In this episode of the Proteus Leader Show, host Erika Andersen interviews Paul Bowles‑Bevan, former Chief People Officer at Union Square Hospitality Group and current colleague at Proteus, about building and sustaining great company culture. Paul defines a great culture as one that is tightly aligned with a company’s mission, vision, and strategy, and explains how such alignment makes culture a strategic ally rather than a hindrance. He describes observable cues of a healthy culture—shared language, consistent behaviors, and a palpable energy among employees. The conversation moves to the importance of establishing non‑negotiable values while allowing room for gray areas that can spark innovation. Paul outlines three core reasons leaders should care about culture: it streamlines execution, attracts and retains people who resonate with the organization’s values, and provides a resilient glue that holds the company together during crises. Practical advice for leaders includes modeling the desired behavior, continuously observing and listening to the workforce, articulating the culture in clear, actionable terms, and treating culture as a living organism that must evolve with the business. The episode closes with a reminder that every organization already has a culture, and leaders should stay curious, view successes and failures as opportunities to refine it, and have fun in the process.
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You're listening to the Proteus Leader Show with Erika Andersen, where you'll get practical tools and insights for leading, managing, and staying ready for the future. Erika is the founding partner of Proteus, a firm that focuses uniquely on leader readiness. A nationally known executive coach and bestselling author, you may already know her as one of the most popular leadership bloggers on Forbes.com. Ready for something you can use today? Here's Erika.
Hi, everybody. It's Erika Andersen again with the Proteus Leader Show. And today, I'm very excited to say that I have as a guest someone who has been a friend, a colleague, and a client for many years. We're going to be talking about great company culture, why it's important, what do you do to make it that way, and what happens when you don't. So, my guest today is Paul Bowles-Bevan, who was a longtime partner at the Union Square Hospitality Group and was also He was also the Chief People Officer there, and he is now, I'm very proud to say, a colleague of mine at Proteus. So, hi, Paul.
Hi, Erika. Delighted to be here.
Oh, I'm so glad you're here. So, because Paul has spent the last 30 years of his career, probably more than that now, trying to figure out how to create great culture and what makes it, what gets in the way, why it's important, I wanted to ask him some questions. And you know, dear listeners, that we always talk about making these podcasts as practical as possible. Paul's going to give us some of his practical insights that you can apply in your own company. So, let me start by asking, how would you define a great culture? What are some of the key elements of a great company culture?
Well, the key— one of the first elements to focus on is that the culture has to be aligned with what you want to accomplish. It has to be aligned with the mission, vision, and strategies of your company. If you You know, want to provide excellence to your guests, then you need a culture of excellence. And if your culture is aligned with the mission of your company, it will fight for you. If it's not, it will fight against you. I think that alignment with the values of the company is, is a very important piece of what makes a great culture.
Oh, that's great. So, to make sure that whatever the culture is, that it's lined up with what you're trying to do as a company.
Exactly.
That makes complete sense. So, what else? How do you know when you walk in and wander around in an organization, how do you know they have a good culture? What do you see that helps you know that?
Well, I think the first thing is that people know what the culture is, that it's been articulated, and it is inspiring excellence. I think the camera sees this by people working together with a certain type of energy, a consistency of behavior and approach, consistency of norms that people fall within. Obviously, there's a range. Every human being is distinct, but within a range of normal, there's a palpable feeling that this is a company that is similar, that it has a very similar feel and approach.
And how do you— I'm curious based on that. So, you know, you said a similar feel and approach and people are, as we all know, different individual human beings. How do you find that sweet spot between you don't want people to be automatons but then you don't want them all just doing whatever and not having any kind of a culture?
Yeah.
I think the goal is to decide what's non-negotiable.
Ah.
And stick to it. And it is a decision that is not made once and for all because all human beings are creative and they'll bring new ideas and they'll stretch your understanding of what's negotiable or non-negotiable. So it's really watching and deciding, ooh, that's outside our culture.
Yeah.
Should deal with that. Or saying, wow, that really empowers our culture. Let's do more of that.
Oh, I like that. So get a sense of these things are Either these behaviors, these attitudes, these approaches are completely not acceptable or completely necessary, one or the other, and have a core of those that you keep reflecting on so that they don't get static.
Yeah, and I do think it's important to entertain some gray areas just because you never quite know what great new idea might come out of them.
Yeah, that's great. So then, you know, I think you and I, we drank the Kool-Aid many years ago. But for those of the folks listening to us who are like, who might be going, culture, I don't know. So, what's your sense of why leaders should care about this? Why is this an important thing for leaders to get a handle on and work toward?
Well, I think there are 3 things that a leader really wants from a culture and benefits from having a great culture that's aligned with their mission. Number one, It just makes it easier to get things done. There's a shorthand. There's an understood culture. So therefore, you're not spending a lot of time redirecting behavior that doesn't match with where you're trying to go.
