Kopi Chat Lessons: Setting and Sustaining Organizational Culture

When I was invited to speak at National University of Singapore Enterprise’s Kopi Chat for Entrepreneurs on Setting and Sustaining Culture, I thought I knew how I wanted to approach it.

My plan was to present a structured framework; comprehensive, well-organized, and anchored by detailed notes. Yet what unfolded taught me an invaluable lesson: audiences don’t connect to frameworks; they connect to people.

During my talk, technical issues with my mobile device threw me off. My notes, too detailed for quick reference, became more of a burden than a guide. The result was a presentation that felt heavy, scripted, and, if I’m honest, not very engaging.

People walked out. A potential client left early. I was trying to be what I thought the audience expected instead of being myself.

But then came the Q&A.

Freed from slides and bullet points, I spoke openly and responded to questions with honesty and stories. And something changed. The audience leaned in. People told me later that it felt like two different speakers: the “PowerPoint me,” and the “real me.” The latter was engaging, insightful, and confident.

That’s the core lesson I took away: authenticity is the engine of connection. Culture isn’t conveyed through frameworks alone; it lives in the stories we tell, the mistakes we share, and the values we embody in practice.

Why Organizational Culture Matters

Culture is not fluff; it’s a business imperative. Research by Great Place to Work shows that high-trust cultures consistently outperform peers:

• Nearly 12x higher annual profits
• 2x stronger stock market performance
• 50% less voluntary turnover

Beyond the numbers, culture shapes how people show up at work: do they trust their leaders, take pride in their work, and enjoy their colleagues? Or do they disengage and quietly leave?

At Axelerant, where I served as COO, I saw how culture directly drove profitability, sustainability, and happiness. Back then, it started as a way to improve talent acquisition and retention, but it became the foundation for long-term success.

Today, in my role at LN Webworks, I continue to carry forward those lessons, helping shape teams and systems where culture is a cornerstone, not an afterthought.

Setting Culture: From Strategy to Stories

Culture doesn’t happen by accident; it requires both a culture strategy and a strategy for culture.

• Culture Strategy: Defining core values and behaviors that guide decisions. At Axelerant, the core values were Enthusiasm, Kindness, and Openness.
• Strategy for Culture: Making values real through programs, policies, and practices. This means designing hiring processes that screen for cultural fit, communication practices that build trust, and rituals that reinforce shared meaning.

But beyond values on a slide, stories bring culture to life. Each story carries a lesson: the colleague we hired (and fired) twice because we ignored culture fit; the missteps in setting KPIs that couldn’t be tracked; the hard but necessary conversations when someone wasn’t aligned with our values. These stories resonate because they are human.

Sustaining Culture: Persistence and Reinforcement

Even when culture is set, sustaining it requires persistence. A few practices I’ve found essential:

• Hire for fit, not desperation. Skills can be taught; values cannot.
• Communicate consistently. From Slack to monthly retreats, frequent touchpoints prevent isolation in distributed teams.
• Develop trust and accountability. Focus on results, not time in seat. Embrace ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment) principles.
• Create rituals. Regular all-hands, personal growth check-ins, even playful pranks, remind people they are part of something human.
• Stay authentic. Don’t copy another company’s culture. Zappos and IBM are both strong cultures, but authentic to their own DNA.

As one participant shared afterward: “Your confidence when being honest is another thing where I can really learn and put into use in defining values and creating culture.” That feedback hit home. Sustaining culture isn’t about polished slides; it’s about living the values every day.

Takeaways

1. Be yourself. Audiences (and employees) respond to authenticity, not performance.
2. Tell stories. Frameworks explain, but stories engage.
3. Link culture to outcomes. High-trust workplaces don’t just feel good, they drive business success.
4. Persist. Culture is never set-and-forget; it requires ongoing reinforcement.

The Kopi Chat reminded me that leadership and culture-building are about connection. Slides may support, but it’s our stories, honesty, and persistence that inspire lasting change.