The WAY to WOW Shows
The 24-Episode Campaign: Culture & Long-Term Survival 1
May 26, 2026
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[0:00] [music]

[0:01] >> And where are you going? What do you want?

[0:13] >> Hello and welcome to business lessons from the military. I'm your host Kevin Bemel and I'm here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military history, doctrine and leadership practices and then distill from them uh uh lessons we can apply to our businesses and professional practices. So, today we're starting on the third part of the 24 episode uh campaign um and we're going to be talking about uh the the the the the So, culture and

[0:49] long-term survival. And our my first topic in that is what we in the military call command climate. And I I think that you know, as a as a chaplain uh when I was in the Navy one of my key responsibilities was to monitor command climate and report to my commanding officer about it uh the its state and what was impacting the command climate. And and

[1:28] now from my perspective, I felt that was perhaps my most important job. W- That may sound strange because, you know, as as as a rabbi in the Navy then presumably I was, you know, concerned with people's uh spiritual well-being or whatever, but the reality is is I I I was not a separate entity. I was part of an the overall military team. And I was in a pretty unique position in that I could say things to a commanding

[2:04] officer that a lot of people for various reasons either couldn't or were might be reluctant to say. Uh first of all, and and in in my particular case, I was typically older than my commanding officers or at least very you know, similar in age, but but typically older. And so when I would say something to them, it was it was different than if a chaplain who was, you know, 20 years younger than me was saying it. So I came with a certain amount of life

[2:39] experience. Um and and and my I think my the commanding officers with whom I worked, with only one exception, recognized that. And I will say that the the one exception was widely widely known to be an absolutely terrible leader. He was infamous on uh Naval Base Norfolk for being just a corrosive terrible leader. And the command climate in his unit was horrible. And he did not want to hear it. Uh so

[3:14] uh so it it you know, it it that that plays through um in in in many many ways. And so this idea of command climate, what we might in the business world call company culture, uh is is crucial to the success to the success of our our enterprise. So when we talk about command climate, we're not talking about, you know, culture as a slogan, which unfortunately in some cases it it it it has become sloganized and

[3:49] and becomes bereft of all meanings. It's not branding and it's not, you know, office decor or motivational language, okay? In a military organization, culture is understood through a a harder and more precise concept, which is why it's called command climate, the climate of the command, the climate of the unit. So, command climate is the emotional, ethical, and operational environment, and here's the key, created by leadership. Okay, so, command

[4:28] climate does not just happen. It is what the leader is creating in his unit. Okay, so, it determines trust, morale, discipline, accountability, and performance under stress. So, in this episode, I'm going to be making a a direct argument that leaders own the culture and the climate that they tolerate, whether they acknowledge it or not, okay? And in in the in the example

[5:04] I mentioned a moment ago with this one commanding officer, he would have never in in his life acknowledged that he owned the terrible command climate of his unit. And I know this because I spoke to him about it, and he was incredulous. He he would not even believe that there was unhappiness and dissension in his unit. And the reason he wouldn't believe it is, people in general were afraid of him because

[5:39] if you did something he didn't like, he had you investigated, and no matter where how the investigation came out, he clobbered you. Right? That was That was his command climate. And then he had the people who were his favorites, and no matter what they did, they they were petted and and praised. Right? That was his command climate. And he owned that. Okay? Now, I will say,

[6:08] >> [snorts]

[6:08] >> and I I was This was explained to me after the fact, that this particular officer had started out his Navy career as a SEAL. And he would say, "Wow, but SEALs, they're top performers." Yes, but at the point where they've where they've reached sort of their level of ability, and they're not promoted anymore in the SEAL community, that that is essentially ending their career. So, for the ones who want to stay in, but don't have the the leadership ability that the SEALs demand, they find

[6:43] other places to go. And they are inevitably the worst leaders in the Navy. Because what what what has impelled them to be able to get through BUD/S and become a SEAL, it when they don't have the leadership ability ability to match, becomes pure ego on their part. I was a SEAL. Ergo, I am great. Right? They're lacking a fundamental

