300 Inspiring Quotes About Company Culture (2023)

1. “Culture is the magic start-up ingredient.”

2. “Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.” – M. Scott Peck

3. Corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur. Develop a strong corporate culture first and foremost.

4. “On what high-performing companies should be striving to create: A great place for great people to do great work.” said former CEO of Carlson Companies, Marilyn Carlson.

5. “It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.” – Harry S Truman

6. “I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.” – Ani DiFranco

7. “Employees are people who live in communities. Let's stop pretending workplaces are separate from community, places where robots go to die.”

8. “A person’s true nature, true self, cannot change with situations.”

9. “Sometimes we are separated by differences, and sometimes we are united by common ideals of respect and compassion.” – Paul Watson

10. “Too many of us still believe our differences define us.” – John Lewis

11. The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.

12. “We believe that it’s really important to come up with core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them. If you’re willing to do that, then you’re well on your way to building a company culture that is in line with the brand you want to build.”

13. “I think a large part of that is the fact that I’m a large believer in hiring the right people and giving them unbelievable amounts of power and autonomy.”

14. A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Lack of candour, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments.

15. Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

16. “The number one muscle to flex in hiring is culture.”

17. So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.

18. Growing a culture requires a good storyteller. Changing a culture requires a persuasive editor.

19. Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.

20. “Talent perceives differences; genius, unity.” -William Butler Yeats

21. “Most companies overlook the most basic of all training functions: the onboarding of new employees into their corporate culture.” - Jay Samit

22. “Leadership should be focused on extending the ladder of opportunity for everyone.” – Justin Trudeau

23. Lead by example, especially when it's hard.

24. Every CEO is in fact a Chief Cultural Officer. The terrifying thing is it’s the CEO’s actual behavior, not their speeches or the list of values they have put up on posters, that defines what the culture is. Without these four powers (Hiring, Firing, Promoting, Punishing

25. “I used to believe that culture was ‘soft,’ and had little bearing on our bottom line. What I believe today is that our culture has everything to do with our bottom line, now and into the future.”

26. Why is culture so important to a business? Here is a simple way to frame it. The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.

27. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” said Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle.

28. “Anything that is measured and watched, improves.”

29. “Your spark is the unique essence that burns bright within you. Your spark makes you YOU.”

30. Leadership is absolutely about inspiring action, but it is also about guarding against mis-action.

31. “Culture is like the wind. It is invisible; yet its effect can be seen and felt.”

32. “Many organizations, oblivious that good work culture has the propensity to propel the organization to the next level, turn deaf ears and blind eyes to the cold culture that has inevitably developed within the structure due to lack of supervision and timely strategic advice and training. The higher management may view the work culture that has developed within the company as ancillary to business progress and lunge it across to the HR department to magically iron the creases of an involuntarily besmirched work culture or blunt work culture.”

33. “The key to community is the acceptance, in fact the celebration of our individual and cultural differences. It is also the key to world peace.” – M. Scott Peck

34. The real competitive advantage in any business is one word only, which is “people”.

35. “True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.”

36. “Don’t worry to do dirty jobs. Dirt your body. Don’t dirt your soul.”

37. “I look for two things when I hire a new employee: ambition and humility. Without a proven track record of initiative and ambition, it’s likely the person becomes a drain rather than a contributor to the company – even the really smart, talented ones.”

38. “Before God, we are all equally wise, and equally foolish.” – Albert Einstein

39. “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

40. Maintaining an effective culture is so important that it, in fact, trumps even strategy.

41. “Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.”

42. “In most work situations, there is usually more to see than what meets the eyes. A lot happens just beneath the surface.”

43. “A founder can carry an institution only so far, and then others have to step in, even the alumni. That’s how an institution becomes one.” – Shiv NadarShiv Nadar Quote

44. “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.” – Maya Angelou

45. “Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion.” – Brian Chesky

46. “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you’d like to be treated.” – Richard BransonRichard Quote

47. “Most companies overlook the most basic of all training functions: the onboarding of new employees into their corporate culture.” – Jay Samit

48. “Engaging the hearts, minds, and hands of talent is the most sustainable source of competitive advantage.”

