On Building Culture

My particular neurodivergence makes me terrible at some tasks but uniquely suited to others—like philosophizing over systems and processes. I’ve always been drawn to understanding how things work, breaking them apart mentally and putting them back together in a better shape. It’s no wonder that during my time at Basic Combat Training at Ft. Sill, I found myself fascinated by one of the most intricate systems in the world: the culture of the U.S. military.

I expected Basic Training to be tough—my dad, a veteran of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, gave me an inkling of what to expect. But what I hadn’t anticipated was the degree of thoughtfulness baked into the military’s design. Even as I struggled in the front-leaning rest position (a lot), I couldn’t help but admire the brilliance of the organization—not just its logistics or leadership but its deep understanding of human behavior and how to shape culture.

The Stories That Build a Culture

If you’ve ever heard stories about the military, you’ve probably encountered some of its archetypes.

• The industrious supply sergeant who can wheel-and-deal through a covert network to get whatever’s needed.
• The overbearing, newly commissioned officer who learns humility when ordered to return every salute after demanding excessive respect.
• The soldier billed for a lost jeep, forced to navigate bureaucracy despite the circumstances being out of their control.

These stories, whether true or not, serve a purpose beyond entertainment. They illuminate the clever, behind-the-scenes mechanisms that make the military’s culture both efficient and resilient. They also hold lessons for anyone seeking to build or lead an effective organization.

Lessons in Culture-Building

1. Flexibility and Subversion: Gödel’s incompleteness theorem suggests no system can account for every eventuality. The military’s solution? Build a backdoor. The supply sergeant who “knows a guy” embodies this principle. His methods subvert the system, but only as a last resort when the official process fails. It’s a safety valve that ensures critical needs are met without undermining the broader system. In organizations, leaders should embrace similar flexibility, balancing structure with a mechanism for exceptions.
2. Cultural Wisdom Through Stories: The story of the lieutenant learning humility isn’t just a funny anecdote—it’s a lesson passed through the ranks. It teaches that rank is about responsibility, not entitlement, and that respect must be earned, not demanded. Organizations thrive when they codify values not just in mission statements but in the stories their teams tell. The legends that circulate among your people shape how they interpret the rules and act within them.
3. Efficiency Through Effort: The tale of the soldier billed for the jeep highlights a principle of bureaucratic efficiency: the system doesn’t waste resources investigating every case. Instead, it assumes the standard and lets individuals push back when warranted. This isn’t laziness; it’s pragmatism. In business, a similar approach—defining a default but allowing for exceptions—can save significant resources while still ensuring fair outcomes.

Culture Is More Than Abstract Values

Too often, when we talk about building culture, we focus on abstract values like integrity, innovation, or collaboration. While important, these values alone don’t define culture. Culture is in the stories you tell, the expectations you set, the consequences you levy, and the example you demonstrate.

The military’s culture succeeds not just because it’s codified in doctrine but because it’s reinforced in every interaction, story, and decision. It’s in the way legends are told to instill wisdom, how exceptions are handled to balance efficiency with fairness, and how respect for others is modeled by leaders at every level.

Building Culture in Your Organization

As leaders, we have a responsibility to craft cultures that not only reflect our organization’s goals but also empower our people to thrive. To do that, we can learn from the military’s example:

• Create structures that work but allow flexibility when things don’t go to plan.
• Share stories that reinforce your organization’s values and teach meaningful lessons.
• Focus resources where they matter most, trusting individuals to speak up when an exception is needed.
• Lead by example, demonstrating the values and behaviors you wish to see in your team.

Culture isn’t built overnight, and it isn’t built in a vacuum. It’s a system of shared beliefs, reinforced through action, storytelling, and trust. Whether you’re leading a squad, a department, or an entire company, your culture is what will determine your organization’s resilience, efficiency, and success.