What is your boss’s boss worried about?
That simple question has shaped every major decision in my career. It is how I have approached each job I have held, every team I have led, and every strategy I have built. It is also the best answer I ever got to the question: “What has been the key to your success?”
Because when you understand what matters two levels up, you start solving different problems. You stop working from a to-do list and start working from a point of impact.
Not what they are assigning. Not what is on the org chart. What they are actually concerned about. What they feel pressure to deliver. What they worry they will be held accountable for if it goes wrong.
When I was just starting out, my boss’s boss was focused on credibility. Were our reports accurate? Could leadership trust our insights? Were we reliable? I made sure my work was rock solid. I made sure I was not just meeting deadlines but thinking ahead. I earned trust.
Later, in more senior roles, the worries changed. My boss’s boss was now concerned with whether teams were aligned. Whether we were moving fast enough. Whether we were saying yes to the right things and no to the wrong ones. So I shifted how I worked. I made clarity a priority. I found and fixed points of friction across departments.
Today, my boss’s boss is a private equity firm. They are thinking about scale, efficiency, margins, and growth. They want to know that the systems we are building will drive sustainable value. So that is what I solve for. Not just because it is my job, but because I have trained myself to always be thinking two levels up.
This mindset is not about politics or trying to please people. It is about accountability.
Right now, a senior leader might be focused on artificial intelligence, tariffs, retention, market share, or something else entirely. While it may not be possible to influence the global economy or reshape company strategy, each person can still take ownership of how they show up. Anchoring daily work to what matters most is what accountability looks like.
At Culture Partners, accountability means making a personal choice to focus on what can be controlled and to take ownership for achieving results. When the pressures and priorities at the next level are understood, decisions improve. Rather than waiting for direction, accountable individuals anticipate needs and become the ones others count on during difficult moments.
The goal shifts away from perfection and toward progress. The focus moves from being right to being effective. Initiative comes not from being watched, but from understanding what is at stake.
That is how careers grow. That is how leaders are made. And that is how culture drives results.
Elsewhere In Culture
https://hbr.org/2021/06/the-hazards-of-a-nice-company-culture
There’s a dangerous myth that being “nice” is the same as being healthy. But as this HBR article points out, a culture of constant agreeableness often masks fear, disengagement, and avoidance. I’ve seen it firsthand—teams that smile in meetings and nod along, then air their real concerns in side conversations or not at all. That’s not safety. That’s silence. And it costs companies more than they realize.
The goal isn’t to create a nice culture. The goal is to create a clear one. One where people know what’s expected, feel safe challenging ideas, and are held accountable—not in spite of care, but because of it. At Culture Partners, we work with leaders who are ready to stop managing perception and start building trust. Niceness doesn’t drive results. Clarity and alignment do.
In the HR World article, “Can Workplace Culture Be Measured, or Is It Just a Vibe?”, the author explores the challenges and methodologies associated with quantifying organizational culture. The piece discusses various approaches, including quantitative metrics and AI-driven tools, to assess aspects like employee engagement, communication patterns, and alignment with company values. It emphasizes that while culture may feel intangible, it can be systematically evaluated through data analysis and structured assessment.
At Culture Partners, we believe culture can and should be measured — because culture drives results. Our approach starts with the Results Pyramid: experiences shape beliefs, beliefs drive actions, and actions produce results. If you are not getting the results you want, the answer is not to double down on processes or perks. It is to look at the experiences your culture is creating every day. That is what we help organizations measure — and change. We covered exactly how we do it in last week’s webinar. If you missed it, you can catch the full recording here: https://vimeo.com/1090096387