Brutal Culture Reality
Over the course of my career, I've interviewed well over 10,000 people and hired more than 1,000.
Some became extraordinary leaders.
Others became expensive lessons.
Like every leader, I've experienced the excitement of finding the right person and the disappointment of realising I'd hired the wrong one. Every success and failure taught me something about people, leadership and culture.
But about nine years ago, I had a leadership epiphany that completely changed the way I interviewed people—and, ultimately, the way I led.
I call it Brutal Culture Reality.
Walking Into a Hot Mess
It all began when I accepted the opportunity to lead a mental health contact centre.
The day before I arrived, the Team Manager who would have reported to me had left the business.
That should have been my first clue.
Within my first week, it became obvious the challenges ran far deeper than an empty leadership position. Processes were either missing or broken. The infrastructure was barely holding together. Service standards were inconsistent.
Most concerning of all, the culture was toxic.
The employee Net Promoter Score sat at -83.
Trust was almost non-existent.
To make matters even more interesting, we had a hospital-grade accreditation audit looming only months away.
It was, to put it politely...
...a hot mess.
The Culture You Walk Past
Over the following months, I spent countless hours having honest conversations with the team.
Some people had simply been recruited with unrealistic expectations about the role.
Some were in positions that didn't suit their strengths.
Others had become part of the negativity that had slowly become normal.
Those conversations weren't easy.
Some people chose to leave.
Others stayed and embraced the opportunity to grow.
Throughout that season, I kept reminding myself of a phrase that has stayed with me ever since:
The culture you walk past is the culture you accept.
But the biggest lesson wasn't about performance management.
It was about recruitment.
Stop Selling the Role
When the time came to hire a new Team Manager, I made a decision that felt completely counterintuitive.
I stopped trying to sell the role.
Instead, I told the truth.
Not a polished version.
Not the interview version.
The whole truth.
I described the broken culture.
The difficult conversations.
The resistance to change.
The long road ahead.
I explained the vision of where we were going, but I was equally honest about where we currently were.
It wasn't just "warts and all."
It was the pimples, the bruises and every ugly detail in between.
Some candidates visibly lost interest.
A few withdrew entirely.
Then Elyse walked into the interview.
Instead of being discouraged by the challenge, she leaned into it.
She wasn't looking for comfort.
She was looking for purpose.
She became the first domino.
Building the Right Team
Together, we recruited leaders and team members who weren't buying into a perfect workplace—they were buying into the opportunity to build one.
Over the following months, almost the entire original team changed.
While I genuinely believe people can change, change only happens when someone wants it.
Sadly, only four members of the original team chose to make that journey with us.
In the short term, the turnover was painful.
In the long term, it changed everything.
The culture transformed.
Performance followed.
Customer outcomes improved.
Commercial results improved.
Eventually, the team grew into a high-performing, multi-site, follow-the-sun operation that consistently exceeded customer, quality and commercial targets.
The Interview That Changed Everything
Looking back, I realised something that has shaped every interview I've conducted since.
People don't leave because you told them the truth.
The wrong people leave because you told them the truth.
The right people are inspired by it.
Leadership isn't about convincing people to join your vision.
It's about giving them enough truth to decide whether they genuinely want to be part of it.
Truth Builds Trust
The same principle applies far beyond recruitment.
Great leaders don't avoid difficult conversations.
They don't sugar-coat reality.
They don't pretend everything is fine when it isn't.
They acknowledge today's reality while inspiring people toward tomorrow's possibility.
Jesus modelled this beautifully.
He never promised His followers an easy road.
He spoke openly about sacrifice, challenge and the cost of discipleship.
Yet people still followed Him—not because He made the journey sound easy, but because they trusted the One leading them.
I've found the same to be true in leadership.
When people trust your honesty, they'll often follow you into incredibly difficult seasons.
When they discover you've hidden the truth, trust disappears long before the challenge does.
A Question Worth Asking
The next time you're interviewing someone, leading change or casting vision, ask yourself one question:
Am I selling an opportunity... or telling the truth?
Because culture isn't built on polished recruitment pitches.
It's built on leaders courageous enough to confront reality—and invite the right people to help create something better.
After all...
The strongest cultures aren't built on comfort.
They're built on truth.