Feature · Forbes Business Council
Build Culture First
Chris’s Forbes byline on the first leadership hire he made at a startup, and why he would still make that hire before sales.
Publication
Forbes
Date
September 17, 2026
Topic
Culture & Leadership
Format
Bylined Article
Keynote Speaker●Published in Forbes●Published in Inc.●Bestselling Author of You Are Capable of More●President & COO●NATHO Vice President●Inc. Regionals #3 Fastest-Growing in the Midwest●Fortune Magazine Best Workplaces Award●10x Revenue Growth●Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach●Keynote Speaker●Published in Forbes●Published in Inc.●Bestselling Author of You Are Capable of More●President & COO●NATHO Vice President●Inc. Regionals #3 Fastest-Growing in the Midwest●Fortune Magazine Best Workplaces Award●10x Revenue Growth●Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach●
About the Article
The hire everyone said was out of order.
Forbes published this Business Council piece on September 17, 2026. It opens on a decision Chris made five years ago: joining a company in its startup phase and making a Director of Culture the first leadership hire, while he covered marketing, sales, HR, and operations himself until the company was big enough to hire for them.More than one person told him he had the order backwards. The article is the argument for why he did not. Every other role was one he could cover for a while. What he could not do was go back later and undo the habits a company forms in its first year.From there it moves into the two things that decide whether a culture holds: addressing what gets tolerated, and letting the same honesty run back up to the person in charge.◆ The Through Line
Culture is not something you install later once the real work is going well. It decides how the real work gets done. A few tolerated behaviors change what everyone else believes is acceptable, and there is no meeting where a team decides to expect less. It happens one unaddressed moment at a time. What gets tolerated becomes the culture.
Key Points
What the Article Argues
Six ideas from the piece, and the ones Chris works through with leadership teams who want a culture that holds up under growth.
01
Culture Goes First
Most roles can be covered by someone else for a while. The habits a company forms in year one cannot be undone later.02
Purpose Is Underweighted
In a Gallup and Stand Together study of 4,475 U.S. workers, only 30% of hiring leaders called purpose very important to a new hire’s success. 77% said that about communication skills.03
Pride Does Not Come From Perks
Few people are proud of where they work because of a snack wall. Pride comes from work that matters, people you respect, and getting better while you do it.04
Protect Good People From Bad Standards
Owning culture is not scheduling events. It is protecting the right of great people to work with great people.05
Say It When It Happens
Waiting for a better moment or the next review cycle does not make the conversation kinder. It makes it bigger and harder to hear.06
The Standard Runs Both Ways
Leadership and control look similar from the inside because both come from wanting the best outcome. Control just arrives sooner, and it takes back in ownership what it saves in time.“
Culture is not something you install later once the real work is going well. It decides how the real work gets done.Chris Sund in Forbes
About the Publication
Forbes Business Council.
Forbes Business Council is an invitation-only organization for business owners and leaders. Council members write for Forbes on what they are actually running, which is why the pieces read like operating notes rather than commentary.Chris writes for Forbes and Inc. on leadership, culture, and workforce strategy. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing and is currently President and COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare, and Nebula, so the examples come from decisions he made this quarter.For Leadership & Culture Teams
Bring this to your team.
Chris speaks to leadership, HR, and workforce audiences on culture, accountability, and the conversations leaders keep postponing. He is a sitting executive, not a consultant reporting from outside.
Response within one business day · info@chrissund.com · 402-212-5771