Culture isn’t how people feel at work. It’s how work actually gets done.

We love to romanticize “company culture.”

You see it all the time, especially on LinkedIn with all the wanna-be influencers screaming about how great their company culture is.

The posters, the slogans, the “we’re one big family” speeches.

But culture isn’t built in a values statement or a Slack channel.

It’s built in the messy middle, in how decisions are made, how people talk to each other, and how problems actually get solved.

You can throw all the Friday lunches and team-building budgets you want, but if people have to navigate ten approvals for one simple task, that is your culture.

If no one feels safe saying, “I don’t agree,” that is your culture.

If leaders quietly blame instead of owning their mistakes, that’s absolutely your culture.

No, your company isn’t your family.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t care deeply about the people you work with.

Caring isn’t pretending everything’s fine.

It’s creating an environment where people can be honest, supported, and accountable, all at once.

If your team is burnt out or constantly firefighting, you don’t have a motivation problem.

You have a systems problem.

A leadership problem.

A culture problem.

Because culture isn’t a vibe. It’s a pattern.

It’s the invisible structure behind how work actually gets done, or doesn’t.

So if you want to fix your culture, don’t start with a new slogan.

Start with how people really get things done.

That’s where the truth lives.