Culture
A set of shared values and behavioral norms that control the interactions between members of an organization and with those outside the organization. It is "how we do things around here."
Impact
Peter Drucker famously said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." A toxic culture will defeat any tool, process, or architectural pattern you try to implement.
Weinto take
Culture is not ping-pong tables and free snacks. Culture is what you tolerate. In engineering, culture is defined by how you handle failure. Do you blame the person (toxic)? Or do you fix the system (generative)? We build "Blameless Post-Mortem" cultures where safety enables speed.