Ben Horowitz: “Culture is not a set of beliefs. It’s a set of actions.”

In his book What You Do Is Who You Are, Ben explains that culture can feel abstract and secondary when you pit it against a concrete result that’s right in front of you.

But culture is a strategic investment in the company doing things the right way when you are not looking. It’s the set of assumptions your employees use to resolve the problems they face every day.

• Is that phone call so important I need to return it today or can it wait until tomorrow?

• Can I ask for a raise before my annual review?

• Is the quality if this document good enough or should I keep working on it?

• Do I have to be on time for that meeting?

• Should I stay at the Four Seasons or the Red Roof Inn? Should I go home at 5 p.m. or 8 p.m.?

• Should we discuss the color of this new product for five minutes or thirty hours?

• If I know something is badly broken in the company, should I say something? Whom should I tell?

• Is winning more important than ethics?

If you don’t methodically set your culture, then two-thirds of it will end up being accidental, and the rest will be a mistake.

In the clip below, Ben cites the quote from The Way of the Samurai: “A culture is not a set of beliefs. It’s a set of actions” and explains:

“[Culture is] not what you believe, it’s not what you think, it’s not what you tweet… who you are is what you do… the behaviors are the culture, not the values. When people say they have 20 values, I ask how many of those behaviors they have. If it’s none, your culture is hypocrisy.”

Full video: The Commonwealth Club of California “Ben Horowitz: Creating Culture” (Dec 2019)

P.S. We’ve put together a YouTube playlist with every Ben Horowitz insight we’ve ever shared. You can watch it here: "Best startup advice from Ben Horowitz"