Change the Culture, Change the Game

What if the results your organization achieves—its profits, innovation, or customer loyalty—aren’t simply products of strategy or structure, but reflections of something deeper? In Change the Culture, Change the Game, Roger Connors and Tom Smith make a bold claim: your culture produces your results. They argue that behind every measurable outcome lies an invisible chain reaction linking experiences, beliefs, and actions. Leaders who understand and manage this sequence can transform not only performance but the entire spirit of their organizations.

Connors and Smith contend that culture isn’t a fluffy abstraction—it’s the very mechanism that drives results. It’s the collective pattern of how people think and act. Their framework rests on what they call the Results Pyramid: experiences (E) create beliefs (B), which drive actions (A), which produce results (R). When the “current culture” (C1) no longer produces the results you need (R1), it’s time to shift to a “Culture 2” (C2) that fuels the next level of results (R2).

Why Culture Is the Real Game Changer

The authors open with stories that make the theory tangible. They recount how Alaris Medical Systems, a struggling medical device company drowning in debt, transformed its performance by focusing not on financial metrics, but on culture. CEO Dave Schlotterbeck stopped obsessing over numbers and started asking, “What experiences are shaping our people’s beliefs about accountability and performance?” Within six months, Alaris turned losses into profit, and its share price skyrocketed from 31¢ to $22—a 7,000% return. Nothing fundamental about the strategy changed; what shifted was the mindset—the culture.

Connors and Smith emphasize that “either you manage your culture, or it will manage you.” Left alone, culture hardens into rituals and excuses that entrench mediocrity. Managed consciously, it becomes a living mechanism for excellence. They reinforce this with examples from General Motors (where accountability had eroded under bureaucratic inertia) and Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (which pivoted from near-collapse to market dominance by aligning beliefs with results).

The Results Pyramid: From Experiences to Outcomes

At the heart of the book is the pyramid model. The base—experiences—is the raw material of culture: what people see, hear, and live every day. These experiences give rise to beliefs about “how things work around here.” Beliefs then determine actions, the daily behaviors and decisions that ultimately generate results.

You can’t change results long-term by working only at the top. The most effective leaders manage from the bottom—by shaping experiences and beliefs that drive new actions.

This model dovetails with ideas from Edgar Schein’s work on organizational culture and echoes Peter Senge’s systems thinking from The Fifth Discipline. Yet Connors and Smith add a practical spin: they show precisely how managers can intervene at each level through structured conversations, stories, and recognition systems.

From Compliance to Accountability

The authors’ signature message—rooted in their previous bestseller The Oz Principle—is that real accountability lives “Above the Line”: See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It. In healthy cultures, people don’t wait for permission or blame others; they ask, “What else can I do?” This mindset shift distinguishes the high-performing “C2” cultures from the reactive “C1” ones. Accountability, they say, is not punishment but empowerment—it’s what turns plans into performance and ideas into innovations.

A Field Guide for Culture Architects

The book’s structure is methodical. Part One teaches how to implement change using the Results Pyramid: define results (R2), inspire new actions (A2), shape beliefs (B2), and create experiences (E2). Part Two shows how to integrate these cultural shifts into daily meetings, systems, and conversations—the mechanics of sustaining transformation.

Throughout, the authors weave vivid case studies—from Chevron making anyone empowered to stop unsafe work, to Eastern HealthPlans turning a bureaucratic insurer into a top-performing healthcare network. Every story reaffirms a simple truth: lasting change isn’t decreed; it’s designed, experienced, and lived.

Ultimately, Connors and Smith’s insight is both practical and profound: if you want extraordinary results (R2), stop trying to change numbers. Instead, change the conversations, systems, and experiences that make people believe and behave differently every day. That’s how you change the culture—and change the game.

Accountability is not a management tool—it’s a mindset. Connors and Smith redefine accountability as the personal choice to rise Above the Line: to See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It. This framework offers a roadmap for how individuals can think and act differently to create organizational success.

Above the Line vs. Below the Line

Above the Line, you’ll find leaders who see problems clearly, take ownership for outcomes, solve issues collaboratively, and deliver on commitments. Below the Line, you’ll find blame, denial, and excuses. Connors and Smith urge leaders to hold up a mirror: when things go wrong, ask not “Who messed up?” but “What part did I play?”

They illustrate this through the turnaround at Kimberly-Clark Health Care (KCHC). Faced with declining profits, the leadership team narrowed 17 objectives down to the “Big Three”—net sales, operating profit, and gross margin. By posting these results everywhere, from binders to break rooms, they made accountability visible and contagious. Sales jumped 12%, and profits rose 65%. The shift wasn’t in strategies, but in collective ownership.

