Long time lurker, decided to finally make the jump and post about a topic that I find to be extremely important to long term investing but not discussed as often because it is more subjective and harder to understand - corporate culture.
I tend to hold positions for a decade or longer, so in addition to finding advantaged businesses run by astute allocators of capital at reasonable prices, I have found that companies that truly excel over the long term often have a corporate culture that is different or unique compared to the vast majority of companies.
Some characteristics that I believe could signal a unique culture would be (this list is certainly not exhaustive):
Decentralized organization that fosters entrepreneurial thinking
Shunning Wall Street's short term orientation and truly thinking like a long term owner of the business
Going above and beyond to take care of your employees
A customer-first mentality whereby you do what is right for the customer before worrying about shareholders
Mission-driven, passionate leaders
I am sure there are others I am blanking on. Companies that I believe have at least some of these characteristics are Home Depot, Progressive, Berkshire Hathaway, Charles Schwab, CarMax, Fastenal, O'Reilly, Expeditors, Disney, Amazon, Costco, Starbucks, and Satya Nadella's Microsoft.
I am curious as to people's thoughts on (1) agree/disagree that culture is extremely important over the long term, (2) other cultural characteristics I am not thinking of, and (3) other companies that fit the mold of a unique corporate culture.
Thanks!