As someone who has spent years in the trenches of community management and entrepreneurship, I’ve come to a striking realization: communities don’t scale (in the traditional sense).

This epiphany didn’t hit me all at once; it was a slow, creeping awareness that grew with every client interaction at Faiā and every reflective moment spent analyzing my own past work.

But it’s led me to a new obsession — one that’s consumed my thoughts and reshaped my approach to business.

That obsession is organizational culture.

To understand why, let’s take a step back to when I was knee-deep in community management.

The Early Days of Community Management

My job was to foster connections, build engagement, and create a sense of belonging among groups of people. I was good at it, too. But as I transitioned into entrepreneurship, something changed. I began to notice a fundamental problem: the larger a community became, the harder it was to maintain that close-knit, intimate feeling that makes a community what it is.

This wasn’t just a challenge — it was a paradox. You can’t scale a community without losing the essence of what makes it a community.

And that’s when it hit me: while communities themselves don’t scale, culture does.

You see, “community” is a word that resonates deeply with what I call Spring and Summer cultures — those that are full of growth, energy, and vibrancy.

But when we talk about scaling, we’re entering the territory of Autumn and Winter cultures — those that are focused on sustainability, systems, and efficiency. The language shifts from “connection” to “structure,” from “engagement” to “impact.” And this is where culture becomes the linchpin.

Culture Scales Communities

Source: Thamindu Dilshan Jayawickrama

Culture is the secret sauce that allows communities to scale — not by growing into a monolithic entity but by evolving into a network of interconnected, smaller communities.

Think about it: as communities expand, they naturally sub-divide, forming smaller, more manageable groups. This isn’t just a quirk of human behavior; it’s by design. Humans, after all, are wired for intimacy. We can only manage a limited number of direct relationships — around 150, according to the Dunbar Number.

So, when a community grows beyond that, it fragments. But through culture, these fragments don’t just float off into the ether; they remain connected, part of a larger network that shares common values, norms, and behaviors.

This is why they’re called social networks, not social communities. A network can scale; a community, by its very nature, cannot.

But what is culture, really? Why have I become so obsessed with it? The answer lies in its elusive nature. Culture permeates every aspect of an organization, yet it’s one of the most intangible elements. We all acknowledge its existence — ask anyone in business, and they’ll tell you that culture matters. But try to pin down what it actually is, and you’ll find yourself grasping at straws.

Culture is everywhere and nowhere; it’s the air we breathe, the water we swim in, and yet, it’s often invisible to the naked eye.

And that’s precisely why it’s so powerful.

Culture shapes behavior. It influences decisions, drives performance, and ultimately determines the success or failure of an organization. But because it’s intangible, it’s often overlooked or misunderstood. We talk about strategy, we talk about execution, but we rarely talk about culture in a way that acknowledges its true impact.

That’s a mistake.

As I’ve come to realize, understanding culture is the key to unlocking the potential of any organization. It’s the force that binds people together, even as they work in different teams, departments, or even countries. It’s what allows a company to scale while maintaining its core identity, to grow without losing its soul. And it’s the secret to transforming communities into something greater — a network that’s more than the sum of its parts.

So yes, I’m obsessed with culture. But it’s an obsession born of necessity, of understanding that in the complex, ever-evolving world of business, culture isn’t just important — it’s everything. And as I continue to explore this fascinating, elusive force, I’m more convinced than ever that it’s the real key to scaling not just communities, but organizations as a whole.

Culture isn’t just a part of the equation; it is the equation. And that’s why I can’t stop thinking about it.