Ah.
It is a shorthand that works beautifully well because it's understood. You know, my mom knew that I was going to set the table. That was the culture. So she didn't have to spend a lot of time deciding who was going to set the table. For example, I think the second reason is that it—and this is one that's very near and dear to my heart—is it attracts and keeps the right people. Your culture expresses who you are as a company to your certainly to your customers, but also to your employees. And employees will, if they resonate with the culture and it matches their values. They will really go to bat because they'll care about it. It will matter to them on a deeper level than just their paycheck or their intellectual understanding. So it attracts and keeps the right people. And then—
That's great.
The third thing is that it, it, it makes the company strong. It's a glue that holds the company together, and there will be problems, and there will be Disasters even. And it is the culture that makes a company's fabric stay knit together when the going gets rough. And it's like the best strengthening structure you can have for your culture for those tough times.
That's wonderful. So, efficient and then a real tool for attracting great people. And then I love the thing about strengthening the company and that really resonates with— I remember reading some research that was done right around the time of the big recession, 2008, 2009. It was done in 2010 and it seemed to point to the fact that companies that had more positive relationships with their employees, treated them better, had a strong and clear culture, that they did better during the recession.
Absolutely. And I want to underscore that it's— the culture is not just about relationships. It's not just about soft skills, if you will.
Hmm.
It can also be a culture of work ethic or a culture of, you know, how people start their day. It can be very specific technical functions that people fulfill. And when the going gets rough, It's human nature to regress a little bit. There's a little fear and a little of the darker energy. And what's great about a strong culture is not only do the relationships stay stronger, but also people have the norms, the ways that they get through their day most productively, and they stick even when the going gets rough. They don't fall apart.
They have that to fall back on.
Exactly.
That's great. Okay, well, so I love that you're going in the practical direction. So let's keep going in that direction. If I'm a leader and I have a company and the culture is okay, nice people working there and they all seem to do all right, but I really want to improve it, I'm compelled by this conversation and I want to create a better culture, a more strong, resilient, meaningful culture, what are some practical things that I as a leader can do to make that happen?
Well, the first thing to realize is that everybody is watching you and the example that you as a leader set. sets more in motion for culture than almost anything you can say. So, it is a self-management and certainly a self-talk exercise in terms of, you know, what example do I want to set for this culture? You know, it's great to decide I want a culture of workaholics, but if I show up late and leave early, then I'm not going to have a very strong or successful culture of working a lot. Right. I think that the other thing that's important to understand practically is that culture is not something that you create and let go. It's a, it's an, it's, it's, it's an organism that needs constant attention and adjustment. People come to your company and they change the culture. Things happen and they change the culture of the company. And that's a good thing. So as a, as a leader, you need to be constantly observing the culture and listening to your people and making decisions about what is adding to your productivity and what is adding to your culture and what's maybe taking away from the productivity and taking away from the culture. And then you have to make choices.
Mm-hmm.
You have to decide which of those elements you want to address. And it is a constant adjustment. It is something that you wash, rinse, repeat. You observe, You think, you change. You observe and listen. You wonder about it. You have conversations about it. And then you make a move. And it is a constant process. First and foremost, I think, is to articulate the culture.
Yeah.
It has to be something that people can wrap their arms around and really understand what do we want our culture to be because then you have something to use as a plumb line to measure your success.
Oh, I love that. So get really clear about what it is and then make sure that you're modeling it, that if people are— once people know what the culture is intended to be, that if they look to you, that's what they'll see. And then I love the idea of just keeping it alive, just keeping— and I suppose that's the leader with his or her most senior people really keeping the conversation going so that it stays alive and it doesn't become a static sort of bureaucratic thing.
Exactly. I mean, the most simple example is if you're a company and you want to grow, your culture will have to grow with your company. The culture cannot remain the same.
Yeah, that's a great example. Oh, Paul, this is so helpful and very beautifully simple. I mean, I know that shifting a culture is never easy, but you make it very simple, very straightforward. So that's lovely. So if you had one last thing to say to our our friendly listeners out there about culture, what would it be? What might that be?
Well, I think that you have a culture already. Even if you have 3 employees, there's a culture. The fun of this is to be continuously curious about what the culture is and how it works for you or against you. And I think that attitude is important. Even real failures are incredible opportunities to develop new culture. There's nothing better than a mistake or a success to find new ways to enrich your culture. So I would say, be curious and have fun with it.
Oh, I love that. Okay. So thank you very much, Paul. Thanks, as always, to those of you listening. And if you'd like to find out more about changing or creating a company culture, I would encourage you to go to ProteusLeader.com and hit company culture in the topics list. So thank you as always for listening, and we'll see you again soon. Until then, have an excellent life.
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