49. “Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.” – Sonia Sotomayor

50. This is not about fuzzy, holding hands around a campfire, kumbaya stuff. That’s not what values and culture and mission is about. This is about building an organization for success. This is about winning. This is about doing the tactical things to make sure your organization and your people are aligned around the same thing.

51. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

52. Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.

53. “We have a culture where we are incredibly self critical, we don’t get comfortable with our success.”

54. There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization's overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow ...It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it…

55. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert SchweitzerAlbert Quote

56. You want to set goals that you can hit, so when you start hitting them, you can celebrate those wins. People start trusting in your way of projecting the business.

57. “Company culture is what employees live and breathe every day in the workplace.” - Mike Zani

58. “Think about it. If I'm going to stab someone in the back, I have to go get a knife, hide it, wait until I'm alone with that person, and catch them off guard. I'd better be sure to kill them or they'll come back after me. It takes planning and it's high risk. Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier just to tell that person, "It makes me crazy when you do that, so please stop!"

59. “Business is ultimately about people and we can't be effective in business without having some insight into people.”

60. “We have to transcend our differences to transform our future.” – Antonio Guterres

61. “Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization’s makeup and success — along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like. … I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” — Louis V. Gerstner Jr., former CEO of IBM

62. “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” ― Arnold H. GlasowLeadership quote

63. Focus feedback on actions.

64. “Company culture is what employees live and breathe every day in the workplace.” – Mike Zani

65. “If you’ve created a work culture where vulnerability isn’t okay, you’ve also created a culture where innovation and creativity aren’t okay.”

66. “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

67. “You don’t have true freedom until you allow a diversity of opinion and a diversity of voices.” – Don Lemon

68. “Shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.” – Jessica HerrinJessica Quote

69. “If you want employees to feel appreciated, you need to celebrate their achievements regularly and publicly.”

70. “No matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and, more importantly, it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort.” – Oprah Winfrey

71. “Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.”

72. Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person — not just an employee — are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.

73. “Engaging the hearts, minds, and hands of talent is the most sustainable source of competitive advantage.” — Greg Harris, president and CEO of Quantum Workplace

74. A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneur's job is to build the foundation.

75. “This is not about fuzzy, holding hands around a campfire, kumbaya stuff. That’s not what values and culture and mission is about. This is about building an organization for success. This is about winning. This is about doing the tactical things to make sure your organization and your people are aligned around the same thing.” — Justin Moore, CEO of Axcient

76. “GOOD LEADERSHIP REQUIRES YOU TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE OF DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES WHO CAN DISAGREE WITH YOU WITHOUT FEAR OF RETALIATION.”

77. ‘Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion.’ — Brian Chesky, Co-Founder, CEO, Airbnb

78. The biggest challenge was to restore a dying organization, which was losing money, to growth and profitability. The first steps were not: Cutting costs, developing new products and/or services, inventing clever new marketing concepts, or clever advertising! Instead, the first steps were: Rebuilding a culture where all employees were a family, striving for a “shared” success! The basis for this success turned out to be winning major races again.

79. Great teams want to take on great challenges.

80. We can change culture if we change behavior.

81. Solve problems with discipline, not process.

82. “We tend to seek closure and completeness.”

83. “The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.” – Wade Davis

84. “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” – Jane Goodall

85. “Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. We attain unity only through variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.” – Mary Parker Follett

86. “Our secret weapon for building the best culture is open and honest feedback.”

87. “Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.” – Virginia Satir

88. “Make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, has a meaningful impact and is contributing to the good of society.” – Larry Page

89. If culture is like personality or character, then it matters in the sense to what extent is the culture adaptive to both the external and internal realities. If it’s not adaptive, it matters a lot. If it’s adaptive, it doesn’t matter much, people don’t notice it, they just go along their merry way. So culture really only matters when there is a problem. In the same sense that personality only matters when things aren’t working right for you. Otherwise it’s just there. It’s part of you.

90. “The leader’s job isn’t to have all the ideas. It’s to make sure all the ideas are heard and that the best one wins.” – Chris HawkerLeadership quote

91. “Bold ideas and inventions only emerge in an environment where people are free to speak up.”

92. “The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

93. “Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.” said Francis Hesselbein, former CEO for the Girl Scouts of the USA.

