In a world obsessed with efficiency, processes, and cutting-edge technology, it’s easy to believe that the secret to a high-performing organization lies solely in its business systems. We spend fortunes on software, optimize supply chains to an inch of their life, and build intricate operational plans. Yet, despite all this technical prowess, something often feels missing. Why are so many leaders still grappling with disengagement, high turnover, and a workforce that feels disconnected?
The answer, according to Drew Sutton, founder of Drew Sutton Leadership and the visionary behind Culture Systems Consulting, is simple yet profound: while we’ve mastered systems for business, we’ve largely ignored systems for people. We’ve built the body of business, but we’ve forgotten its soul. What if the hidden architecture of truly high-performing organizations isn’t just about the ‘how we work,’ but also deeply intertwined with the ‘who we are’?
Culture and Systems: Bridging the Unlikely Divide
At first glance, the pairing of “culture” and “systems” feels like an oxymoron. Culture evokes images of soft skills, emotional intelligence, and human connection—the very fabric of our social lives. Systems, on the other hand, conjure up structured diagrams, engineering principles, and left-brain logic. It’s a seemingly improbable peanut butter and jelly accident, yet it’s precisely at this intersection that Drew Sutton has uncovered a powerful new paradigm for organizational excellence.
The Engineer’s Perspective on People Problems
Drew’s journey to this unique insight is as fascinating as his concept. As a former Chief Engineer at Lockheed Martin, he lived and breathed systems engineering. “It’s a sophisticated way of saying, ‘I drew all the diagrams that made incredibly complex things work,’” he explains. His world was one of orchestrating thousands of interdependent parts, ensuring massive, high-stakes projects—sometimes literally—didn’t fall out of the sky.
What surprised him early on was how effortlessly these same rigorous tools applied to human organizations. He found himself using systems engineering principles to untangle office politics, resolve leadership dilemmas, and address people issues. And they worked. Far from being confined to the realm of “King of the Geeks,” his role was akin to being the CEO of a $31M business unit, managing everything from contracts and supply chains to customer relationships and a diverse array of engineering disciplines.
It was through this deep dive into the machinery of business that Drew arrived at a crucial realization: every technical problem was, at its core, a people problem wearing a disguise. He wasn’t just dealing with abstract theories; he was seeing the real-world, human-centric challenges embedded within complex technical landscapes.
The Missing Link: Why Traditional Leadership Falls Short
For decades, leadership training has largely operated in two separate silos. On one side, you have strategy—the hard systems of goals, KPIs, processes, and operational plans. This is where the logic and structure reside. On the other side, there are “soft skills”—often playfully dubbed “charm school”—covering influence, communication, and emotional intelligence. Both are undeniably important, but here’s the rub: they are treated as two distinct, often disconnected, entities.
Leaders are constantly trying to mix oil and water—strategic imperatives and human dynamics—without a binding system to unite them. The result? A lack of genuine engagement, excitement, and a workforce that feels disconnected. We roll out new software, implement cutting-edge processes, and even add ping-pong tables or pizza parties, yet the traction remains elusive. The reason, Drew Sutton argues, is the missing link: cultural systems.
Beyond Ping-Pong Tables: The Real Cost of Disconnection
There was a time, not so long ago, when work was intrinsically linked to identity. Saying “I work at IBM” or “I work at GE” carried a sense of pride and cultural belonging. But over the last 30 years, our businesses have relentlessly optimized for efficiency, often at the expense of connection. We automated the “body” of business, but we neglected its “soul,” creating organizations that resemble bare skeletons more than healthy humans. Then came COVID-19, and remote work further amplified this sense of disconnection.
The data paints a grim picture: engagement is down globally, loneliness and anxiety at work are skyrocketing, and turnover risks are higher than ever. The cost of global disengagement alone is estimated at a staggering $8.8 trillion per year. Leaders are left scratching their heads, wondering why their investments in “systems” and “charm school” aren’t yielding the desired results.
The truth is, while business systems have evolved dramatically, the people systems haven’t kept pace. We’ve built organizations where the technical machinery runs beautifully, but the people who operate those machines feel invisible. This is why Culture Systems matter more than ever: the human side of the workplace is no longer merely “soft” or “optional”; it is the new competitive edge.
Scripting the Soul: Your Blueprint for Belonging
The “aha moment” that crystallized Culture Systems for Drew came early in his career. He observed that people aren’t moved by information alone; they are moved by story. While most leaders relegate storytelling to marketing or sales, Drew realized that an organization’s own people need a compelling story just as much as its customers do.
At 28, frustrated with his engineer’s salary, he shadowed a friend who sold insurance. During a job interview for a sales position, his friend started talking about math. Drew interjected, “I understand math. What I don’t understand is how to sell.” His friend simply laughed and said, “Oh, that’s easy. You just memorize the scripts.” Within minutes, his friend had sold him an annuity during his own job interview.
That experience was transformative. “What if leaders took selling culture as seriously as insurance agents take selling insurance?” Drew mused. “What if we scripted culture with the same clarity, repetition, and intentionality that sales teams use for conversions?” Both sales and culture require belief, but only one had a systematic approach. This was the spark: the realization that culture could be taught, scripted, and engineered, not just passively hoped for. It could transform an organization from a high-performance “racecar skeleton” into a comfortable, desirable ride with all the “upholstery” and human elements that make it truly valuable.
From Values to Actions: Your First Culture Script
So, where do you begin building Culture Systems in your own organization? Drew suggests a powerful yet simple starting point: identify your top three or four core values. Then, instead of just displaying them on a poster, ask yourself: “Where should these values show up today—not in slogans, but in observable, repeatable actions?”
He recounts a memorable lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse. Three different employees—the maître d’, the waitress, and the manager—each asked him, “What are you celebrating?” It was a Tuesday, and he wasn’t celebrating anything. But reflecting on the $250 lunch bill, he understood the owner’s genius. The owner likely wanted to build a place where people celebrated life’s great moments. To achieve this, a simple, repeatable cultural script was implemented: “Ask every guest, ‘What are you celebrating?’”
Had Drew been celebrating, that one cultural script would have made an already good experience unforgettable. This is the essence of Culture Systems: finding the deep passion or core purpose of your business and then designing simple, repeatable actions that allow your team to express that passion at every stage of the customer or employee journey.
The New Competitive Edge
In a rapidly evolving landscape where AI and automation are accelerating faster than human connection, Culture Systems are no longer a luxury; they are a necessity. Business systems ensure efficiency, but Culture Systems keep your organization alive and thriving. They rebuild that sense of identity, belonging, and pride that modern workplaces often lack, turning a place where people merely trade time for money into a community worth doing great work for.
The “human side” of business has finally shed its “soft” label to become the hard truth of competitive advantage. It’s about building repeatable cultural mechanisms that make an organization feel like a living, breathing entity—not just a skeletal framework. Culture Systems start with small scripts that reinforce big beliefs, transforming the everyday into an experience of purpose and connection. It’s time to build not just great business systems, but great people systems too, making every day, even a Tuesday, a day worth appreciating and celebrating.
