The Remote Work Revolution: Peter Murhy Lewis of Strategic Pete On Building Strong Cultures in a Digital World

An Interview With Chad Silverstein

I expect A+ work, but I don’t expect burnout. Give people ownership, clear goals, and check in to provide support, not supervision.

The remote work revolution has transformed how we think about work, but it has also raised important questions about maintaining culture and connection in a virtual world. To explore this important topic, we are interviewing Peter Murphy Lewis.

Peter Murphy Lewis is a remote team strategist, fractional CMO, and founder of Strategic Pete, a marketing agency built entirely on remote talent. Over the past decade, he has hired and trained over 100 interns — most with zero experience — into high-performing team members who now run key parts of his business. His forthcoming book, Interns to A-Players: A Playbook for Remote Bosses, lays out his proven system for hiring, mentoring, and developing talent in a remote-first world.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I’ve never had a linear career, and I don’t think I ever will. I started out in Chile, where I built a tourism company from scratch, expanding from two staff to nearly 50 in four cities. Political turmoil later ruined my company overnight, and I needed to change gears — first to media, then SaaS, and finally to leading remote teams for fast-growing businesses.

The common strand throughout? Humans. Whether it was running a travel company, producing a television show, or leading an entirely remote team, success always hinged on one thing: building trust, imposing accountability, and designing a culture where humans are able to thrive without micromanaging.

That’s why I wrote “Interns to A-Players: A Playbook for Remote Bosses.” Having hired and developed over 100 interns into high-performing team members, I wanted to pass on the exact same system that converts raw talent into high-impact contributors — without micromanaging, wasted meetings, or common hiring blunders.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began working with remote or hybrid teams?

I was one of the first victims of the fallacy that remote hiring was a matter of just looking for “self-starters” and letting them sort it out. I hired a very talented marketing intern, a great resume in theory. But after a couple of weeks, deadlines were missed, projects stalled, and my Slack messages went unanswered.

I figured she was just not the right person. But when I did get her on a call at last, she confessed she was utterly overwhelmed — she had no idea what success looked like, felt uncomfortable seeking help, and felt she was failing. That conversation entirely altered my style. It taught me that remote leadership isn’t about getting “perfect candidates” on board and crossing fingers they do a good job. It’s about establishing clarity so nobody has to guess what you expect from them.

Then I established crisp frameworks — like the Daily Reflection Survey in my book — so every team member would have frameworks and feedback loops. I do not wait for people to put up their hand when they get lost, since most will not. The role of the remote leader is to build a setting where confusion and loneliness cannot prevail.

You are a successful leader in the remote work space. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Radical clarity — Remote teams lack the luxury of spontaneous in-office visits to clear up confusion. Every task, role, and deadline must be absolutely clear. When people are unclear, they don’t ask questions-they just tune out.
2. Trust over control — So many managers panic when they can’t see their employees at work. They overcompensate with too many meetings, frequent check-ins, and task monitoring. It’s a formula for burnout, not motivation. I care about results, not appearances.
3. Learning in public — I make mistakes, and I own them. The best remote cultures aren’t necessarily about praising success; they make room for learning from mistakes. When I screw up, I tell my team, “Here’s what I did wrong, and here’s how I’m going to fix it. That creates a culture of accountability.

Let’s now dive into the focus of our interview. When the shift to remote work became widespread, what was the biggest challenge you faced in maintaining a strong workplace culture? How did you address it?

The biggest challenge was not silent disengagement. In an office, you can observe non-verbal cues — stressed, disengaged, or frustrated people. In virtual teams, you don’t observe those cues. A team member can be drowning, and you won’t realize it until too late.

I handled this by having frequent, high-trust formal check-ins. Instead of bland “How’s it going?” meetings, we have weekly in-depth sessions where people share what’s going well, what’s not, and where they need help. I don’t ask people to volunteer when they’re having trouble — I create systems that force transparency into workload challenges.

What are some of the unique challenges that remote or hybrid teams face when it comes to creating a sense of connection and belonging?

• Missing Spontaneous Moments — In the office, rapport is formed spontaneously through elevator banter and commiserating over lunch. Distributed teams must actively create connection moments. I’m not a believer in forced merriment, but I do initiate Slack channels where people can share random wins, challenges, and industry facts.
• Asynchronous Loneliness — Since we’re working in separate time zones, people feel like they’re islanded. I therefore emphasize team rituals — beginning the week with individual wins or public milestones — to keep everybody in mind that we’re working toward a common objective.
• Culture Drift — Offsite cultures degenerate when they are not kept alive. That is why I document not just the work procedures, but also the cultural norms. I tell my team why we do something in a specific manner — not just how — so that they belong to something greater.

