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The silence of my reverie was broken when my cell phone rang. It was a long-time friend and great mentor, someone who had also made it to the top of the political pyramid.

I assumed he was calling to wish me well and tell me I was going to do great.

I was wrong.

He was calling to offer stark, stern, and serious advice. His words that early morning have stayed with me every day since.

My mentor reminded me I was headed into a big job, with lots of complexity and lots of challenges. He said it would be as hard and frustrating as it would be meaningful and fulfilling.

Then he offered me his most serious admonition.

He said, “Adam, the governor is a good man. A really good man. Don’t take that away from him.

The governor is unfailingly polite. You be unfailingly polite.

He’s humble. You stay humble.

He’s responsive. You be responsive.

And if you don’t, you’ll take his character away from him. If you’re a jerk to someone, then, in their eyes, the governor is a jerk too. You have no right to take the character away from a good man.

Your job is to honor the office.”

What my friend was really saying was that the governor had set a tone for how he wanted to live and lead. A culture. A set of expectations. And because I would be representing the governor hundreds of times each week, I had an obligation to follow his lead.

That’s all I could think about for the rest of my drive to the capitol and throughout my tenure as chief of staff. I didn’t always get it right, but I worked hard at it every day.

Whether you’re selling coffee at a local shop, leading a team at Microsoft, or building a company from the ground up, it’s critically important to know the culture, to live the culture, and to honor the culture. In the eyes of the people with whom you interact, YOU are the company.

Be the company your company expects you to be.

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