Close every conversation by asking what you can do for the other person.

technique — attributed to Ben Erwin

Erwin ends nearly every meeting, call, and one-on-one with the same question, and he is aware his team finds it funny. He also describes how its meaning shifts across a career: early on it solves someone's immediate problem, in the middle it signals the relationship is not purely self-interested, and from the top it sets the actual terms of what a leadership job is for. The technique is not the question itself but the repetition. Performed consistently enough, a single habit becomes the visible shape of how an organization treats people, without needing to be written down anywhere.

For leaders looking for one repeatable habit that compounds into culture.

habit, culture, leadership, repetition