From Blame to Ownership

Connors and Smith warn that when teams fall Below the Line, they create “excuse-based cultures” full of phrases like “It’s not my job” or “Let’s wait and see.” These organizations stagnate, while accountable teams move with speed and alignment. Accountability, they remind us, is not group consensus or emotional support—it’s practical commitment to results.

The story of KCHC’s supply chain problems brings this concept alive. Instead of continuing to blame each other, supply and sales leaders traveled together to Asia to map the supply chain and co-own solutions. The act of seeing it together turned finger-pointing into partnership, proving that accountability begins where excuses end.

Personal Accountability in Action

The authors emphasize that cultures of accountability always start with individuals. “Culture changes one person at a time,” they write. When you commit to staying Above the Line, your example becomes an experience for others—shaping beliefs that ripple outward. This mirrors the philosophy behind Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits: change begins with internal discipline before it spreads to systems and teams.

At the book’s core stands the Results Pyramid—a deceptively simple structure explaining why most change efforts fail. Results (R) sit at the top, supported by Actions (A), Beliefs (B), and Experiences (E). You can’t fix performance by tinkering only with strategy or structure; you must shift the underlying experiences and beliefs that drive actions.

Working at Every Level

Most leaders focus almost entirely on the top half—actions and results—because they’re visible and measurable. Yet Connors and Smith argue that true leverage lives below. Experiences form beliefs (“This is how things work here”), which then dictate behavior. If people believe that innovation is punished, they’ll play it safe no matter what slogans say.

Take the turnaround at Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI). Once mocked for being unable to “develop its way out of a paper bag,” CPI redefined its cultural beliefs around innovation and accountability. Within three years, it released 14 new products in 14 months and doubled its market value. By changing the base of the pyramid—the beliefs about development capability—the entire company’s actions transformed.

Building a Culture of Accountability

The pyramid isn’t static; it’s a process. The authors show how to deconstruct the old culture (C1), define new desired results (R2), and rebuild with aligned beliefs and experiences that make the new culture (C2) self-reinforcing. Once these beliefs take hold, they operate on autopilot, shaping decisions long after the initial leaders are gone. As one CEO realized, “You can change all the people and the culture still remains.”

If culture produces results, then it follows that results must direct cultural development. Connors and Smith introduce a disciplined way to identify what they call R2 results—the next-level outcomes your current culture can’t achieve. By distinguishing R2 from R1 (current results), you uncover the performance gap that requires a culture shift.

Creating Alignment Around R2

Leaders at Fast Grill, a regional restaurant chain, learned this the hard way. When asked for their profit margin goal, seven executives gave seven different numbers. Confusion, the authors note, is the “great defender of the status quo.” Only after aligning around one clear R2—5.5% profit margin—did the company improve performance by 200% and achieve its planned expansion.

Translating Results into Behavior

Defining R2 is only the beginning; creating accountability for it is the real test. When the chain’s waitstaff could explain how faster table clearing directly impacted the restaurant’s profit target, everyone—from busboys to managers—understood their part in success. Connors and Smith repeatedly emphasize that “ownership” must cascade down to each role.

This principle mirrors Jim Collins’s insight in Good to Great: clarity of purpose transforms performance. The clearer the destination, the easier it becomes to shape the culture (C2) that makes it possible.

Beliefs sit near the base of the Results Pyramid, but they exert massive influence. Connors and Smith devote a full section to helping leaders uncover existing B1 beliefs that hold the company back and replace them with B2 beliefs that propel results forward. This process transforms culture faster than changing actions alone.

Understanding Belief Levels

The authors identify three categories: Category 1 (easily changed opinions), Category 2 (deeply held convictions from experience), and Category 3 (moral or ethical bedrock). Smart leaders focus on shifting the first two, since trying to alter Category 3 beliefs often backfires. For example, a nuclear power plant’s staff refused to shorten safety inspections—they viewed safety as a moral obligation, not a procedural choice.

Creating a Cultural Beliefs Statement

To guide belief shifts, every organization should codify a concise set of Cultural Beliefs that describe “how we do things around here.” At Eastside HealthPlans, leaders replaced apathy and silos with five belief statements: “Act Now,” “Reach Out,” “Own It,” “Let’s Talk,” and “Focus on Results.” In two years, their customer satisfaction soared to the top of their industry. The secret? Every employee carried these beliefs on their ID badge—a literal touchstone for daily behavior.

By making beliefs explicit, Eastside turned vague goals into shared ownership. Like Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness, which codified Zappos’ “10 Core Values,” this approach crystallizes culture into action.

People don’t internalize new values because they’re told to; they change because they experience something that alters their worldview. Connors and Smith argue that leaders must deliberately design these E2 experiences—memorable moments that instill desired beliefs. This is how transformation becomes real.

