In this solo episode of the No Days Off podcast, host Brian Gubernick argues that an organization’s culture is not defined by mission statements or values documents, but by what leaders actually tolerate on a daily basis. He explains the gap between stated expectations and enforced behavior, noting that leaders often let undesirable actions slide due to conflict avoidance, short‑term expediency, or favoritism, which rewrites the cultural rules. Gubernick draws on the "broken windows" metaphor to illustrate how small tolerated infractions can cascade into widespread cultural decay. He then offers a practical framework for shifting culture: (1) define crystal‑clear non‑negotiable behaviors, (2) enforce them consistently with no exceptions, and (3) call out violations immediately. The episode concludes with a concrete action item—identify one behavior you’ve been tolerating (at work, at home, or personally) and decide whether to continue permitting it, then reset the standard right away. Throughout, he emphasizes that culture is operational, lived daily, and that changing it requires stopping the tolerance of harmful behaviors.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Culture doesn't live in the words that are painted on the wall of your office. It doesn't usually live in your mission statement. Or in the core values document that you pass out or you slide into the slide deck at the end of a program or a presentation. Culture actually lives in the space between expectation and tolerance. It's what you allow. It's what you maybe look the other way on. It's what you silently accept. That's the truest reflection of who you are as a leader and what kind of culture you're building. Here's the gut punch. Your culture is never set by your best performers at their best moments. It's usually set by the lowest behavior that you permit. So, I came across this article in Forbes. Magazine not too long ago, and it really kind of drove this point home. The title said it all. The title was something like, "What you're willing to tolerate sets the tone for your company's culture." And of course, I saw it and I had to read it. Think about that title for a second. We all have these, these expectations. We all talk about excellence and integrity and hard work. But if someone shows up late, do we let it slide? And when we do let it slide, what message did we really send? If someone misses a commitment and we excuse it because, oh, that's so-and-so and they're just busy today, what's the new standard as a result? It's no longer about the expectation we set. It's about the tolerance that we just demonstrated. I don't think that culture is aspirational. I think it's operational. It's lived every single day. It's lived every day in the decisions that we make as leaders. And if you're listening to the No Days Off podcast, you may be running an organization or a team right now, or it's your intent to do that. Well, recognize again that your culture is lived every single day in the decisions that you make as a leader. And it's lived in the behaviors that we confront and in the ones that we ignore. Now, I think that there's a— I guess I'd call a handful of supporting points here, right? Here's the first reality check. Expectations mean nothing without enforcement. There's this expectation gap. Expectations mean nothing without enforcement. There's a gap that exists between what we say we want and what we accept in practice. And when those two things are really out of alignment, the tolerated behavior is what almost always wins. It's kind of like gravity. Your culture will always sink to the level of what you tolerate. You can have the highest expectations, highest expectations in the world, but if your team maybe sees those expectations aren't really being enforced. Well, they, they learn a different truth. They learn a new rule, or at least what the real rule happens to be. Now, as leaders, you know, sometimes we may have a tendency to let things slide. Let's be honest about that. Why do we let things slide? Sometimes it's because of conflict avoidance. We don't want to, you know, we don't want that discomfort of calling someone out. Sometimes it's, it's just short-term expedience, like I've got things to do, I have a deadline, and you tell yourself something like, oh, I'll deal with that behavior later. Sometimes it's favoritism. High performers sometimes get a pass because they bring in results. And so again, we let these things slide. Here's the trap though. Every time we rationalize letting it go, we're not just avoiding one conversation. We're, we're kind of rewriting the rules for the entire culture. Now, there is this ripple effect that occurs because behavior actually spreads faster than the values that you state. If you tolerate gossip, soon gossip becomes the language of the company. If you tolerate mediocrity, soon mediocrity becomes the, the new operating system. This is what you would call maybe the broken windows effect. In, in neighborhoods, if one window is broken and not fixed, soon the entire block starts to have broken windows and decay. The same thing tends to happen in culture. A missed deadline, an excuse, a disrespectful comment. If you let that stuff go, you've sent the signal that the window is already broken. And it's fair game for others to do the same. So don't allow for the ripple effect. I think you've gotta flip the script. I think you've gotta shift things. So how do you go about shifting these things? I think what you do is you flip the script by aiming to narrow the gap between what it is you expect and what it is you tolerate. So I think you first start by defining your non-negotiables. Like, be super clear, be crystal clear. These are the behaviors that we, we just don't cross, period. Start by defining your non-negotiables, then enforce those non-negotiables consistently. There's no exceptions ever. If you say, for example, that being on time, that punctuality matters, then you have to be the first one in the room. If you say that integrity is a value, Well, then you can't look away when someone bends the truth to get a deal done. Lastly, after you've defined your non-negotiables and you're enforcing them consistently, call it out in the moment. When small infractions happen, don't wait. A quick correction today saves you from potential cultural collapse tomorrow. I think this is more than just about business though. It pretty much shows up everywhere, and I'm sure you're not surprised to hear me say that. In your company, you know, for example, the star salesperson hits their, their numbers but poisons the culture with, with their arrogance. If you keep them around, you've declared that performance trumps character. And in your personal life, if you, for example, tell yourself you're committed to your health but then you hit snooze every morning, then you've tolerated compromise. And that compromise becomes your personal culture. Whether you're at work or you're at home, you know, you're working on your health, you're working on your relationships. Tolerance is permission. And what you permit, you promote. What you permit, you're going to promote. So, here's your action item. Here's the challenge. Identify one behavior that you've been tolerating. It could be a behavior you tolerate on your team. It could be a behavior you tolerate in your family. It could even be a behavior you tolerate of yourself and write that down. Then I want you to ask yourself this question: am I willing to accept this once or am I willing to accept this always? Am I willing to accept this once or am I willing to accept this always? If the answer is no, then you know what you have to do. You have to call it out. You have to reset the standard. And you have to enforce it. Don't wait until next week, next month, next quarter. In other words, don't wait until it blows up. We have to tackle it right now. So again, write down a behavior that you've been tolerating and then determine whether or not you're willing to accept it anymore. And if you're unwilling to accept it, then start to call it out immediately. Reset that standard and enforce it. Culture is not what you preach. Culture is what you permit. If you want to raise the standard, you probably don't need another meeting or another poster hung up in the office. You just need to stop tolerating the things that are pulling your culture down. That's all we have for you today, the No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.
