The Culture Advantage – Lessons from Founders on Building High-Performance Businesses
Why the smartest founders make culture their competitive edge
This is Blog 3 of 4 in the “Lessons from Founders” series, based on insights from the Purpose to Performance Podcast.
When you think about what gives a business a competitive edge, you might think of product innovation, market timing, or a unique business model. But the founders I spoke with on the Purpose to Performance podcast repeatedly came back to something less tangible—but far more powerful: company culture.
“Culture is the glue. It’s what holds everything together when things get tough.”
— Lawrence Hunt, Founder & Chair of AddMustard
Culture as a Strategic Asset
In the early days, culture often forms organically, shaped by the founder’s values, personality, and way of working. But as a business grows, culture needs to be intentionally nurtured—or it risks drifting into something unrecognisable.
The founders who built the most enduring and adaptive companies understood that culture wasn’t a “nice-to-have” HR function. It was a strategic lever—every bit as important as revenue growth, product development, or customer acquisition.
“Culture is how people feel when they walk in the door, if they feel safe, valued, and listened to, you’ll get the best out of them every day.”
— Margaret Whittaker, Slimming World Founder, Entrepreneur & Investor
What the Best Founders Get Right About Culture
From my conversations, a few patterns emerged that can help any leader build a high-performance culture:
1. Culture is behaviour, not slogans
Values only matter if they’re lived daily. Founders who built strong cultures didn’t just put words on a wall—they embodied them in decisions, hiring, recognition, and how they handled setbacks.
“The moment you stop telling people the truth, even when it’s hard, you start eroding the trust that holds your culture together.”
— Jon Horsfield, Founder & CEO of Diode Energy
2. People join for the mission, but they stay for the environment
A compelling purpose may attract top talent, but a healthy culture keeps them. Founders prioritised psychological safety, trust, and collaboration over fear and micromanagement.
3. Culture is the founder’s shadow
Whether they realised it or not, their behaviour set the tone. Their resilience, openness to feedback, and willingness to own mistakes created permission for others to do the same.
“Your team will copy what you do, not what you say.”
— Patricia Rossello, Founder & CEO of Roibos
4. The wrong hire is too expensive to keep
Culture-first founders were quick to act when someone disrupted team harmony, even if they were technically brilliant. They knew that one toxic player could undo months of progress.
Culture Under Pressure
Interestingly, founders said that culture revealed itself most clearly under stress—during product failures, investor pressures, or sudden pivots. A strong culture helped them stay aligned, solve problems quickly, and emerge stronger.
“When you grow quickly, it’s easy for the culture to slip. You have to be deliberate about keeping the DNA that made you successful in the first place.”
— Richard Carrick, Former CEO of Hoseasons
Martyn Smith, Founder & CEO of Social Club, put it simply:
“When COVID hit, we didn’t just survive because of our model. We survived because our people trusted each other enough to adapt at speed.”
The Coaching Perspective
As an executive coach, I’ve seen how company culture acts as both a mirror and a multiplier. If it’s healthy, it amplifies performance. If it’s unhealthy, it magnifies dysfunction.
Founders who intentionally shape the culture of their business, through self-awareness, clear purpose and expectations, and consistent behaviours, create environments where people want to give their best. This isn’t just about retention, it’s about building resilient, high-performing businesses that last.
Questions for Founders & Leaders
If you’re building or leading a team, ask yourself:
• What behaviours are truly rewarded here—and are they the ones we want?
• How do I respond under pressure, and what does that teach my team?
• Where might our culture be drifting without us noticing?
Want to build a culture that’s your ultimate competitive advantage? – Let’s talk.
I help founders, entrepreneurs, and startup leaders shape high-performance cultures that attract and retain top talent while staying true to their values.
