What GE HealthCare Learns from the Marines: Cultivating a Culture That Lives Every Day

In 2023, General Electric spun off GE HealthCare, which became an independent company with 50,000 employees. In just one year, it generated nearly $20 billion in revenue. But the most interesting part isn’t in the numbers — behind them lies a deep cultural transformation, widely praised by its employees.

Behind this cultural performance stands one man: Adam Holton, Chief People Officer, who applies to the corporate world what he learned… in the U.S. Marines.

1. Turning values into observable behaviors

In many companies, values remain posters on the wall. The Marines -and GE HealthCare – translate them into specific behaviors:

  • How should a leader act under pressure?
  • What does cooperation look like in daily practice?
  • How do you make quick decisions without losing coherence?

Holton puts it bluntly: “Behaviors are the secret. Once they’re defined, I can hire for them, train for them, and promote for them.”

2. Training for behaviors, not just transmitting knowledge

The Marines train until basic gestures become second nature. At GE HealthCare, the same logic applies: people learn by doing, not by stacking up abstract knowledge. Each cultural principle is translated into concrete skills, and training focuses on real-world simulations, not PowerPoints.

As Holton reminds us: “Knowledge without application changes nothing.”

3. Aligning recruitment and promotion with culture

The strongest lever for anchoring culture is not speeches — it’s HR processes.

  • Recruit people whose behaviors match the expected culture.
  • Promote those who embody the culture, not just those who deliver short-term results.

Holton goes even further: between “developing behaviors” and “selecting the right profiles,” he chooses selection.

Because an organization learns faster when it bets on people already predisposed to its way of working.

4. Simplifying to Keep the Culture Alive

“When you have 72 leadership competencies, you have none. ”The message is clear: too many frameworks kill clarity.

GE HealthCare used its IPO as an opportunity to simplify — keeping only what truly matters. Culture doesn’t thrive through complexity, but through clarity and coherence.

What leaders can learn from this

The GE HealthCare case shows that culture is not a “nice to have.” It is a training system, embodied in behaviors, HR processes, and daily rituals.

Three keys for any COMEX:

  • Don’t just talk about values — define the expected behaviors.
  • Don’t just train your teams — have them practice.
  • Don’t complicate benchmarks — simplify them to make culture actionable.
What Leaders Can Learn

The GE HealthCare case shows that culture isn’t an add-on — it’s a training system embodied in behaviors, HR processes, and everyday rituals.

Three practical takeaways for any executive committee:

  • Don’t just talk about values — define the expected behaviors.
  • Don’t just train your teams — make them practice.
  • Don’t complicate your frameworks — simplify to make culture actionable.
Further reading:
  • MIT Sloan Management Review