouldn't strive to be category leading and providing the most resources and perks for our people? I'm not saying that one bit, but the moment that we start confusing perks with culture, we are playing a very dangerous game. And that is why 99.9% of leaders, and I've experienced firsthand the past 13 years of working with organizations of all sizes in my management consulting firm, where we actually go into organizations and carry out the execution of 12 to 24 month transformations of actually building culture. I've seen it all too often, the reason why most of them failed the previous 10 years of attempting to build culture and why they gave up on it. It's 'cause they confused culture with perfs. Culture is behavior at scale. Whether you're an individual contributor or you or you have direct reports or not. One of the greatest tells of culture. How do your people behave when you are not around or in the room? How do your people behave when you're not around, where you're nowhere in sight? Because all of this combined that also predicates on culture is also how your team members and people feel about coming to work on Sunday evening. But in its most simplistic form, culture is behavior at scale culture. Is the sole reason I said in the very beginning. The beautiful thing about this wonderful conference, heartbeat 2024. Well, to piggyback on that culture is the heartbeat of driving organizational and digital transformation and excellence. It is the one thing. It is the one thing that accelerates the execution of all thriving world-class enterprises. We as leaders, we devote and spend so much time developing the most comprehensive strategic plan. I got news for you. Strategy does not achieve the strategy on its own. It doesn't. 95% of leaders, they devote more time, more energy. To developing and building out the strategy with ever thinking about the behaviors that are required to actually execute and carry out that strategy. Culture is the one thing that drives the execution of organization more than anything else. The greatest football coaches and the greatest business leaders understand that first and foremost. Number two, the one other thing that culture does that nothing else can do, it engages the hearts and minds of people like nothing else. I got news for you. Outside of your select few high performers talking about your BAS and all of your wonderful data and all your wonderful systems and your wonderful core objectives for the remainder of the year, it's gonna get very, very few people excited and ecstatic. What will get people excited and ecstatic across the board. Understanding what they're working towards, understanding how they play a role in achieving that vision. And then third, having clear expectations on how all of this fits into that larger piece of the puzzle as to what is our driver and core purpose of all of this. That that is what culture does. It drives and engages the hearts and minds of people. And lastly, lastly, is what we're gonna talk about a lot of here. When I get into those five steps, it is the foundational core of driving alignment. Culture is the foundational core of driving alignment. No wonder you're not achieving and driving the execution of your transformation. 'cause every business unit in every division, yes they have different responsibilities, but there is no alignment clearly to what the end destination is. In thriving cultures, everybody understands they have a direct part in their sphere of influence within their organization. But every single business unit or division is connected and rowing the boat in the same direction. That is culture's job.