[7:18] part of being a good leader, and that is humility. Right? One of the things you will see from SEALs who are seen attain senior leadership, almost always, they have a lot of humility. Right? They need it to temper what they've accomplished. Okay? So, whether leaders will acknowledge it or not, they own the culture. They own the climate that they tolerate, that they allow to happen. So, what does command climate mean then? And

[7:54] in the in military doctrine, it it really it it refers to the the atmosphere established by commanders through behavior, their [clears throat] own and what they allow subordinates to do, the standards they set, how communication takes place, how decisions are made, and how discipline and such are enforced. So, every unit develops a climate. It's just a It's just a matter of the existence of the unit. So, the only questions are

[8:30] is the climate healthy or toxic? Is it disciplined or is it chaotic? Is it trusted or is it feared? Okay? And by the way, generally speaking, a healthy climate is a disciplined climate where there's a high degree of trust. A toxic climate is a chaotic climate where there's a great deal of fear. Those three catego- those three qualities align. Generally, I I I've never I never saw a unit in the military where there was a toxic climate and there was a lot of

[9:05] discipline and trust. It just didn't work that way. Okay? Rarely did I see a healthy command climate that was chaotic and where people were were afraid. Now, that's not to say there wasn't chaos at times, of course. Sometimes things get a little chaotic because of the the op tempo or or or whatever, okay? But the general tenor of the command climate, if it's healthy, it's also disciplined and it's and there's a lot of trust. And if it's

[9:40] toxic, it's chaotic, and there's a lot of fear. That's just how it breaks down. Now, the military treats command climate very seriously, and that's because it affects combat effectiveness, it it reflects retention, morale, unit cohesion, and therefore mission success. Okay? So, uh what what's what's interesting is uh you would think that commanders who uh whose whose

[10:20] whose uh units had uh a let's say a subpar command climate, uh that would be recognized, and they would not advance. Okay? Unfortunately, that's not the case. So, I know when um when I was with CAG-14, uh we were assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan, and the captain of the ship when we first got there, he was a very personable guy. I remember the first time I was on the ship after I after I recovered from seasickness, I

[10:55] was out on the fantail. I know this sounds strange. I was smoking a cigar, right? [laughter] Um but but there's nothing like being able to see the horizon to to uh settle your stomach when you uh when you're seasick. So, I was out there with a couple of colleagues, we're smoking cigars, and uh the captain came up and introduced himself. Um and he gave me a lighter, a USS Ronald Reagan lighter. I thought, "Wow, what a nice guy, right?" And he was a very personable guy, you you know, we had a very nice conversation, you know, kind of thing.

[11:31] Uh what I came to find though was his command climate was not it it was not reflective of his bonhomie. Um, he he it it was it was very chaotic. Um, there wasn't a lot of trust. Um, the ship was actually in pretty bad condition. Right? And and and indeed the the command climate was not healthy. I'm not sure that it was actually toxic per se, but it certainly was not healthy. And yet

[12:06] um, in in a competitive uh, uh, you know, promotion situation, he was the one out of four who became a one-star rear admiral of the lower half. Okay? Now, what's interesting is his successor was left with a ship that was, you know, in a very bad state of repair. Right? And and the Navy did realize its mistake in promoting this person. Right? And he did not ever go past one stars as far as I ever heard. Right? So,

[12:43] um, it it's, you know, it it it's a difficult thing. Right? We want to believe that if a if a leader is a terrible leader, they're not going to advance. But even in in the military, that was certainly not always the case. Sometimes they did advance. Okay? Despite the fact that this particular officer had left the ship really unable to achieve mission success. So, we got a call. This was right after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.