94. “Diversity is a mix and inclusion is making the mix work.” – Andrés Tapia

95. “The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live. We’re trying to re-craft culture in a way that really matches that. I think that 99% of companies are kind of stuck in the ’90s when it comes to their culture.” — Brian Halligan, executive chairman of HubSpot’s Board of Directors

96. “The world has only one border. It is called humanity. The differences between us are small compared to our shared humanity. Put humans first.” – Nadia Murad

97. “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” – Stephen Covey

98. “Performance more often comes down to a cultural challenge, rather than simply a technical one.”

99. “Turned on people figure out how to beat the competition, Turned off people only complain about being beaten by the competition” said Ben Simonton.

100. “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” – Simon SinekSimon sinek quote

101. “A good work culture and work environment is very crucial in helping your employees to put their best foot forward.”

102. “The workplace is the birthplace of a country’s culture.”

103. “Equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.” – Maya Angelou

104. “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”

105. “Your colleagues are not your friends; Your boss is not your enemy; Your subordinate is not a fool; Your office is not your house; Your house is not your office; Do not expect rewards to work hard. It is the other way around.”

106. “Call it skill resources, call it expertise resources,

107. “Burnout is a slow, insidious experience. Burnout is not afraid of playing the long game. To prevent burnout, we need to play a long game, too.”

108. A pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.

109. “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” – Maya Angelou

110. “Hire great people and give them freedom to be awesome.” — Andrew MasonAndrew quote

111. “Make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, has a meaningful impact and is contributing to the good of society.”

112. Engendering a culture of trust also does wonders. This is because, even if you have a heated argument, as long as you keep in the back of your mind that the people you’re arguing with do have the best in mind for the company and wider team, you’ll always be able to make it to the end and remain friendly.

113. “Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.” ― Marcus BuckinghamMarcus quote

114. Here’s what you tell the high performers. Come spend time with us if you want to do something special. Don’t take it personally if you get yelled at for something you did not do. Get over it, and I am sure we will apologize when we find time. If you ask for help, we will be there. If you do not ask for help, we will assume that you are performing in a blaze of glory so be ready to show it. Don’t tell us later that you were confused or did not agree with what we were doing. You can say whatever you want to whomever you want when the decision is up for discussion — and this will be encouraged in many formats, from quick huddles to day-long strategy sessions

115. “We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.” – Tim Berners-Lee

116. “With a single, unifying drive behind both your culture and your brand, you reap the benefits of a focused and aligned workforce.” — Denise Lee Yohn, brand leadership expert, author, speaker

117. Feedback should be direct, not anonymous.

118. “I used to believe that culture was ‘soft,’ and had little bearing on our bottom line. What I believe today is that our culture has everything to do with our bottom line, now and into the future.” – Vern Dosch

119. Great hiring is hard work.

120. “A democracy thrives on diversity. Tyranny oppresses it.” – Sam Brownback

121. Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success — along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.

122. “An organization’s ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” – Jack WelchJack quote

123. ‘Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.’ — Simon Sinek, Author, Motivational Speaker and Marketing Consultant

124. “Assume the best but hire paranoid people.”

125. ‘Culture is not an initiative. Culture is the enabler of all initiatives.’ — Larry Senn

126. “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

127. “You want to set goals that you can hit, so when you start hitting them, you can celebrate those wins. People start trusting in your way of projecting the business.”

128. “Now, thanks to the radical transparency made possible by a connected world, your business is a glass box. People can see all the way inside. And that means that now the brand is everything they see. Every person. Every process. Every value. Everything that happens, ever. There’s a single word that sums up what a person sees when they look deep inside your business: they see your culture."

129. “Growing up, I decided, a long time ago, I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.” – Maya Angelou

130. “Learn to enjoy and respect each other’s differences.” – Fred Meijer

131. “Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization’s view of its self and its environment.”

132. I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a person as criticism from superiors. I never criticize anyone. I believe in giving a person incentive to work. So I am anxious to praise but loath to find fault. If I like anything, I am hearty in my appreciation and lavish in my praise.

133. “The whole idea of a stereotype is to simplify. Instead of going through the problem of all this great diversity – that it’s this or maybe that – you have just one large statement; it is this.” – Chinua Achebe

134. “Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion.”

135. “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.” – John F. Kennedy

136. “No one is indispensable; but a dependable person is never expendable.”