The Four Types of Experiences

Not all experiences are equal. The authors outline four types: Type 1 (immediate and self-evident), Type 2 (requires interpretation), Type 3 (neutral or routine), and Type 4 (negative). Effective culture leadership focuses on creating more Type 1 and 2 experiences and interpreting them wisely.

For instance, at Telenetics, engineers had to scrap any product that didn’t meet specs—no more exceptions. This tangible experience permanently shifted beliefs about quality and accountability, achieving a fivefold drop in defects. Contrast this with a CEO who fired a “lazy” worker on the spot—only to discover he’d just dismissed a pizza delivery guy. The wrong experience reinforced fear rather than performance.

Designing E2 Moments

Connors and Smith provide a practical cycle: plan it, provide it, ask about it, interpret it. By closing the loop with feedback, leaders ensure people derive the intended meaning from memorable events. This method echoes Brene Brown’s insight that “clear is kind”—leadership must interpret experiences so others learn the right lesson, not the wrong one.

After introducing their models and tools, Connors and Smith emphasize that transformation fails unless it’s integrated into everyday routines. Culture survives only when baked into meetings, systems, and daily work. Without integration, it becomes “just another program.”

Three Steps to Integration

The authors outline a three-step plan: (1) identify meeting opportunities, (2) integrate into systems, and (3) make a written Integration Plan. Meetings—from daily huddles to town halls—are the best leverage points. The example of Opthometrics demonstrates this. Their managers began each shift with a 10-minute “huddle” reviewing performance against R2 goals, telling short stories about Cultural Beliefs, and giving focused feedback. In one huddle, a leader helped staff reframe “selling sunglasses” from a second-pair luxury to an essential need—sales rose immediately.

Equally important are systems. At Chevron, integrating the belief “Everyone is accountable for safety” into policy meant any worker could issue a stop-work order, no matter their title. The result: Chevron’s safest year ever. Such structural integration cements beliefs into routines.

Sustaining the Momentum

Integration ensures the cycle of implementation continues. As one nuclear power superintendent told the authors five years after training, “The most common phrase you hear in meetings is still ‘Thanks for the feedback.’” That endurance, Connors and Smith note, marks the difference between cultural slogans and cultural systems.

Effective culture leadership doesn’t mean commanding; it means facilitating. Connors and Smith describe three essential skills leaders must master: Lead the Change, Respond to Feedback, and Be Facilitative. These interconnected abilities transform abstract values into lived behaviors across teams.

Lead the Change

Leadership is action, not announcement. At Universal, a struggling packaging manufacturer, CEO Ken Jones led his executives to move their offices from a corporate tower back to the factory floor—an unmistakable signal that leadership was getting “on the line.” Within months, their culture turned from boss-centered to employee-centered, ROI soared from 2% to 12%, and morale transformed. Leaders demonstrate belief by where they stand—literally.

Respond to Feedback

Feedback forms the pulse of culture. Connors and Smith introduce the Methodology for Changing Beliefs: identify the belief you need to change, name the belief you want people to hold, describe the experience you’ll create, ask for input, and enroll others in tracking progress. This dialogue transforms defensiveness into learning. It’s servant leadership in action.

Be Facilitative

Facilitative leaders spark conversation with three simple questions: “What do you think? Why? What would you do?” At Sony’s VAIO Service, these questions turned skeptical silence into creative engagement, improving repair satisfaction by 15%. When people feel heard, they own the outcome—a truth echoed by Patrick Lencioni’s work on cohesive teams.

Culture change isn’t a rollout—it’s an enrollment. Connors and Smith close the book by outlining five principles for engaging every employee: start with accountability, get people ready for change, begin with intact teams, establish honest process controls, and design for maximum involvement.

From Buy-In to Ownership

Using relatable stories—like a father trying to get his kids to park their bikes properly—the authors illustrate that forced compliance (telling, bribing, or even structuring rules) rarely lasts. Real change sticks only when people experience ownership. Leaders must make change personal (“What else can I do?”) and practical (integrate it into work, not add it on top).

They show this principle at work at TransEnterix, a fast-growing medtech startup. Prospective hires were shown the company’s Cultural Beliefs before joining and asked if they could live by them. As CEO Todd Pope noted, recruits said the culture—not the salary—was the biggest reason they joined. Commitment began before onboarding.

Sustaining the Change

Connors and Smith warn against “activity masquerading as progress.” Real transformation requires ongoing dialogue, storytelling, feedback, and recognition—all embedded in normal operations. When leaders design processes that make participation unavoidable and meaningful, culture stops being a project—it becomes the way you play the game.