[13:19] >> [snorts]

[13:19] >> And we were supposed to sail across the Pacific Ocean to render assistance to Japan. And we couldn't because one of our reactors was not operating because the ship was in such bad shape. And so, um we were delayed for I think it was over a week while that reactor was repaired because you cannot send a nuclear carrier to sea when only one of its two reactors is operable. All right? Because if the second one shuts down, now the ship is dead in the water. And if you

[13:54] have aircraft aloft, they cannot land. And so, they're all going to have to ditch in the ocean at roughly $80 million apiece, not to mention uh the the air crew. So, uh you know, these the you know, these this is what command climate means. And in the case of when I was on the ship, it meant a a a increasingly demoralized crew and an inability of the ship to execute its mission in a timely way. There There was definitely a delay, right? And And so,

[14:32] um you know, a technically competent commander can still fail if the climate becomes corrosive. And that I think that was part of the problem. This particular uh ship's captain, I think he was technically competent, okay? But be because of how he handled things, and I would say by the way that the executive officer was even worse than the captain. Uh he he was he was truly a toxic individual, okay? I was at um what what's called XOI. It's a

[15:09] disciplinary proceeding where sailors who have made mistakes have to stand before the executive officer and and and the case is discussed and then he makes a decision about it. And there's always a chaplain there uh to observe the proceedings and if necessary intervene. And about halfway through the the XO, this set of cases at this particular XO, I um while a group of midshipmen who are on their midi cruise for the summer were were watching the XO turn to me and he said, "Hey chaplain, how do you like the

[15:44] show?" And I said to him, "Sir, I don't consider this a show." These sailors are under potential disciplinary action that could end their careers. Right? An absolutely idiotic thing to say, frankly. Right? But that was that's part of what contributed to the we'll say less than optimal if not actually toxic climate that existed on the ship, okay? Now, you know, in the

[16:19] this happened under the new captain's tenure and and the reality is he did not have the option of choosing his executive officer, unfortunately. I I think he would have chosen somebody different if he had had you know, if he if he had had the choice. So, under pressure, okay? Under pressure, culture amplifies, distrust spreads quickly, and standards rapidly deteriorate. And so, that's why command culture is so important. Right?

[16:55] Now, for those of you who follow military things, you may have remembered this is going back a number of years now, something called the Fat Leonard scandal. It was it it it was um uh a a Navy procurement scandal that involved bribery and and a tremendous amount of misconduct primarily on the part of Navy officers who who were involved in the procurement process. Uh and and the issue was not merely individual misconduct, although there was definitely individual

[17:30] misconduct. There was there were deep cultural failures within the Navy supply chain um that that essentially tolerated ethical compromises and and and and exercised weak accountability and and it normalized violation of standards, right? And so the you know, that's how this huge and we're talking tens, hundreds of millions of dollars, I think, that was involved in in the Fat Leonard scandal. A a large number of people

[18:07] ended up being disciplined, kicked out of the Navy, etc. So this is how this happens. It was a command climate failure. And and of course it cost the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money. It's it it had a a deleterious effect on on naval supply and and it also had a demoralizing effect on the Navy overall. I I always took took pride in the Navy. I still do. And it it hurts me when I see the Navy

[18:44] or really it's not the Navy per se, but the sailors who are responsible for um for projecting the picture of the Navy to our fellow citizens, when they let the Navy down, that hurts me. Right? And that's why I believe that you know, these people need to be disciplined. So a toxic climate a toxic command climate rarely does it appear suddenly. It's really it's tends to be a gradual process, okay? Months, years in

[19:19] the making in some cases, right? And so, you know, as we consider uh command climate and and from a military perspective, okay? Highly effective military units, they share certain qualities. First of all, they're strong internal trust both up and down the chain of command. So, seniors uh uh trust subordinates and subordinates trust seniors. There's clear standards. There's mutual

[19:54] accountability. And there's confidence in leadership, okay? You can tell a good commander because if he makes a mistake, he owns that mistake. He doesn't try and shift it off onto other people, right? That way, underlings, subordinates know, "Okay, he holds himself accountable. I need to hold myself accountable." And when I do, it's going to be easier for both of us, okay? So, if I make a mistake, I know I

