At Nrth (formerly Elevate) in Toronto, Jack Newton, CEO and founder of Clio, spoke about what it took to grow Clio from a small lifestyle business into a company built for the long term. One idea has stayed with me since.
Most firms say they have a culture. Fewer can say what it rewards, and what it quietly punishes.
Newton described how Clio started as a small lifestyle business, and how an investor helped them see there was more available. To scale, they let go of wearing every hat and focused on culture. Their approach is worth borrowing:
- They wrote it down. They codified seven core values and let them evolve over time.
- They made each value measurable. A rubric and evaluation criteria turned values into something you could assess. The question stopped being "do you believe in this?" and became "how well can you demonstrate that you lived it?"
- They made it daily language. The values are part of how the team talks every day.
Values only work when they show up where decisions get made: in reviews, promotions and hiring. And culture is a function of the mission. Are you aligned with what you exist to do?
One of their values, "velocity wins," covers how they decide and how they ship. In the AI era, speed of decision is a real advantage, and a value like that gives people permission to move.
That is an operations idea as much as a culture idea. Most small firms can name what they believe, but few can say how they would know when someone is or isn't living in their beliefs. When you hire, promote or part ways with someone, "culture fit" becomes a gut feeling, and gut feelings are inconsistent. They also tend to favour people who remind you of yourself. A written value with clear examples gives everyone the same standard and protects you from your own bias.
If a value can't be observed, it can't be coached, and if it can't be coached, it doesn't scale.
Try it with one value you can run on:
- Name it. For example, "own the outcome."
- Define three levels. Weak: waits to be told. Solid: fixes problems in their own work. Strong: spots and fixes problems that cross teams.
- Use it. Reference it in feedback, one-on-ones and interviews, and write down what it looks like on a normal Tuesday, not in a crisis.
Questions to ask first:
- What do we celebrate?
- What do we quietly punish?
- What can we identify as an opportunity for growth?
- Could a new hire tell our values by watching us for a week?
If you can't answer those, your team is guessing. Culture you can score is culture you can hand to someone else. That's when it stops depending on you being in the room.
Idea shared from Jack Newton's fireside at Nrth (formerly Elevate) 2026. Follow Jack Newton and Clio on LinkedIn.
What's your firm doing to make its values observable?