What tools or technologies have you found most effective in fostering communication, collaboration, and team alignment in a remote setting?

• Slack — Quick updates and instant troubleshooting without inefficient meetings.
• Loom — Perfect for async video explanations cutting through excessive email threads.
• Daily Reflection Surveys — Quick check-ins from my book that raise potential issues before they become real issues.
• Monday.com — Seeing projects without micromanaging. If I have to ask the question “Where are we on this?” then our system has failed.

What role does leadership play in building and sustaining a strong company culture in a remote or hybrid work environment?

Culture is not something you state in a company memo — it’s the actions that you allow and encourage on a daily basis. Leaders lead by:

• Being the first to admit when they were wrong (transparency)
• Defining success so that no one needs to guess
• Developing mechanisms that render accountability the standard

An unstructured remote team will degenerate into chaos, not creativity. Leadership is thus not a matter of control but of designing an environment where people want to take responsibility.

What advice would you give to leaders who are struggling to maintain employee engagement and motivation in a fully remote workforce?

• Make success crystal clear — Ambiguity kills motivation. If individuals don’t know what “great work” is, they will not be able to deliver it.
• Create rituals — I don’t do status update calls. Instead, I utilize structured team rituals — such as weekly “wins” shoutouts — to reinforce engagement.
• Foster autonomy — I give people ownership of their work, but also give them guardrails so they don’t feel lost. Autonomy without structure is abandonment.

Ok, let’s explore actionable insights. Based on your experience, can you share “5 Strategies to Build a Strong Workplace Culture in a Remote Work Environment”? If you can, please include examples or stories for each.

1. Systems > Surveillance — If you need to constantly supervise, you don’t have a team — you have a digital jail. Clear processes and expectations enable people to work without being supervised.
2. Normalize Learning in Public — I share my mistakes, my team does the same. If people can say, “I messed up, here’s what I learned,” you’ve got a real culture.
3. Fun Should Happen, Not Be Scheduled — Nobody attends mandatory Zoom happy hours. Culture is made in Slack jokes, shared wins, and people actually enjoying their work — not corporate icebreakers.
4. Write. Everything. Down. — If it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist. We don’t do meetings for alignment; every process, decision, and expectation is clear in Notion.
5. Autonomy + Accountability — I expect A+ work, but I don’t expect burnout. Give people ownership, clear goals, and check in to provide support, not supervision.

How do you address potential feelings of isolation or disconnection that employees may experience in a remote work environment?

You don’t fight isolation with forced fun-you fight it with daily connection. That means intentional check-ins that dive beneath the surface of “how’s it going?” and actually find real pain points. It means casual Slack channels where people share weekend victories, personal accomplishments, or even a good-natured debate about the best work snacks. Culture isn’t an event, it’s built in the little moments where people feel seen and heard.

Can you share an example of a remote work initiative, policy, or program that you implemented which had a significant positive impact on your team?

Our Intern-First Model. Every one of my managers started as an intern. It’s built-in mentorship, accountability, and cultural continuity. Instead of just “hiring managers,” we cultivate them from within, so the culture is self-perpetuating. New hires don’t just learn our values-they learn them from people who have lived them from day one.

How do you strike the balance between flexibility (one of the main benefits of remote work) and ensuring accountability and productivity?

By making success painfully clear. If people don’t know what “good” is, they’ll either go overboard or tune out. I set challenging results, but how people get there is up to them. The trick? Formal goal setting and weekly reflection. I don’t track hours — I track impact.

What trends or innovations in remote work are you most excited about, and how do you see them shaping the future of workplace culture?

AI-powered workflow automation. Less time spent on busy work, more time spent on deep, creative problem solving. The best remote teams aren’t just adopting AI, they’re figuring out how to use it to augment their best people, not replace them.

In your opinion, how does building a strong culture in a remote work environment impact not just employees, but also customers, clients, and the company’s overall performance?

A disconnected team = mediocre work. An engaged, connected team = ideas, execution, and results. When your team feels like they belong, they don’t just “do tasks”, they take ownership. That translates to better work, happier clients, and a business that actually grows rather than endlessly churning through talent.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people through better remote work cultures, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The Radical Trust Movement — where leaders stop micromanaging and start empowering. No more keystroke tracking, no more pointless meetings, no more hiring A-players only to treat them like B-players. When you trust people to do their best work, they actually do it.

How can our readers follow you online?

On LinkedIn, I share all my thoughts on remote teams, hiring, and leadership. And for the full playbook on how to turn interns into A-players, check out my forthcoming book!

About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.

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