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Culture
Culture. It’s a big word, and companies spend millions of dollars every year in search of the Holy Grail of innovative workspaces, and yet it consistently seems to be the sort of thing that just can’t be bought. Why is it so elusive and how does one go about creating it? Is it worth the effort? CEOs and Directors have been asking themselves those questions for years. Today, we’re going to talk about the culture at RedKnight, and how we’re answering some of those questions on our own team.
A Question of Worth
The question of worth can be answered with a resounding affirmative. A strong culture is the glue that holds a company together. It defines everything from the recruitment of new team members, to daily operations, and lays down the ground work for how members of the team interact with the customer. A strong culture can take what would otherwise be mediocre employees and shape them into vital members of the team.
Culture is the intangible sense of ‘right’ that guides every action within the company, and it can both inspire and tear down. A bad culture is an incredibly detrimental thing, and I believe we can all think back to some of those awful places we’ve worked at over the years. Think about the back-stabbing, the pettiness, the dishonesty that just seemed to be a fact of life at whatever job that was. That was a company that paid little or no real attention to establishing healthy culture in the workplace.
Good culture on the other-hand builds the team, drives members to build themselves and the environment around them, and it creates an environment where creativity flourishes. Those few who have been lucky enough to work in an environment where that sort of culture exists can tell you how exciting and productive it can be. We have only to look at some of our contemporary examples to note the result. Google and Apple have corporate cultures that both inspire creativity and devotion to the greater team. One doesn’t work at Google or Apple, one is a member of the team.
Finding the Elusive Grail
Despite all the money spent on research and professional assessments, many companies fail to ever develop a strong culture at all. At best, many may simply prevent the development of bad culture, so why is it so hard to create? The answer to that is simply the effort involved.
Many companies investigate culture, looking for that turn-key solution to creating it, and that solution just doesn’t exist. Additionally, it takes buy-in from the entire structure from the top to the bottom, and it can’t be mandated. That much effort on something that doesn’t specifically generate revenue just isn’t the sort of thing many companies will invest effort in.
The flip side is many companies invest so much effort into the creation of a great culture, that they lose sight of the fact that the company’s primary goal is to create profit, and thus continue to employee the members of the team. Culture is a great tool, but the company’s responsibility is to stay in business. Thus culture must be planned, and culture must be meticulous.
Define it, They Will Come
So we arrive to the meat of the subject, which is how exactly one creates culture and nourishes it. The very beginning is a simple decision at the top company level to invest time, effort, and even capital into the establishment of that culture. Next the theme of the culture needs to be defined. Finally, a plan needs to be formed and constantly be reviewed and revised on how that culture will be supported as the company grows.
At RedKnight, the decision was made early on to build a company centered on the concept of employing only the best in their respective fields. A little thought on the subject revealed that hiring only those who were the best was financially prohibitive, and restricted the hiring pool too much. The idea was then amended to include potential and growth of the best. This allows us to hire junior members of the community who haven’t quite gotten the experience to be among the best yet, but have all the potential.
So once we know what we want with respect to the culture, and how do we get there? We define what that culture looks like. At RedKnight we asked ourselves what makes up the best people in their fields? The answers we came up with are that the best always seek to grow themselves, and that they always ask questions. The best never horde knowledge, but rather they share it freely in order to build up the people and environment around them. The best constantly seek to find their own mistakes and correct them, always acknowledging their own limitations. The best never settle for good enough, but rather always provide more than the bare minimum.
With our ideal defined, the next step at RedKnight was to plan on how to create it, and this is the hard part. We set high standards, provide education and assistance at every step to help build our team members up to those standards. We invest time in mentorship and tutoring. Lastly, we invest in team-building activities. It can be as small as buying the office breakfast, or renting out a theater to watch a movie as a team. The most important step is that we repeat the cultural idiom over and over. Our mantra is that we are the best, and that we expect the best. By adhering to that standard and investing time, energy, and money into promoting it, we define and nurture a great corporate culture.
Ad Astera, per Aspera
Through the crucible of life, we define who we choose to be and rid ourselves of the dross that holds us back. At RedKnight, we’ve chosen to be exceptional, and we promote exceptionalism in all we do. There is no settling for good enough because we are the best, and our culture allows no room for anything less. The members of our great team always stand out as being the key players in everything they do.
Culture. It can be nurtured, but it can’t be bought. It can be cultivated, but not mandated. Our culture has defined the direction for every person wearing our lanyard, and that is why no matter which member of the RedKnight team you may be dealing with, you can always be assured of their Exceeding Your Needs.
– Jason “Red” Thomas
Copyright 2025 Red Knight, LLC
