Six Real-World Culture Math Case Studies

Enough with the make-believe. I mentioned in the previous article that I’ve met or worked with folks who lived through well-publicized business case studies. Now I want to revisit those stories through the culture math lens.

Before we do, let’s clarify what this lens is and why we’d use it.

We use “culture” to describe the vast, ever-changing, emergent quality of what it’s like to be in an organization. It isn’t mystical, but its complexity makes precise measurement both impractical and unwise. So we use metaphors to explain how cultural systems operate.

When teaching meeting design, I compare the flow of information through a company to the flow of water in a landscape: some teams flood while others desiccate.

Diet and fitness metaphors are also popular. The book Strategy and the Fat Smoker makes the point well: it’s not enough to know you should eat well and exercise, and it’s not enough to have a brilliant strategy. In both cases, the benefits only come after months of consistent follow-through.

Culture Math applies a finance metaphor. It views culture as an asset you invest in, maintain, and either grow or deplete over time. Unlike the water or fitness metaphors, this one uses the language organizations speak natively: money, time, and return.

These six stories illustrate different cultural investment profiles: business-as-usual drift, turnaround, engineered failure, erosion, compounding success, and misalignment collapse. Since this is a lens to think with and not an accounting exercise, you won’t see detailed equations or balance sheets here. That data doesn’t exist.

Instead, each story explores how choices about A (one-time), B (recurring), and C (maintenance) determine results over time—and whether culture becomes an asset or a liability.

1. Business-as-Usual: You know how this goes.

This is what I see most, and what I hear from my peers.
“Culture work” consists of new initiatives: a re-org here, a new platform there, a hottest-hits-in-training event each year. They spend real money on perks, surveys, and software, and managers do some of the right things — an occasional 1:1, sporadic recognition — but it’s inconsistent. There’s no coherent maintenance practice. Employees learn to keep their heads down, wait out the next initiative, and assume nothing will stick.

Culture Math:

• Active Spend = A (big events) + B (recurring expenses): 
  Frequent, sometimes costly investments in tools, vendors, and events.

• Active Maintenance = C (habits, rituals, daily ways of working): 
  Negligible or uneven focus across the org.

• Impacts:

  • Revenue: Flat relative to industry.

  • Quality: Errors and rework persist.

  • Talent: Attrition and engagement average.

  • Efficiency: Bureaucracy cancels out gains.

  • Innovation: Incremental at best.

• Timeline: 
  Initiative brings a spike of energy → Which quietly fades → Repeat every 6 to 12 months

👉 Apply your math here:

• Which A+B spends are you repeating with no sustained C to lock in the benefits?

• Where are you mistaking activity for development?

• If you paused new initiatives for 90 days, which C practices might raise performance?

2. Campbell’s Soup: From Dysfunction to Great Place to Work

When Doug Conant took over Campbell Soup in 2001, the company was stuck. Market share was slipping, morale was shot, and the Camden, NJ headquarters felt like a fortress in one of the most dangerous cities in America. Trust in leadership had evaporated.

Conant didn’t start by swinging the axe. In his words, “When you’re a new leader, you get three years. In year one, all the problems are the other guy’s fault, and you’re learning. In year two, you try some things, and they don’t quite work yet. But by year three, if things are still not working, that’s your fault.”

By year three, the verdict was clear. Many of his top executives couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt. That’s when he replaced 300 of the top 350 leaders.
(Remember this example when you get to story 6).

But the real turnaround wasn’t the purge. It was what he and his team did every day. Conant wrote over 30,000 handwritten thank-you notes in his decade as CEO, recognizing specific behaviors tied to quality, teamwork, and accountability. Leaders were measured on engagement, and employees saw that recognition and accountability. Within five years, Campbell’s went from the bottom of the Fortune 500 in engagement to one of Gallup’s Great Workplaces. Shareholder return also leapt to 64 percent, nearly five times the S&P 500's 13 percent return at that time.

That energy rippled across their ecosystem. With strong results supporting them, they could authentically adopt Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, including investments in solar energy and environmentally friendly farming practices. This gave employees even more reason to say they were proud to work for Campbell's.

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Culture Math:

• A + B: Heavy upfront investment — leadership turnover, training, engagement programs.

• C: Daily leader reinforcement (notes, accountability for manager engagement scores).

• Impacts: Engagement soared, quality improved, reputation recovered, financial performance stabilized. Engagement shift → 20% higher productivity potential

• Timeline: 
  2001 (Conant arrives) → 2003–2004 (top-team reset) → 2004–2008 (daily reinforcement + engagement rise) → 2008+ (compounding, CSR scaling)

👉 Apply your math here:

• Where are you expecting Year-1 outcomes that actually take three?

• What small, repeated act could become your drumbeat of trust?

• Are you holding leaders accountable to adapt or letting resistance stall the org?

