Over the past year, I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking about growth. Not growth in assets, revenue, or headcount, but growth in leadership.
As organizations scale, the challenges change. In the early stages, success is often driven by the founder's energy, expertise, and willingness to do almost everything. Decisions are centralized. Communication is direct. Culture forms naturally because everyone spends time together.
But eventually, every growing organization reaches an inflection point. The question is no longer, "Can the leader lead?" The question becomes, "Can the leader develop other leaders?"
I recently attended an Executive Education course at The Wharton School focused on becoming a leader of leaders. The discussions reinforced something I've observed repeatedly throughout my military career, my business career, and my work with successful families and organizations: sustainable success is rarely the result of one exceptional individual. It comes from creating an environment where leadership flourishes throughout the organization.
In many ways, that environment is culture. And culture compounds.
Just as investors understand the power of compounding returns over decades, leaders should understand the compounding effect of culture over time. Every conversation, every decision, every expectation, and every example contributes to the culture of an organization. Most of these actions seem insignificant in isolation. Together, however, they shape how people think, act, and perform long after the founder leaves the room.
One exercise during the Wharton program involved creating a personal leadership checklist. While every leader's list will differ, mine included several principles that I believe are essential when leading other leaders.
The first is articulating and casting a vision. People want to be part of something larger than themselves. Leaders create clarity around where the organization is headed and why the journey matters.
The second is thinking strategically. Leaders must elevate their perspective beyond today's challenges and tomorrow's deadlines. They must see around corners, anticipate change, and make decisions that strengthen the organization for the future rather than simply solving the problem of the moment.
Equally important is living with and conveying personal character. Leadership is ultimately a trust-based activity. People may follow authority temporarily, but they follow character voluntarily.
Leadership also requires empowering subordinate leaders. This can be uncomfortable for founders and executives who are accustomed to being deeply involved in decision-making. Yet organizations only scale when authority, responsibility, and trust are distributed. Yet organizations only scale when authority, responsibility, and trust are distributed. As Craig Groeschel says, “You can have control, or you can have growth, but you can’t have both.”
Of course, empowerment does not eliminate the need for decisiveness. Leaders must still take initiative, provide direction, and make difficult decisions when circumstances require it. Progress comes from the willingness to make thoughtful decisions and execute.
Finally, great leaders celebrate success. Too often, attention is focused exclusively on what's broken or what needs improvement. Recognition reinforces desired behaviors and reminds people that their contributions matter. Success acknowledged becomes success repeated.
Taken individually, none of these principles are revolutionary. Their power comes from consistent application over time.
This is where culture enters the equation.
Retired General Stanley McChrystal famously described the concept of a "team of teams." The idea is simple but powerful. High-performing organizations are not created by a single dominant team. They emerge when multiple teams align around a common purpose while maintaining the trust, communication, and collaboration necessary to operate as one enterprise.
Achieving that level of alignment does not happen accidentally. It requires intentional culture-building. It requires leaders who prioritize relationships as much as results. It requires trust that extends beyond organizational charts. It requires shared values, shared language, and shared expectations.
It also takes time. Culture is not built during an annual retreat or a strategic planning session. It is built through thousands of small interactions repeated consistently over time. Every leadership decision either strengthens it or weakens it.
Eventually, culture begins producing results that seem disproportionate to the effort invested. That’s when the compounding begins to show.
That realization inspired the launch of our new video podcast, Culture Compounding.
The purpose of the podcast is straightforward. We want to have meaningful conversations with leaders from a wide range of organizations about how they intentionally build culture and how those cultural investments translate into lasting results.
Some guests will come from business. Others will come from the military, nonprofits, education, athletics, and public service. While their organizations may look very different, I suspect we'll discover common themes. Clear vision. Strong values. Disciplined execution. Genuine trust. Consistent leadership.
In other words, the very ingredients that allow culture to compound.
Because whether we're talking about families, organizations, communities, or nations, sustainable success is rarely built on strategy alone. It is built on the culture that enables people to execute that strategy long after it has been written.
The best leaders understand this.
They don't just build organizations.
They build other leaders.
And over time, those leaders build something that lasts.
We Are Ambitious For You.