Voima Weekly #21 – Culture at Palace: Backbone in Everyday Work

Restaurant palace, from own collection.

We’ve had a fast-paced and demanding year at Voima, but on Wednesday we took a moment to pause and celebrate the end of the year and the beginning
of a new one. I’ve occasionally looked back on Voima’s eight-year journey, and I wanted to highlight a few stories that, over time, have shaped the culture we have today. We’ve welcomed several new team members this year, and for that reason it felt important to articulate the cultural principles that have made it possible for Voima to still exist — eight years later.

In this Weekly, I want to share a few themes that rise from these principles — themes that are not only relevant to Voima, but resonate more broadly with Finland’s current economic situation, a landscape that has seen no real growth for decades.

For many, the word culture brings to mind museums, performances, or the arts. But originally the term had nothing to do with aesthetics or atmosphere; it meant cultivation. The word comes from the Latin colere: to tend, to care for, to cultivate. And that is what culture truly is: it is what a community cultivates within itself; the habits, norms, and actions it repeats, and ultimately commits to.

Finland's current economic condition is only the tip of the iceberg. High unemployment, one of the heaviest tax burdens in the OECD, a public sector now accounting for more than half of our GDP, and the fact that we are the only OECD country with no projected growth — and one of the few in the entire world with none at all — describe the surface of the moment. The deeper story is cultural: the erosion of work ethic, the rise of the “I am entitled to” attitude, slowing movement, the weight of bureaucracy, and an increasing avoidance of responsibility.

This extends into our tax structure and the expectation model built around it, the quiet assumption that the system will carry the weight, that someone else will pay, and that benefits belong to me simply because they exist. When a culture begins to expect more than it gives, and seeks advantages before taking responsibility, the consequences appear everywhere: in work, in the economy, and in the overall direction of society.

Economic indicators rarely deteriorate first; culture does. And when a culture begins to devalue work, responsibility, and discipline — replacing them with less effort, less accountability, more acquired entitlements, and a “me first” mindset — the numbers inevitably follow. Purchasing power has eroded significantly after decades of monetary expansion; the “growth” produced by inflation is largely the result of an expanding money supply, not real value creation.¹ It shows that we have not merely failed to generate growth, but we have, in real terms, moved backwards from the standard we once had.

Culture also defines what is collectively considered “acceptable”: how much wealth one may have, whether failure is permitted, what forms of risk-taking are seen as honorable, and what level of ambition is allowed — just as it defines how much it is deemed morally acceptable to tax those who succeed. When a culture deceives itself into believing that the right answer is to take from those who still carry and redistribute to those who do not, a moral distortion emerges. It is true that we should support the weaker, but that support must rise from free will, not compulsion. Forced virtue does not build a community; voluntary responsibility and generosity do. And as norms erode, so too does the courage and capability of a nation, shrinking in direct proportion to the expectations it lowers.

We already see this in everyday life: in the weakening of the family unit, collapsing birth rates, rising mental-health and substance-abuse issues, persistent deficits, economic strain, the avoidance of responsibility, and the erosion of work ethic. Without a shared vision, energy bleeds sideways instead of moving forward. And when shame no longer protects a person, pride begins to form in the wrong places — in rights without duties, benefits without work, positions without substance, and public visibility without any real value.

This model is sustained by a system that takes from those who still create value and redistributes to those who are no longer connected to it. It rewards passivity and penalises agency, weakening a nation's capability precisely in the space where it should be strengthening. This is the opposite of the principle on which strong societies have always been built: action is rewarded, inaction is not. Those who used their talents and carried responsibility were given more opportunities; those who buried their talents lost even the little they had.² This is not injustice, but a basic moral law: capability grows through use and decays when left idle.

Culture does not collapse in a single moment, but through small daily choices — moments when a person or a community stops being the one who builds and becomes the one who waits.

Voima's eight-year journey shows this in practice: we are not perfect, far from it. We have had more failures than successes, yet we have not given up. My thanks to everyone who kept going when it would have been easier to quit. We do not participate in decline thinking. Our journey is only beginning. We aim for profitable growth — beyond what Finland's borders alone can provide. And as the startup handbook reminds us: just do the work!³

–Marko Viinikka
Founder, CEO
Voima Gold Oy

¹ If we assume that a cup of home-brewed coffee cost around 10 cents at the turn of the millennium and about 25 cents today, the price increase alone produces roughly €900 million of ‘economic growth’ in the statistics. And with Finns drinking around six billion cups of coffee each year, this growth appears without a single additional cup being consumed — without any new wellbeing or real value being created.

² Principle of the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25): The core of the parable is not injustice but a moral law: value grows when used and decays when left idle. Those who employed their talents and carried responsibility were given more opportunities; the one who buried his talent lost even what he had. The model rewards agency and discipline, not passivity — which is why it stands in direct contrast to the modern state-centric logic that often takes from those who act and gives to those who do not.

³ Start-up Handbook by Timo Ahopelto & Jyri Engeström. The phrase “just do the work” reflects the book’s central ethos of action, iteration, and disciplined execution — core principles for any organisation seeking growth beyond its initial constraints.

Disclaimer: Voima Weeklies are the personal writings of the undersigned. They do not necessarily represent the official view of Voima Gold Oy or any other company, nor do they constitute investment advice or a recommendation to purchase securities.