3. Intel: From Operational Excellence to National Embarrassment

Andy Grove transformed Intel (CEO, 1987–1998) into a culture focused on operational excellence and survival-driven discipline. Under Grove, Intel invested in culture with the same rigor it put into dominating semiconductors. Grove himself often taught courses on effective meetings and constructive confrontation, modeling what discipline looked like in practice.  

Grove was always evaluating the full culture equation.

But post-Grove leaders started chasing financial engineering and expansion, letting bureaucracy seep in. By missing mobile and AI shifts (Intel famously declined to supply chips to the first iPhone), Intel lost its edge. Execution faltered, and competitors pulled ahead.

Fast forward: Intel’s 2021 revenue peaked near $79B. By 2024, revenue plummeted to roughly $53.1B, with net losses hitting $18.8B in 2024. It was their first annual loss since 1986.

Even with a recent US government investment, not enough customers remain to fill its fabs. Cash isn’t their only issue, and you can't buy simple fixes for a culture of misaligned incentives and shoddy decision-making.

Culture Math:

• A + B: Massive investment in disciplined culture under Grove; later years shifted to financial playbooks and expansions.

• C: Maintenance faltered. Meetings turned political; direct feedback faded. Routines atrophied.

• Impacts: Data center share tumbled from ~61% to ~11%. Revenue shrank 33% (from ~$79B to ~$53B). 2024 saw a net loss of $18.8B.

• Timeline: 1987–1998 (Grove discipline) → 2000s–2010s (bureaucracy build/strategic misses) → 2021–2024 (sharp decline) → 2024–2025 (substantial public subsidies/incentives; turnaround efforts proposed… we’ll see!)

👉 Apply your math here:

• Do you treat culture like infrastructure or like decoration?

• Which routines worked in the last era but are toxic now?

• Flip side: what benefits were lost when routines changed?

• Who is empowered to challenge inertia, and how often do they win?

4. Wells Fargo: Be Careful What You Wish For

Wells Fargo didn’t drift off the path into cultural failure. It steered straight for that cliff. For years, leadership pushed an internal sales model where every branch employee was expected to sell multiple products (“Going for Gr-Eight”), or risk job consequences.

Between 2011 and 2016, employees opened approximately 3.5 million unauthorized accounts—checking, savings, and credit cards—without customer consent, simply to hit quotas. The fraud became public in 2016, triggering immediate consequences:

• Wells Fargo was fined $185 million by the CFPB, OCC, and Los Angeles city officials.

• Broader penalties, settlements, and legal costs climbed toward $3 billion by early 2020.

• Around 5,300 employees were fired due to misconduct.  

• CEO John Stumpf resigned in 2016 and later received a lifetime industry ban and a $17.5 million fine.

• Wells Fargo was placed under a Federal Reserve asset cap that froze its growth capacity. The cap was just removed this year. (2025)

Culture Math:

• A + B: Heavy, consistent investment in sales training, incentives, compliance systems.

• C: Clear, daily focus. Managers lived and breathed quota enforcement.

• Impacts: Short-term revenue growth; quality, talent, efficiency, and reputation all collapsed. $3B fines → visible “negative RoC.”

• Timeline:  2011–2016 (quota pressure) → 2016 (scandal/fines) → 2017–2020 (fallout, ~$3B settlement) → 2018–2025 (asset cap) → 2025 (cap lifted; reforms continue)

👉 Apply your math here:

• Where are incentives pushed hard enough to warp outcomes?

• When the pressure’s on, which values hold and which give way first?

• Which “wins” today will become tomorrow’s brand liabilities?

5. Zingerman’s : The Not-So-Surprising Upside of Consistently Giving a Damn

Zingerman’s began in 1982 as a small Ann Arbor deli founded by Ari Weinzweig (a former anarchist who believes “every cook can govern”) and Paul Saginaw. Their guiding ethos: build a great place to work driven by deep respect and equality.

In the early 1990s, growth slowed and the culture began to fray. Around 2002, in search of resilience, they adopted Open Book Management, which teaches every employee, from partners to potato peelers, to understand finances, service metrics, and operational basics. CEO Ari Weinzweig himself often leads this training, emphasizing shared ownership and agency.

They continued to evolve, tune, and adapt their culture through rituals, peer reinforcement, and feedback loops. When they saw the results of their approach (higher revenue, happier customers, loyal employees), they established ZingTrain as a business line, extending those values to other companies.

Today, Zingerman’s Community of Businesses comprises over 11 businesses, employs roughly 750 people, and brings in more than $80 million in annual revenue. Attrition is low; many people start as dishwashers in high school and grow into multi-decade careers, exemplifying the long-term benefits of a rigorous dedication to stewarding a strong culture.

Culture Math:

• A + B: Regular focused investment in training, values modeling, Open Book programs, rituals, and feedback loops.  

• C: Continuous modeling from leaders (Ari takes a shift refilling customer's water), peer reinforcement, weekly debriefs, openness in finance.  

• Impacts: A thriving, values-rooted company: ~750 employees, $80M+ annual revenue, near-zero turnover, and a new revenue line in ZingTrain.  

