It Started With a Crisp Packet (Not a Strategy Document)

The crisp packet that changed everything

It Started With a Crisp Packet (Not a Strategy Document)

It didn’t start with a grand vision.
It didn’t start with a strategy document.

It started with a crisp packet.

I remember walking past it outside the office, thinking: someone will pick that up.
The next day it was still there.
By the third day, I realised something bigger was going on.

Culture is built in small moments

If no one in the business felt responsible for something as small as a crisp packet, what else were we ignoring?
What else was “someone else’s job”?

That crisp packet became the mirror. It showed me where our culture was really at.

The truth is, culture isn’t built in away days or values posters.
Culture is built in the smallest moments — the ones no one thinks matter.
Moments like:

• picking up rubbish instead of walking past it

• staying two minutes late to help a colleague finish

• admitting you messed up before anyone asks

What leaders tolerate becomes the culture

Those moments tell the truth about a business.

I became “The Crisp Guy” because that packet changed me. It taught me that leadership isn’t about titles or plans — it’s about what you tolerate, what you ignore, and what you model.

And here’s the stripped-back lesson: culture starts with the little things you think don’t matter.