(This article originally appeared on edocservice.com. Contributed by Jim Mullaney and Shelley Russell of eDocService.) 

Designed by Freepik

At Chief Outsiders, we believe that culture is the key to our success to date and will be critical to our growth as a firm for the long term. Pete Hayes, one of the Principals at Chief Outsiders, blogged about engaging the right team in his article “News Break: Lencioni’s ‘The Ideal Team Player’ is Bigger Than Expected”. As an organization, we spend an enormous amount of human capital to attract and retain people who are aligned with and embrace our core values. It begins when a prospective CMO candidate clicks on “Become an Outsider” on our website and listens to a video that describes the opportunity for Chief Outsiders, introduces them to our culture/our philosophy of working together and directs them to assess their fit with our Core Values.

When people describe a company with great culture, many people immediately picture a laid-back and fun-loving atmosphere. This sells a good company culture far short, though.

Building a great culture is much more than just casual attire or Beer Friday—it’s more about the who, what, how, and why of your business. Your culture isn’t your perks, it’s your values. Building great culture takes some combination of time, money, and effort, but the payoff is a powerful business tool and the ultimate competitive advantage.

As the Small Giants Community grows, we have the opportunity to welcome a wide variety of perspectives and viewpoints to the conversation. Our friends from Strategar shared with us their perspective on their first experience with the Small Giants discussion. 

The Small Giants Summit took place in Dallas last month and we were invited to attend by our business associates at DHD Films. It was a great opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs from all over the U.S. and the world, and to share ideas and best practices with other successful small and medium-sized businesses.