137. “The most vocal challengers to most cultures are the first to be shown the door. It’s in human nature to want to eliminate the most disruptive people. And it’s also human nature to want to bring in more people that fit in well. Repeat these two behaviors over time and culture becomes homogeny, even if everyone still believes the culture values diversity.” — Scott Berkun, bestselling author, and popular speaker on UX design

138. “I look for two things when I hire a new employee: ambition and humility. Without a proven track record of initiative and ambition, it’s likely the person becomes a drain rather than a contributor to the company — even the really smart, talented ones.” — Justin McLeod, founder, and CEO of Hinge

139. “A big part of our people-first culture is treating people with respect and transparency.” – Arne Sorenson

140. “Good one! Either hire the right person for the job and use their services or hire anyone and train them to do your bidding and that may not necessarily be the right one or the smart one. Bureaucratic-automated work culture festers poor leadership that exhibits the lack of routed efforts towards identifying the right person for the right job through the myriad nuances and subtleties of employee profiles/candidature, resulting in a manifest crack in organizational competence and dislodges itself from organizational goals.”

141. “Holding people to this standard of transparency has many benefits. One is that it puts the clamp on politicking and backstabbing.”

142. “A disability doesn’t have to be a social barrier. Good etiquette begins with inclusion, not exclusion.” – Robert M HenselInclusion quote

143. “We believe in relentlessly refining our skills and knowledge, as a team and as individuals.”

144. ‘Corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur.’ — David Cummings, Co-Founder, Pardot

145. The most vocal challengers to most cultures are the first to be shown the door. It’s in human nature to want to eliminate the most disruptive people. And it’s also human nature to want to bring in more people that fit in well. Repeat these two behaviors over time and culture becomes homogeny, even if everyone still believes the culture values diversity.

146. “Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.” – Jacqueline Woodson

147. “To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.” – Bono

148. “The difference between diversity and inclusion is being invited to a house and being able to rearrange the furniture.” – Jane Silber

149. “When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” – Thomas Sowell

150. “Everyone on the team plays an equal role. My role is to create the wave and everyone on our team keeps the wave going.”

151. “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone.” – Sundar Pichai

152. “In today’s interconnected and globalized world, it is now commonplace for people of dissimilar world views, faiths and races to live side by side. It is a matter of great urgency, therefore, that we find ways to cooperate with one another in a spirit of mutual acceptance and respect.” – Dalai Lama

153. A company can’t buy true emotional commitment from managers no matter how much it’s willing to spend; this is something too valuable to have a price tag. And yet a company can’t afford not to have it.

154. “What we need to do is learn to respect and embrace our differences until our differences don’t make a difference in how we are treated.” – Yolanda King

155. “Diversity and inclusion, which are the real grounds for creativity, must remain at the center of what we do.” – Marco Bizzarri

156. “If you believe, as we believe, that diversity leads to better products, and we’re all about making products that enrich people’s lives, then you obviously put a ton of energy behind diversity the same way you would put a ton of energy behind anything else that is truly important.” – Tim Cook

157. “We have no hope of solving our problems without harnessing the diversity, the energy, and the creativity of all our people.” – Roger Wilkins

158. Don't waste your time fighting in the perks war.

159. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” — Simon Oliver Sinek, British-born American author and motivational speaker

160. “It’s just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let’s start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences.” – Billie Jean King

161. “We try to have the kind of a culture that doesn’t value excuses in the sense that when you’re supposed to accomplish something, and you’re at a high level, then your job is to accomplish it, in spite of difficulty. And you’re rewarded for dealing with that.”

162. “Society is unity in diversity.” – George Herbert Mead

163. “I look for two things when I hire a new employee: ambition and humility. Without a proven track record of initiative and ambition, it’s likely the person becomes a drain rather than a contributor to the company — even the really smart, talented ones.” – Justin McLeodJustin quote

164. “As a leader, it is important to not just see your own success, but focus on the success of others.” – Sundar PichaiSundar Pichai Quote

165. “With a single, unifying drive behind both your culture and your brand, you reap the benefits of a focused and aligned workforce.”

166. “Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the right stuff to turn our dreams into reality.” – James WomackJames quote

167. “What we have to do… is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.” – Hillary Clinton

168. Culture guides discretionary behavior and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own everyday, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time.