• Timeline: 1982 (founding) → 1990s (growing pains) → ~2002 (Open Book) → 2000s–today (compounding + ZingTrain)

👉 Apply your math here:

• What would happen if every person in your org understood exactly how your company finances worked?

• Which of your company's values do leaders demonstrate every day?

• Could your culture investments yield your next new business line?

6. My First Real Job in an Internet Startup

By 2006, the startup's future looked bright from the outside. We survived the dot-com bust and had a growing staff, $5M in revenue, and big contracts in the pipeline.

In reality, the company was split at the top.  One founder disliked working with people and continually talked of shutting down. The other loved building teams and serving customers.

The board sent a coach who tried to help: values work, DISC, StrengthsFinder, and even new titles. But the gap never closed. Tools meant for empathy became ammo. “I’m a big D—deal with it.” 

Investments meant to mend the culture instead exposed the fracture, aggravating conflict. After key talent left, the business rode a slow slide down until it was ultimately sold off to a competitor.

Culture Math:

• A + B: Investments in outside coaching, values work, formalized leadership roles, assessment tools (DISC, StrengthsFinder), staff growth, and revenue scaling.

• C: Reinforcement mechanisms were weak and contradictory. Partners never aligned, so trainings and titles only magnified dysfunction. Tools meant to bridge gaps became ammunition in conflicts.

• Impacts: Increased conflict, eventual company dissolution

• Timeline: 2000–2006 (initial growth) → 2004–2007 (alignment attempts, external coaches) → 2007–2014 (internal conflicts escalate, staff exodus) → 2014–2017 (decline and dissolution).

👉 Apply your math here:

• Are your leaders actually aligned on what a good culture should look like?

• Which tools are becoming weapons in disguise?

• What would you stop funding until leadership alignment is real?

Quick Caution: Looking Back Is Not The Same As Looking Forward

I shared this last mini-story because my husband and I often revisit the lessons we learned there. That company's breakdown was painful to live through.

But we don't regret it. How could we? That experience brought us together.

Ours is one of four businesses risen from those ashes (all of which are still active), and our wonderful daughter is one of the six new babies born to parents who met there.

Contemplating the grand circle of life, we can see that the impact this company had is overwhelmingly positive for many of the individuals involved.

And that's the trap!
Recognizing big picture value in the past does not excuse sloppy culture math now.

Time and time again, folks use this fuzzy big-picture filter to justify investments that have no meaningful positive organizational return.

We ❤️ to assess and workshop and train because it's a great break from the day-to-day. At the startup, I enjoyed learning my strengths! 

But that didn't mean the company benefited.

Culture Math helps us keep organizational Return on Culture in view.

Takeaways for Leaders

1. Culture is always an investment.

• These stories reflect real decisions and real costs, whether intentional or passive.

• Choosing not to invest (leaving culture to whatever pops up) simply means you’ve chosen hidden liabilities instead of visible spend.

2. Culture is a portfolio.

• A/B (one-time + recurring) start the engine; C (maintenance) keeps it running and compounds returns. Most orgs overspend on shiny A/B and underfund C.

• Not every ritual, perk, or tool yields equal impact. What matters is the mix.

3. Values drive returns.

• You can reinforce extraction (Wells Fargo) or respect/accountability (Campbell’s). The returns — and risks — follow the values you practice.

• Over-optimizing for financial capital while ignoring social/intellectual/experiential capital erodes innovation, trust, and competitiveness.

• Balanced, regenerative values can produce surprising upsides (Zingerman's training business).

4. Consistency compounds.

• Sustained investment changes the cost/benefit equation over time.

• The lag to positive return depends on the starting point and scale, and is often measured in years.

• Reset mode (Campbell’s) requires years of heavy investment. Maintenance mode (Zingerman’s) sustains benefit daily at lower cost.

• Once values and practices become embedded, they’re hard — and costly — to unwind. Neglect leads to decay; resets are expensive.

5. Measurement doesn’t have to be perfect.

• Perfect data is impossible in a dynamic system, and chasing it only distracts.

• You don’t need to calculate culture with decimal-point precision to know whether it’s helping or hurting.

• The act of debating what's contributing to your return is itself culture work. Those conversations reveal your priorities, surface trade-offs, and make values visible. This “math” is a lens for discipline, not an accounting exercise.

6. Culture is contagious.

• Healthy practices ripple outward (Zingerman’s training business).

• Toxic ones spread too (Wells Fargo’s sales practices, Intel’s smug market dominance).

• RoC ripples. It shapes your ecosystem and the lives of everyone involved.

Now I’m curious — did you apply the math to your own organization?

What surfaced when you did?

In the next article, we’ll get more concrete. We’ll explore how to actually calculate Culture Math: the kinds of investments and returns to track, and why any organization planning to last more than five years should take a lesson from permaculture.

Until then, I’d love to hear your stories! When have you experienced a time when the math shifted for an organization in your life?

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