Everything they named was free.

I flew down to give them something and flew home having gotten more.

Just got back from Medellín. Went down to see our team there, run some workshops, do some team building.

Six people down there. Before this trip I'd met two of 'em.

That's the part I should probably sit with. Six people. I'd met two.

So we're doing the workshops, going through strategy, where we're headed, what we're focused on for the next few months. And Andrea says something that stuck with me. She goes, oh, that makes a lot more sense why we're not doing those other things right now.

Which means she'd been sitting there for months watching us not do stuff and coming up with her own reasons why.

Her reasons probably weren't as generous as the real one.

That's on me. I had the strategy. I knew exactly why we were sequencing it that way. It just never made it down to six people in another country.

But that's not what I actually want to tell you about.

Last night we're all together and a few of them start going around talking about why they like working there.

One guy says it's how flat it is. He can bring up an idea or give feedback and nothing bad happens to him. It's actually welcome.

Another one talks about how much we put into developing people. That we're always trying to get better and they get pulled into it.

And then one of the women says she loves how many smart women work here.

I'd never thought about it. We've got more women than men at Thesis. That wasn't a policy. Nobody set out to do it. We hired good people and that's where it landed. She's the one who noticed.

Sat there feeling pretty damn proud and also kind of caught off guard.

'Cause I flew down there to give them something. Vision, strategy, direction. And I flew home having gotten a lot more than I gave.

Here's the part I keep chewing on.

Everything they named is free.

Flat culture. Feedback that doesn't get you punished. Investing in people. A room full of people you actually want to work next to.

None of it costs a dollar.

Meanwhile I've got a pool company in Texas where the labor market is brutal, where I paid above market to lock a guy in, where I can't find anybody who wants a management job at any price.

I've been competing on money 'cause I thought money was the only lever I had.

And six people in Colombia just told me the stuff that actually keeps them has nothing to do with money.

I'm not gonna sit here and say comp doesn't matter. Pay people. Pay them well. If you're underpaying, none of this saves you.

But I take that culture stuff for granted. I couldn't have told you it was our advantage before they said it out loud. It's just how we operate and I've never once thought about it as something we're doing on purpose.

That's a mistake. If you don't know what's holding your people, you can't protect it. And you sure can't build more of it.

Here's what I'd do this week.

Ask your people why they stay. Not a survey. Out loud, in a room, where they can hear each other say it.

You're gonna hear stuff you didn't build on purpose. Whatever they name, that's your actual retention strategy. Not the comp plan.

Then go look at whether the other side of your business has any of it. 'Cause I flew home wondering why I've got this in Medellín and I'm not sure I've got it in Texas.

Most owners can't tell you why their good people stay. They can tell you what they pay them. Those are different things and only one of them costs you money. That's the kind of thing we dig in at Thesis and would love to talk to you about how we can help your business.