[20:29] can go to my supervisor and say, "I I made a mistake, sir, ma'am." Okay? Okay, we do now we're let's get to fixing it, right? So, this kind of cohe he so a so cohesion that comes from these qualities, okay? It allows teams to operate effectively under extreme stress, to adapt rapidly, and to maintain discipline even during uncertainty. So, I mentioned earlier about even a disciplined unit can go through times that seem chaotic. Well,

[21:04] that happens, but the discipline will work through the chaos. That's what's important. In a chaotic unit, there is no discipline to pull them through. Okay? And so, from that perspective, climate command climate becomes a strategic, an operational, and a tactical asset because it undergirds everything that that unit is looking to do. Okay, let's take a break and let us let's look at this from a business standpoint.

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[22:21] >> All right, [snorts] so I think businesses sometimes, maybe often, um misunderstand culture. So, too often, the the dis- cussions about culture become superficial. And so, the organization they they focus on slogans and perks and branding language and sort of symbolic initiatives, but that's not how our team members, our employees, judge the culture of of a company. So, they watch who gets

[22:57] promoted, what behavior is tolerated, uh whether leaders keep their promises, and how conflict is handled. So, real culture is day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute operational. It's not aspirational. Culture is not what we aspire to. It is It is that to which we hold ourselves, especially from a leadership perspective,

[23:32] every day. Right? So, um I I've mentioned this this company before. Uh [snorts] it's a a property management company that I oversee as an asset in one of the estates I manage, and one of the biggest challenges I've had over the 2 years is changing the company culture from one of fear to one of trust, and one that that is is encouraging everybody to strive for professional growth, and and to focus on solving the problems of the

[24:09] clients of the company, uh rather than focusing on whose whose fault is this or whose fault is that. Right? And uh you know, um not sounding egotistical, I think I've made really great strides in that, and that's important because when, you know, when the chaotic times hit, and they do hit from, you know, periodically, we we we work together well. We have a lot of mutual trust, um and and so, we can work together through the hard times and take a lot of satisfaction in that.

[24:44] And that's why uh culture, what we call com- command climate, is so important in the business world. Okay? So, here's here's sort of the hidden reality. Em- employees rarely believe what leaders say. I I was having this conversation last night with one of my close friends who was telling me about how disappointed he was in a leader of a particular company. He admires the company, but it bothers him because he says the leader says things that he he judges to be lies. And I said, "Okay, right, but in the end, what the company

[25:22] has done has been pretty amazing. So, you know, by which are you going to judge the company? By this one individual or by the accomplishments of the company? Which is really more important? And more importantly, by which do you think the market is going to judge the company? Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there's there's I don't think a big premium put on people being scrupulously honest in the things that they say. And and and by the way, I I think there's there's not it's not

[25:58] necessarily the case that this person is you know, outright lying. I mean, people make these sort of fantastic predictions. Like, "Oh, we're going to do X and we're going to do Y and we're going to do Z and all this stuff." Like, "Well, okay, that's sort of aspirational talk." I mean, I don't like it. I think it's oftentimes counterproductive, but uh that's probably always been around, right? Uh but what really matters is um how do leaders or or or I should say, what really matters is

[26:34] what do employees believe that leaders repeatedly allow to happen? So, do high perf- For example, do high performers get protected despite misconduct? If so, that's telling people, okay, that you can misbehave as long as, you know, you're bringing in the business, right? Is [snorts] there constant leadership turnover? Is there a lack of accountability? Uh is management based on fear? Are there inconsistent standards?

