We all know business leaders have an enormous power to influence the direction of their company. Everything they say and do can have a dramatic effect on the organization and the people that work there. If your company is under pressure to continually innovate, how leaders set the tone can come even more into play.

Adam Bryant regularly interviews C-suite executives for his The New York Times feature Corner Office. He often chooses to speak with CEOs in the tech world because they are currently in a heated battle to hire and keep talent. This forces them to emphasize culture so they can successfully attract the people they need to propel innovation.

While one-way to do this is offering perks (such as the twice-monthly free house cleaning Evernote employees enjoy), Bryant shares many other culture drivers leaders can implement in his new book Quick and Nimble; Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation. 

1. Communication

It’s incredibly important for leaders to communicate with their employees constantly and there is no such thing as doing this too much. Bryant says this is one of the best insights he’s learned from speaking with CEOs. He sites one example where the company was switching food vendors, so for about a week, the menu options dwindled in the corporate cafeteria. Crazy rumors spread about the future of the organization simply because the staff was not made aware of the change.

2. Learning

One example of a successful company culture is one where “school never ends” and everyone is continually learning. This is because people want to feel like they are developing new skills. Company leaders are wise to create in-house universities of sorts and to put a lot of effort into training. One of the biggest threats to employee retention is when they begin to feel as if they are not learning and, as a result, decide to leave for a new challenge.

3. Having Fun

If culture is the sum total of relationships, then leaders need to create a culture that is fun. Bryant says you should avoid announcing it’s time to have fun, the way Michael Scott liked to do on NBC’s The Office, and instead let it happen more organically. He says you can let your employees take the lead, but show them the way by “making fun of the boss” and having a self-deprecating sense of humor about yourself.

Read one-on-one interviews with three successful entrepreneurs and learn how they grew their businesses by downloading this free ebook.