Your Culture and Employer Brand Are Being Defined

The question is whether you’re doing it on purpose.

Most leaders know culture matters. Fewer treat it like the business strategy it actually is. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak on culture and employer brand with a group of Human Resources leaders, where I reflected on 16 years of building one of the region’s most recognized workplace cultures from the ground up.

it starts before HR gets involved

My co-founder, Keith Middleton, and I launched Fahrenheit Advisors in a pretty nontraditional way. We didn’t write a business plan, we had a philosophical discussion. Over two beers and a plate of wings, we discussed what kind of organization we wanted to build and how we intended to lead it. That conversation set the foundation for everything that followed. We didn’t talk about what the business would be or what we would sell. We talked about what kind of environment we wanted to create, how we would treat people and how we would lead.

The principles that came out of that foundation, integrity, flexibility, accountability, community, and being entrepreneurial, are a key to our success. One evening Keith called me on the way home and said: go write down what you think our principles should be. We compared notes the next morning. Nearly word for word, they matched. That’s not coincidence. That’s alignment. It is this alignment that has created the opportunity to be in lockstep over the past 16 years as we crafted our culture, led our team, and grew our business.

employer brand is what people say when you’re not in the room

I believe employer brand is what the market says about you when you can’t control the message. What your employees tell their families at dinner, what potential employees hear from people who used to work for you, what clients notice in how your team shows up is more important than words on a wall. You can’t write culture, you live it.

The fact is your culture is created whether you want it or not. If you do it well, the market responds. If you do it poorly, the market equally responds, just in the wrong direction! Every organization has an employer brand. The variable is whether leadership is building it intentionally and whether employees recognize it and become accountable for it too.

Policies don’t create trust. behaviors do.

Often, leaders have an instinct to solve culture through programs and perks. Benefits matter. Pay matters. But neither is what makes people stay. As a leader, what you do (consistently) becomes the model people follow. We need to lead the way so people know what is okay.

We have to always prioritize doing the right thing. I am the first to stand up and say, “I made a mistake and here is what I am doing about it”. If I don’t do that, be vulnerable and accountable, then how can we expect the team to be?

The lines between work and life are blurred and we have to meet the team where they need us to. Recently, a team member was taking a parent to an oncology appointment with a client call scheduled for that same afternoon. I encouraged them to take the day off, and that we would be sure to find someone to cover. Not because a policy said to, but because it was the right thing to do. That kind of moment, repeated consistently over years, is what builds the trust that holds an organization together when things get hard. The psychological safety most organizations claim to want starts with the people running the place modeling it first.

Consistency over charisma

It’s easy to bring energy once. It’s a different thing to show up the same way for 16 years. Consistency over charisma matters.

This is particularly relevant for scaling organizations. The culture that exists at 10 people doesn’t automatically survive to 50, 100, or 150 people. It has to be actively tended, through stories and actions, not just statements. Every time our team is together, we showcase our firm’s DNA by telling stories about how our principles show up in the work we do.

the real measure

Fahrenheit made the Best Places to Work list for seven consecutive years. But the list was never the point, we were seeking to validate the culture we were building. Understanding what the team actually valued, where the gaps were, and what needed to improve. Awards are a byproduct. The work and learning what really matters to your team is what’s important.

Communication is key to building and leading a great employer brand. Organizations that communicate transparently, authentically, consistently, and with genuine interest in their people are the ones that don’t get surprised by feedback.

The measure I value most is simpler than any ranking. It’s whether your people choose to work with you. Our team is so incredibly talented, I know they can walk out of our doors to a new opportunity, likely for more money. So, creating a space they choose to return to every day is the most credible measure. Like it or not, the market also has an opinion of your company and brand that is even less in your control. I am proud when I get feedback from conversations that I’m not part of, like “That’s the kind of place I’d want to be.”

Keith and I didn’t start our firm with how are we going to make money. We started with how are we going to make people feel about being a part of our firm. Everything else, including profitability, followed.

That sequencing, people first, profitability as the result may run counter to how most businesses operate. But for anyone who has watched Fahrenheit grow over the past 16 years, I would suggest it’s hard to argue with the outcome.

About Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit Advisors helps middle-market companies, and their investors navigate transformation through experienced consulting, fractional leadership, and executive search. Headquartered in Richmond, VA, serving clients nationwide.

about the author

Rich Reinecke is co-founder and president of Fahrenheit Advisors, where he has spent 16 years building one of Richmond’s most recognized workplace cultures. He serves as the firm’s primary architect of culture and brand and is a consistent presence in Richmond’s entrepreneurial and civic community. Rich was recently inducted into the Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement of Central Virginia.

Connect with Rich on LinkedIn.