169. “Determine what behaviors and beliefs you value as a company, and have everyone live true to them. These behaviors and beliefs should be so essential to your core, that you don’t even think of it as culture.”

170. ‘We believe that it’s really important to come up with core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them. If you’re willing to do that, then you’re well on your way to building a company culture that is in line with the brand you want to build.’ — Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos

171. Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.

172. “We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” – Kofi Annan

173. An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

174. “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person — not just an employee — are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”

175. “I’ve traveled around the world, and what’s so revealing is that, despite the differences in culture, politics, language, how people dress, there is a universal feeling that we all want the same thing. We deeply want to be respected and appreciated for our differences.” – Howard Schultz

176. “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”

177. “Employee engagement arises out of culture and not the other way around.”

178. “Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.” – Malcolm Forbes

179. Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield.

180. . . . when you’re in a small boat, you can see who’s paddling hard and who’s looking around.

181. “Many organizations, oblivious that good work culture has the propensity to propel the organization to the next well, turn deaf ears and blind eyes to the cold culture that has inevitably developed within the structure due to lack of supervision and timely strategic advice and training. The higher management may view the work culture that has developed within the company as ancillary to business progress and lunge it across to the HR department to magically iron the creases of an involuntarily besmirched work culture or blunt work culture.”

182. “I’ve learned over the years that when you have really good people, you don’t have to baby them. By expecting them to do great things, you can get them to do great things.” – Steve JobsSteve Jobs quote

183. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships”. – Michael JordanTalent Quote

184. You're a team, not a family.

185. “You become a star not because of your title; you become a star because you are adding star value to the company.” — N. R. Narayana MurthyNarayana Murthy Quote

186. In determining the right people, the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience.

187. I look for two things when I hire a new employee: ambition and humility. Without a proven track record of initiative and ambition, it’s likely the person becomes a drain rather than a contributor to the company — even the really smart, talented ones.

188. ‘Once you have an innovation culture, even those who are not scientists or engineers — poets, actors, journalists — they […] embrace the concept of an innovation culture. They vote in ways that promote it. They don’t fight science and they don’t fight technology.’ — Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, Cosmologist, Author, and Science Communicator

189. “If you think you can outsmart burnout, burnout will prove you wrong.”

190. Face the challenges of a fast-changing world together.

191. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” – Verna Myers

192. “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” – Maya Angelou

193. “You do not want to be in a creative organization with everybody being like-minded and stroking each other’s creative egos. You want differences of opinion… constructively.” – Cate Blanchett

194. “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.”

195. “It's important to create a culture of innovation — one that both values and rewards risk.” – Barbara Landes

196. Employee engagement is the art and science of engaging people in authentic and recognized connections to strategy, roles, performance, organization, community, relationships, customers, development, energy and happiness to leverage, sustain and transform work into results.”

197. “As a company grows, communication becomes its biggest challenge. If the employees fundamentally trust the CEO, then communication will be vastly more efficient than if they don’t. Telling things as they are is a critical part of building this trust. A CEO’s ability to build this trust over time is often the difference between companies that execute well and companies that are chaotic.” — Ben Horowitz, bestselling author, CEO, co-founder, and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz

198. Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.

199. “In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.”

200. “Culture is what happens when the managers leave the room – doing what’s right in the absence of authority.”

201. “Company Culture is the product of a company’s values, expectations and environment.”

202. “To get real diversity of thought, you need to find the people who genuinely hold different views and invite them into the conversation.” – Adam Grant

203. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” – Thomas Jefferson.

204. A team aligned behind a vision will move mountains. Sell them on your roadmap and don’t compromise — care about the details, the fit and finish.

205. “Employee engagement arises out of culture and not the other way around.” — Moe Carrick & Cammie Dunaway, co-authors of Fit Matters: How to Love Your Job

206. The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live. We're trying to re-craft culture in a way that really matches that. I think that 99% of companies are kind of stuck in the '90s when it comes to their culture.

207. “Company culture is the backbone of any successful organization.” — Gary Vaynerchuk, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and Internet personality

208. “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde

209. “Knowing how you want your work to look helps you decide who best to work with and where.”

210. “Make sure the job you select complements your personal life the best.”

