The smartest business leaders are investing in culture. Here’s why it’s paying off.
You invest in product, marketing, sales, and infrastructure.
But when was the last time you invested in your people with the same intentionality?
We’ve all read the quotes that say “people are our greatest asset,” but most companies barely fund leadership development beyond a workshop or a vague line item under training.
And yet, research and real-world results are revealing a striking truth: the best companies in the world invest 1 to 2 percent of their annual revenue into leadership, culture, and people development. Not 1 to 2 percent of their HR budget—1 to 2 percent of total revenue.
“I Tried to Hit the 2% Target. It Was Harder Than I Thought.”
Jim Schleckser, CEO of The CEO Project, shared in Inc. Magazine that although top-performing companies in his network invested around 2 percent of revenue into people development, his own organization struggled to hit that mark.
Even with full support for education, coaching, and training, “the highest we ever got was 1.25 percent.” And even that made a measurable difference.
At Leaders Rising Network, we see this all the time. Companies that commit to developing their people—not as a perk, but as a business strategy—build teams that perform better, stay longer, and lead with confidence.
Culture Is Not a Line Item. It’s a Strategy.
We work with executive teams who admit they’ve tried everything: off-the-shelf trainings, corporate retreats, internal HR programs. And they’re still stuck.
High performers are hitting ceilings. They’re not growing into leaders. Turnover is costing six figures per hire. Trust is low. Meetings are unproductive. Self-preservation is replacing ownership.
In our GPS Discovery sessions, we often hear:
- “We’re moving too slow (or too fast) and burning out.”
- “We don’t have a leadership pipeline we can count on.”
- “Our best people are stretched too thin.”
- “We need to stop random acts of leadership development.”
They don’t need another motivational talk. They need a scalable, measurable people development strategy that actually drives performance and reinforces culture at every level.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
You’re already feeling the cost—just not in a budget line. Lost productivity, slow execution, high turnover, disengaged teams, missed opportunities.
One LRN client calculated that a single poor leadership transition cost over $175,000 in less than six months. Not in salary—in productivity loss, rework, and lost talent.
When companies resist investing in leadership and culture, they rarely save money. They just lose it more slowly and painfully.
So What Happens When You Do Invest?
When organizations dedicate just 1 percent of revenue to leadership and culture, here’s what we see:
- Higher retention: because people stay where they feel invested in.
- Stronger teams: because shared language and tools increase clarity and collaboration.
- Better decision-making: because trust rises and drama falls.
- Tangible ROI: because performance improves and leadership scales.
In one 6-month engagement with a $30M firm, our Next Level Teams solution led to measurable gains in trust, communication, and execution across their senior leadership. The CEO told us:
“This gave me margin back in my life. I’m not in every decision anymore. I trust my team, and they trust each other.”
That program cost just 0.6 percent of their annual revenue. Not even close to the 1 percent mark. And yet, it delivered exponential returns.
What 1% Actually Buys You
You don’t need a massive budget. You need a measurable plan.
If your company earns $10 million in revenue, 1 percent equals $100,000 per year. That could cover:
- A full 12-month Leader Academy for mid-level managers
- 2 cycles of Next Level Teams for key teams or departments
- Leader Intensives or executive coaching for your C-suite
- Team-wide GiANT OS access, assessments, and culture dashboards
- Internal Catalyst certification to embed leadership in your own DNA
And all of it for less than the cost of losing one key team member.
You Don’t Need a Revolution. You Need a Strategy.
At Leaders Rising Network, we’re not asking you to spend more than you can afford. We’re asking you to start thinking about people development as a core growth investment, not an afterthought.
The goal isn’t to check a box. The goal is to equip every leader in your company to lead with confidence, communicate with clarity, and build culture on purpose.
That’s what 1 percent can unlock—if you use it strategically.
💬 Let’s Talk About What 1% Could Unlock in Your Organization
We work with growth-minded companies to design leadership and culture strategies that scale. If you’re ready to take the next step, let’s talk!
