Culture: A CEO’s Catalyst for Uncommon Growth

CEOs Are on the Hook for Growth—So We Studied What Makes It Happen 

CEOs are under immense pressure to deliver sustainable, industry-beating growth. At Prophet, we’ve studied what drives this kind of Uncommon Growth in these uncommon times—the kind that’s smarter, faster, and more resilient. While several elements contribute, one fundamental stood out in service of the others—culture.  

Culture Isn’t the Only Ingredient in the Growth Formula—but it’s the Bedrock  

Culture underpins all other factors. It’s the connective tissue between your organization’s purpose, people and performance. Without the right cultural conditions, customer obsession and innovation—the other pillars of uncommon growth—don’t stick. It is not a myth that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Take the AI revolution. It is Human-centered AI—the combination of tech with the human and cultural elements—that will drive competitive advantage. Not AI on its own. 

Culture Drives Business Impact—But it Requires Systemic Work 

Creating a culture that catalyses your growth isn’t accidental. It stems from your organizational system—how decisions are made, how people collaborate and what gets rewarded. Leaders who intentionally align culture with their brand and strategy accelerate execution and achieve faster impact. Those who neglect it, fall behind. Culture is dynamic. It needs nurturing and shaping over time to provide the stability, energy and speed required to fuel growth. 

The Good News: Unlocking Growth Doesn’t Mean Wholesale Change 

You don’t need to overhaul your organization. Typically, it’s a matter of identifying and shifting a few critical behaviours that are holding your strategy back—then aligning leadership and systems to reinforce them. Here are a few steps to make that happen. 

Five CEO-Level Culture Moves That Drive Growth 

To unleash your culture’s potential, focus on five pivotal actions: 

1. Set your organizational ambition 

Define a compelling, shared ambition for the organization, aligning purpose, strategy and culture—enabled by the right behaviors. Co-create this with your executive team to build a powerful, unified force that’s laser-focused on enabling growth together. 

2. Activate your leadership 

Culture change starts at the top. Leaders must model and promote the behaviors you need to win. Clarify what is expected of leaders, provide them with the skills and tools to drive adoption with their teams. Incentivise them and make them accountable for change. 

3. Inspire your employees 

Create an environment where people feel safe, empowered, and excited to contribute. Spark employee interest, passion and accountability by showing them what great looks like and celebrating their attempts to progress towards it.  

4. Align your organization system 

From incentives to structures, ensure every mechanism supports your desired culture. Unlock people and work through systematic change in service of delivery against set objectives. Alignment can take time but insist on a roadmap for change. 

5. Measure and celebrate progress 

Resource culture as a permanent strategic imperative, aligned to strategy and performance. Track what matters. Adapt to business priorities as you go. Celebrate progress and examples of change that support your direction.  

Start by Identifying the one Cultural Shift That Will Unlock Growth 

Iconic CEOs have driven phenomenal growth through cultural focus. Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft by shifting from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all” culture. Alan Mulally turned Ford around by eliminating internal competition and rallying the organization around transparency and a relentless focus on the plan. Ynon Kreiz led Mattel’s transformation to an entertainment company by focusing heavily on shifting internal behaviors from product-centric execution to brand-building, creative risk taking and storytelling-led innovation. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç drove the company’s dramatic profit turnaround with a shift from complacency and bureaucracy to customer focus and having employees act as business owners.  

While they required specific business changes, each change was underpinned with a systemic culture focus, making a few critical behavioral shifts to support their growth strategy.  

They didn’t attempt to fix everything—they focused on shifting the right thing.