211. Avoid office politics by embracing transparency.

212. “Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.” — Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 best-selling author and a partner in Pastimes Productions

213. “Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed. Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.” — Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org

214. “Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.” – Doris Kearns GoodwinDoris quote

215. “Ultimately, it’s on the company leaders to set the tone,” Cook told Fast Company. “Not only the CEO, but the leaders across the company. If you select them so carefully that they then hire the right people, it’s a nice self-fulfilling prophecy.”

216. “Over the years we learned that if we asked people to rely on logic and common sense instead of on formal policies, most of the time we would get better results, and at lower cost.”

217. Managers have one, essential job:

218. No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.

219. Authentic engagement is not available upon demand. It’s less like today’s Keurig and more like the old-style percolator: instead of coffee at the push of a button, coffee grounds and water were put together, with heat applied and time allowed for one to permeate the other.

220. Our secret weapon for building the best culture is open and honest feedback.

221. “I think as a company, if you can get those two things right — having a clear direction on what you are trying to do and bringing in great people who can execute on the stuff — then you can do pretty well.”

222. “Corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur.”

223. “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.” – Mahatma Gandhi

224. “The fact that the policemen didn’t know their stuff didn’t really surprise me. Not long before, I had asked three different Rome traffic policemen, or vigili, how old a child had to be before being able to ride in the front passenger seat of a car and had gotten three totally different answers. Not so hard to understand, I guess for two reasons. First, if you get your job through pull and not merit then you don’t really need to get good grades on a qualifying exam and, second, if Parliament changes the law every few years it is understandably difficult to keep up.”

225. “Your personal and professional lives will have to go hand in hand and will have influence on each other.”

226. “Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing.”

227. “Maintaining an effective culture is so important that it, in fact, trumps even strategy.”– Howard Stevenson

228. “If we really want to be effective with communication, we have to humanize our brands.”

229. “Corporate social responsibility is measured in terms of businesses improving conditions for their employees, shareholders, communities, and environment. But moral responsibility goes further, reflecting the need for corporations to address fundamental ethical issues such as inclusion, dignity, and equality.” – Klaus Schwab

230. “It’s about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment, and helping to find a way to innovate.” – Marissa MayerMarissa quote

231. “Why is culture so important to a business? Here is a simple way to frame it. The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.”

232. ‘Culture is about performance and making people feel good about how they contribute to the whole.’ — Tracy Streckenbach

233. “You can’t categorize diversity based on what a person looks like. It’s what that person can do for the organization.” – Charles K Poole

234. “Companies may never come up with a better office communication program than a lunch break.”

235. “Positive culture comes from being mindful, and respecting your co-workers, and being empathetic.” – Biz StoneBiz Stone Quote

236. “Corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur. Develop a strong corporate culture first and foremost.”

237. “Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity.” –

238. “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” is something Buddha was credited as saying.

239. “It’s important for us to create a culture of innovation—one that both values and rewards risk.”

240. “Be passionate about the culture and the business, and remain positive because it inspires others.” – Barry Liber

241. Once you have an innovation culture, even those who are not scientists or engineers — poets, actors, journalists — they, as communities, embrace the meaning of what it is to be scientifically literate. They embrace the concept of an innovation culture. They vote in ways that promote it. They don't fight science and they don't fight technology.

242. “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” – John F. Kennedy

243. “Determine what behaviors and beliefs you value as a company, and have everyone live true to them.” – Brittany Forsyth

244. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” — Henry Ford, American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company

245. “It’s about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment & helping to find a way to innovate.”

246. “Our concern is to heal. Our concern is to bring together.” – Harold Washington

247. “The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live.”

248. ‘Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing.’ — HubSpot’s Culture Code

249. Shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.

250. “Rome was not built in one day; But one day Rome was built.”

251. “The work environment can bring out the 'best' or the 'worst' in you.”

252. “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person — not just an employee — are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” — Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO, Xerox

253. “There’s really no such thing as internal culture any more. Your culture is always public, and it’s your most powerful, public-facing asset or liability.”

254. “Recognizing and respecting differences in others, and treating everyone like you want them to treat you, will help make our world a better place for everyone. Care … be your best. You dont have to be handicapped to be different. Everyone is different!” -Kim Peek

255. Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic 'taken for granted' fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment.

