When character actually drives culture?

“𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.” ― 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻

You’re a leader trying to build something that matters. 

You want engaged employees, loyal clients, and a company that actually makes a difference in the community. You’ve read the books. You’ve been to the conferences. You even installed the fancy Keurig machine.

But here’s what keeps you up at night: 

‼️ You took over the company only to find yourself drowning in responsibilities. 

‼️ Every leadership team meeting is now a “Look-how-amazing-I-am” posturing update. 

‼️ You just found out that your business partner embezzled from the company. 

‼️ The board is orchestrating a coup to force you out.  

(Unfortunately, all real scenarios that we’ve dealt with.) 

And suddenly, you can’t breathe. Because you’re advocating for servant leadership while watching ego-driven, self-centered leadership take center stage. You feel like a fraud. 

Because here’s what we all know: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲.

Pancake Fridays don’t fix character problems. (𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.)

Here’s why this matters more than ever: Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, they’re not playing along anymore. They can smell toxic ego from a mile away. And they’re done pretending the ping pong table makes up for toxic leadership. Heck, they’d quit and get a lower-paying job to work for a better leader. 

The math is simple but brutal: 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿. 

You can’t build one without the other. It’s like trying to make a smoothie without fruit—in Malay we call that 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯, which means digging the wind: completely pointless.

That’s why what you’re building matters.

Use this practical 3-step framework to create real change:

1️⃣ First, recognize the connection. Client engagement, employee engagement, and community impact aren’t three separate strategies—they’re three mirrors reflecting who you actually are. 

2️⃣ Second, get honest about character. Servant leadership is more about your character posture than a strategy. Your employee engagement plan will come up empty every single time if you treat people as numbers and projects. Treat people with dignity and respect——whether they’re an important client or a difficult one, a reliable employee or a challenging one, someone who donates to your non-profit or someone who may never do so.

3️⃣ Third, build from the inside out. Resist the “impressive” stuff. Start slow. start small. Start with you. 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. Great culture and toxic culture spill beyond your walls just the same. 

So here’s your choice: You can keep adding perks and hoping nobody notices the character crisis in the corner office. Or you can do the harder, braver, actually-works-in-real-life thing and build a culture where character comes first.

What happens when you get this right?  When character actually drives culture?  You build something rare: 

✅ A place where people want to work. 

✅ Where clients become advocates. 

✅ Where your impact in the community isn’t a PR strategy—it’s just who you are.

You build something that lasts longer than the latest leadership trend. You build something worth building – I might just even call it redemptive. 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨.

😅 Be honest—are you building something real, or just digging the wind (cangkul angin)? What’s helping you stay grounded in character right now?

Onward, servant leaders.