On my wedding day, my girlfriends gave my husband a giant binder covered in pink fur. It was called, The Fisherman’s Guide to Life with Candra. These women, who knew me better than anyone else in the world, decided the fisherman in question (my new hubby) could benefit from having an “operations manual” to help him understand some key things about me. They told him, for example, that I get up early, I fall asleep in an instant (occasionally, mid-conversation), that I love dressing up in costumes, and that I get very stubborn when someone tells me “No, that is not possible.”

When companies authentically invest in their culture, people feel seen, heard, valued and respected. Connections deepen. Collaboration soars. They come together around a higher purpose and achieve extraordinary results.

When you invest in your family culture, the same amazing things happen.

We’re all being tested right now in ways we could never have imagined. If you’re a business leader, you’re facing your own particular challenges when it comes to keeping now-remote teams calm, cohesive, and productive. It’s a huge responsibility. How you handle it is a reflection of the work culture you’ve already created or are currently creating in the face of immense change.

It’s a high-stakes time for business leaders and teams, with fears about COVID-19 sending countless employees scurrying home to work remotely. Leaders need to ensure their teams stay as positive as possible, yet people are feeling disconnected and uneasy.

These days, leadership calls for being able to energize a group of people around a shared vision of success that goes way beyond an organization’s bottom line. Workers are making it clear that it’s no longer enough to do a job just because it brings in a paycheck. (If you’ve ever worked with millennials, you know this is particularly true for them.) Don’t we all want to know that the way we’re spending our precious time on this planet truly matters?

I just got back from leading a three-day retreat on Mt. Tamalpais in beautiful Marin County, CA. As the fog swallowed the peaks and valleys each evening and peeled back slowly each morning, I had the honor of peeking into the inner workings of a leading-tech-company team. Before gathering on our mountain perch, this diverse group of remote workers, who ranged in age from 23 to 60, had never met in person. During our 72 hours together, we had four goals: