Joy at Work: Why Leaders Must Champion a Positive Company Culture

April 27, 2025

I recently sat on a company culture panel at a business conference. During the Q & A section, one of the attendees asked, “Who is responsible for maintaining a good company culture, the leader or the employee?”

It’s a great question.

My answer was brief: “The senior leader is responsible for the company’s culture. But every employee has a part to play as well. If you’re an employee who gossips then complains about the culture, you’re part of the problem.”

Everyone Seeks a Great Company Culture

Everyone wants to be part of an organization that’s full of joy. Every CEO would tell you that they desire a happy workforce. Every manager wants to manage cheerful team members. Why, then, do so few of us experience a joyful workplace?

According to a survey by The Conference Board Inc., 53 percent of Americans are currently unhappy at work. That’s a staggeringly depressing statistic. Over half of us don’t like what we do each and every day.

Why so Few Workplaces Have a Good Culture

The primary reason most people feel their workplace lacks joy is simple: poor leadership. If a company’s leaders don’t value joy, it will be difficult to find joy in the company.

Today, so many bosses are pressured to increase revenue, boost efficiency, handle unending meetings, and clear out that inbox full of 82 emails, 23 of which are high priority. It’s easy for leaders to have blurred vision that can’t see beyond the to-do list. There’s something just as important, if not more important, than the daily tasks: being positive and lighthearted.

Leaders are Responsible for Fostering a Positive Workplace

The best leaders have fun. They not only allow surprises, but they plan one themselves every once and a while. They take time to chat with others. They value relationships with team members more than to-do lists.

The best leaders don’t just allow fun; they cause it.

If you’re a leader, you must spend a significant amount of your time purposefully enhancing the environment of the organization. Author Scott Berkun conveyed this sentiment well when he wrote, “Every CEO is, in fact, a Chief Cultural Officer. The terrifying thing is it’s the CEO’s actual behavior, not their speeches or the list of values they have put up on posters, that defines what the culture is.”

Over the years I’ve come to realize that my number one responsibility as CEO of Blue Compass is actually pretty simple: to know our values and make them known. It took me years to realize that the most valuable thing I can contribute to my team is the fostering of a great culture.

How Our Company Uses Embraces Pranks to Enhance Company Culture

Our company has grown significantly since our inception in 2007. Naturally, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people over the years and believe it or not, I’ve been pranked many times during those interviews.

Our large conference room has a wall made entirely of glass, and typically interviewees sit with their backs to this wall. Therefore, the interviewer can easily see what’s behind the interviewee. Years ago, people started trying to make the interviewer laugh, unbeknownst to the interviewee. It started innocently, with team members making funny faces or pushing each other around on chairs.

Things escalated quickly, however.

Recently, I’ve witnessed a half dozen people carry my business partner across the room, a developer running and sliding as if he was stealing second base and five team members put on wigs and dance to a country song.

Is this professional behavior? Perhaps not. But I never put a stop to it. Why? Because this is who we are. We’re silly. We’re wild. We choose joy.

But what if the interviewee happens to turn around and witness these shenanigans (which does occasionally happen)? Then at least they know who we are. If they don’t like a culture like ours, it’s better they find out sooner rather than later.

How We Use Office Hijinks to Help With Interviews

Occasionally, we even use these office hijinks as an interview tool. Recently we interviewed an individual that I was particularly concerned about. She had fantastic experience and skills that we needed, but there was a problem. She was very solemn and a bit negative. During our interview, she barely expressed any emotions, didn’t smile and voiced a few complaints about her current employer. I felt concerned she wouldn’t be able to handle our humorous office culture.

Was I being too picky, or was my concern warranted? We devised a little test. In the middle of her next interview, two of our team members squeezed into the cart that we use to move food and drinks around while another sat on top. A fourth team member happily pushed them through our entryway, just outside our main conference room. We made sure they were loud enough to get the interviewee’s attention. She turned around, witnessed the odd sight, and turned back to the interview, thoroughly unimpressed.

There’s nothing wrong with her reaction, but she wasn’t right for our culture.

If You're a Leader, You're Responsible for the Quality of Your Office Culture

As a leader, you’re responsible for encouraging an authentic culture. You can’t mandate positivity. You must genuinely encourage it and participate in it yourself. Stop focusing only on that to-do list. Your behaviors are more important than clearing out your inbox.