[27:11] So, to the extent that that uh team members, employees in a company observe these kinds of activities, right? So, this creates the conditions where people are cynical, they become disengaged from the company, it exacerbates internal politics, there's declining trust, and over time performance is inevitably going to deteriorate. And so, that is what is at stake for us as we lead our companies. And And And that's also what's at stake

[27:46] for us if maybe we're not a leader in the company, we're an employee in the company, but we see this going on around us, right? Uh do we want to stay at that company if it has a toxic command climate? I mean, if if if it's coming from the top and the top doesn't seem to care, is it really going to change? Are we really going to have the opportunity there that we want? I think this is a central question for us to address, okay? So, five thoughts on translating this this doctrine and military doctrine of

[28:21] command climate into business. First of all, leaders must model the standard, okay? So, culture begins and in many ways ends with leadership behavior, okay? So, leadership, especially senior leadership, they have to enforce consistent standards, and they have to enforce them consistently. Okay? There can't be one set of standards for this group and another for this other group. No. Standards have to

[28:59] be applied consistently. Okay? They have to demonstrate accountability personally. So, if they make a mistake, if they have a lapse in adherence to standards, they have to they have to accept not accept, they have to recognize that lapse. And they need to deal with it. They may even need to resign if it's bad enough. Okay? It shouldn't take the company kicking them out or people subordinate to them sort of, you know, rising up

[29:34] against them in a mutiny. Okay? And finally, they need to align actions with stated values. Okay? So, if if a company values just treatment for everybody in the company, then they've got to make sure that that happens. Okay? If the company does not permit abusive treatment by colleagues, by leadership, by customers, by clients, the company has to actively enforce that

[30:12] value. Okay? I know I I had a situation where there was a client, he was incredibly abusive. And I spoke to him about it twice. And I told him if he didn't stop, he was not going to be a the client a client of the company anymore. He didn't believe me. And then I fired him. And then all of a sudden, he he didn't know what to do. And I said, I I told you I would not permit you to abuse the people working in this company. End of story. So, you're done. You say, "Well, but did

[30:48] you keep me on for No. No. Not going to take you back on. You brought this all on yourself. You thought you could be abusive. I told you you could not. You thought I was bluffing, I guess, but I'm not a lesson bluffing.

[31:03] >> [snorts]

[31:03] >> And so, that's the end of it. Hey? And it was important that I did that. Because the people who were being abused, they had gotten so used to it. And I think they'd gotten used to saying, "I'm going to handle it. I'm going to handle it." And then they would still get abused. And they needed to see actual alignment of values with action, right? So, employees study leadership behavior much more than leadership messaging. Okay?

[31:39] Behavior is what matters. Number two. Tolerated behavior becomes culture. Okay? I talked about this in the beginning. So, what leaders ignore becomes normalized. So, um if if mic- misconduct happens, it needs to be addressed early. It can't be allowed to fester. Okay? That doesn't mean, by the way, that someone who's who's been alleged to have um misbehaved needs to immediately be fired.

[32:15] But, it needs to be looked into immediately. Okay? And a determination needs to be made as to whether the misconduct occurred. And if it did, what the consequences are. It can't be allowed to just sort of, you know, go on and on and on. Okay?

[32:33] >> [snorts]

[32:34] >> And leadership cannot make exceptions for high performers. Now, that's a tough one because if you've got a [snorts] salesperson who is responsible for bringing in a lot of business, but who is constantly abusing subordinates, firing that person could have a significantly damaging effect on the business. Okay? But the long-term impact of that person's misconduct will eventually harm the company, number

[33:09] one. And number two, to the extent that that person recognizes that he can do whatever he wants. Okay? He now becomes the de facto ruler of the business. And that's not a good situation, either. Okay? So, expectations have to be reinforced consistently. Okay? So, small compromises become systemic problems as they accumulate. Okay? So, cannot ignore misbehavior or misconduct.

