Give cultural tenets deep meaning.

Loyalty emerges from an expectation that the other party feels the same way; that your colleagues, and your company, are there for you.

Explain why taking the action you’re taking is essential to the larger mission and how important that mission is.

First impressions of a culture are difficult to reverse. This is why new-employee orientation is better thought of as new-employee cultural orientation. Cultural orientation is your chance to make clear the culture you want and how you intend to get it. What behaviors will be rewarded? Which ones will be discouraged or severely punished?

Keep What Works

The final vital component of the decision-making process is “Do you favor speed or accuracy and by how much?”

Make Ethics Explicit

There are essentially three high-level decision-making styles:

your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there. It’s the set of assumptions your employees use to resolve the problems they face every day. It’s how they behave when no one is looking. If you don’t methodically set your culture, then two-thirds of it will end up being accidental, and the rest will be a mistake.