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What You’ll Take Away
◆ The true story of an employee who landed a commercial for a competing brand and got walked out, and why that moment raised questions about culture that are still worth asking.
◆ Why real culture does not live in the values posted on the intranet or the all hands decks but in what people share, wear, talk about, and recommend when there is no obligation to do so.
◆ The tension between personal brand and company loyalty in the digital age and why this question has no clean answer.
The Commercial That Got Someone Fired
Years ago, I worked at a major telecom company. One of our employees, an aspiring actor, landed a commercial. Unfortunately, it was for a competing brand. When the spot aired, he was promptly walked out.
Let that sit with you for a moment before reading on, because you might not like what you hear.
Was it fair? Maybe. But it raised a deeper question that has stuck with me ever since: what do your employees choose to promote when they are off the clock? And in the digital age, is there even such a thing as “off the clock”?
Where Real Culture Lives
This lesson is a little different. For my 20th, I want to give you a sneak preview into a topic I am deeply passionate about beyond leadership: creating and maintaining high performing cultures.
Here is where real culture lives. Not in the values posted on the intranet. Not in the all hands decks. Not in the mission statement on the wall. It lives in the subtle signals. What people share. What they wear. What they talk about. What they recommend when there is no obligation to do so.
If someone works at TikTok but only posts to Instagram, what does that say? If a Googler uses ChatGPT for everything, what are they really telling you?
That is the tension. Culture is not just about internal policy. It is about belief. Pride. Advocacy. And if your team does not feel connected to what you build, or they feel like they cannot be honest about it, then something is broken. Not necessarily with them. Maybe with the culture itself.
No Clean Answers
Do I have the answers? No. And I am not going to pretend I do. This one is not black and white. There is a real question here about where the line should be drawn between personal brand and company loyalty. Should employees be expected to use or publicly support the products they work on? Is it acceptable to use competing products more than your own? Or is that asking too much in a world where we all have personal brands and personal preferences?
Culture is not what you put on the wall. It is what people do when no one is watching and no one is asking.
What I do know is this: if you have to mandate loyalty, you do not have culture. You have compliance. And compliance does not build teams that run through walls for you. Belief does. Pride does. The feeling that what you are building actually matters does.
Community Challenge
This week, think about your own relationship with the company you work for. Do you use the products? Do you talk about them when you are off the clock? If the answer is no, ask yourself why. Not to judge yourself, but to understand what that says about the culture you are in. Two keywords to carry with you:
CULTURE / BELIEF
Dan Page