[33:45] It has to be dealt with quickly and consistently. Okay. Number three, recognize that trust is one of the most important assets of your business. Yes, it does not appear on a balance sheet. All right? There's no you know, under under I don't know, long-term assets or under fixed assets, I mean. Uh, you know, trust. All right? You you can't put it on a balance sheet. Okay? However, as I mentioned uh uh um before the break,

[34:21] uh strategically, operationally, tactically, trust is crucial. Right? It's it's it's not emotional softness to have mutual trust between leadership and rank and file team members. Okay? It improves execution. It gives people uh the opportunity to take some risks that could potentially really help the company out. Okay? To respond to a problem more quickly uh and and perhaps avoid a bigger

[34:56] problem by doing so. Okay? Even if in the end it turns out they made a mistake. If there's mutual trust, okay, I made a mistake. Right? All right, let's let's sit down. Let's figure out why did the mistake occur and how do we fix it? Okay? Right? That's the way to to build a strong organization. So, communicate in a transparent way. Okay? That helps build trust. So, people know what's going on. They know what to expect. Maintain consistency. And

[35:31] create reliability in decision-making. If decisions are made in a chaotic way, people never know what's going to happen. They feel like they're standing on quicksand. That is not going to build trust. So, uh trust teams execute faster and better when trust exists. Okay? Now, you may say, "But but what if they make mistakes? I need to control all of this." Do you really though? Are you really so less prone to mistakes?

[36:06] Or is it just that you're willing to tolerate your own mistakes, but not others? Right? So, everybody makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. Okay? Let your team members have the opportunity to make some mistakes and grow professionally. Okay? And let them make mistakes when they're as junior as possible, when the mistakes when the when the when the damage from the mistakes is is very small if if, you know, if there's any damage at all really.

[36:41] Okay? So, they can grow with your company. Okay. Discipline next. Discipline and morale are connected.

[36:51] >> [snorts]

[36:51] >> So, strong cultures, they are not permissive cultures, okay? They are cultures where people are understand the expectations and know that they are expected to meet those expectations, right? So, establish clear expectations, as clear as you can. Okay? Now, there's always going to be some ambiguity. That is the nature of human endeavor. But, the clearer you can be about establishing

[37:26] expectations, the better. One of the expectations I set to create in any situation in which I'm involved, and and I'm typically the team captain um in administrating trusts and and probates, is we're going to make mistakes. It's the nature of human endeavor. Okay? So, it the the question is not if, but when. So, when we make mistakes, let's address them as quickly as openly and as

[38:02] honestly as possible. I'm not nearly as interested as in in as to, you know, who is at fault as I am at how are we going to correct it. That's that is one of my unabiding expectations when I'm working with a team. Okay? I feel that that creates trust, number one. Number two, it gives the kind of uh expectations that that that are eliciting discipline

[38:37] from my team members. And finally, I think it builds positive morale because people don't have to be afraid. Okay? We're going to make mistakes. It's going to happen. Okay? That's not the issue. The issue is what do we do about them? Right? So, we need to establish clear expectations. We need to be just in our enforcement of those expectations. And we need to balance accountability with respect. Right? So, that means things like

[39:14] no yelling at employees or team members. That's not respectful. That's not decent treatment. Okay? If we lose our temper, that says more about us than it does about someone who, you know, we yell that. Okay, now, by the way, maybe they provoked us. Okay? We shouldn't We shouldn't be We shouldn't allow ourselves to be provoked. Okay? So, predictable standards improve morale. Okay? One of the standards I set is no

[39:51] yelling. No yelling. I grew up in a household where there was a lot of yelling. Can't stand it. Right? No raising of voices.

[40:01] >> [snorts]

[40:01] >> It just Nope. Nope. Right? And only once in the last two and a half years did I raise my voice in front of an employee. It wasn't directed at the employee, which which she was kind enough to to recognize. Um and I still apologize to her because she shouldn't I she shouldn't have to she shouldn't have had to have witnessed me raise my voice. Okay? Cuz that's not that's part of that that's part of setting standards. It's holding ourselves accountable. Okay.