256. ‘Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.’ — Brian Kristofek, President and CEO, Upshot

257. “We have a culture where we are incredibly self-critical, we don’t get comfortable with our success.”

258. If you are lucky enough to be someone’s employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people do look forward to coming to work in the morning.

259. “Diversity really means becoming complete as human beings – all of us. We learn from each other. If you’re missing on that stage, we learn less. We all need to be on that stage.” – Juan Felipe Herrera

260. Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented

261. “Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.” Liz Fosslien

262. “I believe that we are here for each other, not against each other. Everything comes from an understanding that you are a gift in my life – whoever you are, whatever our differences.” – John Denver

263. “There should be no discrimination against languages people speak, skin color, or religion.” – Malala Yousafzai

264. “Treat employees like they make a difference and they will.” – Jim GoodnightJim Good Night quote

265. Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see that connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity and meaning in their job.

266. “Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.” – Brian Kristofek

267. “Corporate culture is really hard to define; it’s the side effects of working for your organization.”

268. “When we’re talking about diversity, it’s not a box to check. It is a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us.” – Ava DuVernay

269. “Alone we are smart, together we are brilliant.” – Steven AndersonSteven Quote

270. “Shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.”

271. There is a high cost associated with building a culture: team retreats, gym memberships, personal and professional development classes. All this is to facilitate the personal evolution of each person who contributes to the company. And, what are our results? In three years, not one employee has voluntarily left, which is a phenomenon that we believe can be replicated at any organisation. We have the receipts to show how much it cost, and we also have uncovered the more obscure internal metrics that impact employee satisfaction and prevent voluntary turnover.

272. ‘A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Lack of candour, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments.’ — Ed Catmull, President of Pixar

273. “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” – Mahatma Gandhi

274. “Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”

275. “Every CEO is in fact a Chief Cultural Officer. The terrifying thing is it’s the CEO’s actual behavior, not their speeches or the list of values they have put up on posters, that defines what the culture is. Without these four powers (Hiring, Firing, Promoting, Punishing) any employee at the company is along for the ride in a culture driven by someone more powerful than they are.”

276. “Transparency starts as a mindset change.”

277. “If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.” – Franz Boas

278. “Our secret weapon for building the best culture is open and honest feedback.”– Gina Lau

279. I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.

280. “Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.” – John Hume.

281. “Hire great people and give them freedom to be awesome.”

282. “No matter what, every company on this planet claims to create an ‘Empowering and Motivating Work Environment'!”

283. “One of our values is that you should be looking out for each other. Everyone should try to make the lives of everyone else who works here a little bit simpler.”

284. “Knowing how you want your work to look helps you decide who best to work with and where.”

285. “We try to have the kind of a culture that doesn’t value excuses in the sense that when you’re supposed to accomplish something, and you’re at a high level, then your job is to accomplish it, in spite of difficulty. And you’re rewarded for dealing with that.”

286. “The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live. We’re trying to re-craft culture in a way that really matches that. I think that 99% of companies are kind of stuck in the ’90s when it comes to their culture.” — Brian Halligan, executive chairman of HubSpot’s Board of Directors

287. “True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.”

288. “Holding people to this standard of transparency has many benefits. One is that it puts the clamp on politicking and backstabbing.”

289. “It's important to create a culture of innovation — one that both values and rewards risk.” – Barbara Landes

290. “Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.”

291. “In most work situations, there is usually more to see than what meets the eyes. A lot happens just beneath the surface.”

292. “Anything that is measured and watched, improves.”

293. “Shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.”

294. “Engaging the hearts, minds, and hands of talent is the most sustainable source of competitive advantage.”

295. “The workplace is the birthplace of a country’s culture.”

296. “Corporate culture is really hard to define; it’s the side effects of working for your organization.”

297. “Company culture is what employees live and breathe every day in the workplace.” – Mike Zani

298. “We have to transcend our differences to transform our future.” – Antonio Guterres

299. “Determine what behaviors and beliefs you value as a company, and have everyone live true to them.” – Brittany Forsyth

300. “Now, thanks to the radical transparency made possible by a connected world, your business is a glass box. People can see all the way inside. And that means that now the brand is everything they see. Every person. Every process. Every value. Everything that happens, ever. There’s a single word that sums up what a person sees when they look deep inside your business: they see your culture."