Hard Conversations
The Hard Decisions That Define Leadership
""Culture isn't what you write on a wall. It's what you're willing to enforce when no one's watching.""
I wasn't planning to share this, but leadership is about transparency.
This morning, between flights, I had a moment of clarity. I was reviewing our Q4 communications audit—yes, I read every company-wide email personally—and I noticed something troubling. Inconsistent comma usage. Specifically, the Oxford comma.
Some of you might think this is trivial. That punctuation is a "style choice." But I thought to myself: if we can't align on something as foundational as written communication, how can we expect to scale our mission?
Leadership means making the calls others won't. So effective immediately, all written communications must include the Oxford comma. Non-compliance will result in immediate termination.
If they only knew how much I agonized over this decision. I spent three hours on my Peloton this morning wrestling with it. But here's what I realized: standards aren't about being liked. They're about creating a culture of excellence, accountability, and precision. Our clients deserve team members who understand that clarity, consistency, and professionalism matter.
Some will call this extreme. Those people have never built anything that mattered.
One of my direct reports pushed back yesterday. "Brent," they said, "isn't this a bit much?" I appreciated their courage, though I had to remind them that growth mindset means embracing uncomfortable truths. We had a hard but necessary conversation about ownership. They understood. Eventually.
The reality? Most companies lack the conviction to enforce their values. They put "attention to detail" in their mission statements but won't hold people accountable when it counts. Not us. We're different. We're building something that will outlast all of us.
This isn't about grammar. It's about who we are when the stakes are low. Because if we compromise on the small things, we've already lost the big ones.
Culture isn't what you write on a wall. It's what you're willing to enforce when no one's watching.
Proud of this team. The ones who remain, anyway.
Who else believes that standards separate good companies from legendary ones?
Topics:
Founder, CEO, and Chief Vision Multiplier
Brent is a second time founder who believes leadership is about vibes, velocity, and being misunderstood at scale. He posts daily reflections from airport lounges, insists the team is a family while laying people off with gratitude, and credits every success to mindset while quietly outsourcing execution. Passionate about alignment, resilience, and lessons learned the hard way by other people.