[40:37] Finally, number five. So, leaders create sort of psychological weather, right? Psychological conditions. So, the emotional tone of leadership spreads rapidly, right? Especially senior leadership. So, calm leadership stabilizes teams. Erratic emotionally tumultuous leadership destabilizes teams. So, no matter what's going on, we need

[41:12] to be calm. Okay? We can acknowledge, "Wow, things are pretty bad. They're They're They're looks like they may be spinning out of control. Okay. Let's just calmly and rationally address the problem. Let's figure it out. Let's see what we can do. Okay? Panic spreads uncertainty. That's just the reality of it. And cynicism destroys initiative. And and and and it destroys morale overall. So,

[41:47] as leaders, we need to be calm, generally upbeat. Now, by the way, that doesn't mean we have to be Pollyanna-ishly, you know, positive. Everything is fantastic. Like, no. I I I I disagree with that. That's sort of toxic positivity. If things are not going well, I think it's perfectly fine to say, "Hm, things aren't going so well, are they?" Right? Or "Wow, this is really a tough problem here. Let's dig into it and see what we can do." Let's acknowledge reality, even if that reality is not

[42:23] particularly positive. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging, "Hey, it's raining outside." There's no point in saying it's bright sunshine when it's raining. Okay? Let's acknowledge the rain and let's deal with it. Okay? So, leadership behavior shapes the organization's atmosphere. Okay? And so, that's why as senior leaders, we need to make sure that the weather we create out of whatever psychological cues we're giving is

[42:59] calm predictable mutually supportive and respectful. Okay. So, how do we wrap this up? So, organizations rarely collapse only because of a bad strategy or a bad execution of strategy. They collapse because trust erodes, standards weaken, politics replace the focus on the mission, and talented people leave. Okay? And culture determines whether

[43:37] organizations survive through adverse situations, just like command climate in the military does. So, strong in a strong command climate talent stays discipline is maintained people adapt under pressure and they recover from setbacks more quickly. And that is why command climate is so important. So, leaders must accept responsibility

[44:12] for for team climate. If you're the CEO or the the you know, the president of the company, it is the most important thing that you do is to set that command climate and make sure that as you chunk down the chain of command, everybody understands how important command climate is and and that this is the way command climate will be exercised, okay? We need to confront problems directly

[44:48] and we may we need to maintain standards consistently and recognize that culture is always being taught. Day by day, minute by minute or hour by hour, minute by minute, okay? Even silence is teaching cultural lessons. If there is misconduct or if there is silence in the face of misconduct, I should say, that's teaching people something about the climate. Okay? So, what does this mean today? Well, first of all,

[45:24] because of the pace of business in modern organizations, they face burnout, they face fragmentation due to to remote work, there is an erosion of trust, especially since in many cases people are not meeting face-to-face or not meeting face-to-face very often, there's rapid turnover, and as a result, there's cultural instability. So, leaders who ignore command climate, they lose cohesion, they weaken execution, and they increase attrition, right?

[45:59] Those who intentionally shape command climate, they build resilient organizations that maintain loyalty and sustain performance, in particular high performance, over time. So, culture is not what an organization claims it to be. Okay? It is what people experience every day. If you take nothing else away from this this episode of Business Lessons from the Military, it's this.

[46:34] I'm going to repeat this message. Culture, command climate, is what people experience every day. It's not what you aspire it to be, it's what they experience every day. Okay? And it exists whether leaders manage it or not. Okay? So, you might as well take the responsibility for managing it. Okay? So, in war and in business, people eventually reflect the standards, discipline, and trust established at and by the top.

[47:09] So, what are you going to do about it? I want to thank you very much for joining me today. Uh this is one of my um favorite topics to to discuss because I think it is it's so central to why the military is a successful organization and it means so much to the success success of your business. So, if you have any questions, comments, criticisms, look right down below you in show notes, and you'll see links to social media. Feel free to post them there. My uh email address is there as well if there's something you want to address to

[47:44] me privately. Schedule of shows. Mondays at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, Trust and Estates Weekly. Tuesdays, like today, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, Business Lessons from the Military. Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, people making money. And every other Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time is my show Jigger's Place, where we have a cocktail and then a schmooze, sit back and talk about all those great topics unrelated to finances. So, again, I thank you very much for joining me today. Wishing you a wonderful rest of the day, and signing

[48:19] off as I always do, Marie D'Jour you are my bell. Courage at all times, my friends.