This week, Institutional Investor announced that for the second year in a row, Citadel founder Ken Griffin topped the the nation’s highest-paid hedge fund managers.

In 2015, Griffin earned $1.7 billion, even though it was Citadel’s worst performing year since 2010. At the 2016 Salt Hedge fund conference, held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas this week, Griffin explained how his firm has remained consistent over the years: A strong corporate culture.

In a one-on-one interview with SkyBridge CEO and Salt Founder Anthony Scarramuchi, Griffin explained that he learned from his mentor Frank Meyer the importance of recruiting the top people in the industry.

Griffin met Meyer at then-Chicago-based Glenwood Partners. That mentorship taught him an important lesson about what would help fuel his future success (for more, read: Top 5 Highest Paid Hedge Fund Managers.)

“[Frank] told me to avoid marrying yourself to a strategy,” Griffin said before a packed audience. “Instead, you should focus on building a platform that attracts the best people.”

Culture has been at the center of Citadel’s growth since the hedge fund manager began the firm in his early 20s. It was March 2015 that the firm received high praise from its employees as a great place to work (for more, read World's Top 10 Hedge Fund Firms.)

According to a survey by research firm Great Place to Work of 34,000 financial-services employees, Citadel ranks tenth among firms with 1,000 or more employees.

“The survey tells me that we like being part of a winning team that solves problems,” Griffin told Crain’s Chicago Business last year. “We thrive on being part of an organization that's changing the world of finance.”

Griffin began trading at Harvard University when he was still a teenager. Living in the dorms before the widespread adoption of the internet, Griffin wired a satellite dish to the top of his building and traded when not studying. During SALT, Griffin said that Harvard students were not allowed to run businesses in their dorm rooms. This is an interesting rule given that multi-billion-dollar firms like Citadel and Facebook have both been conceived in the dorms of Harvard.

Aside from his rule-breaking at Harvard, Griffin stressed the importance of following the rule of hiring good people no matter how difficult it is perceived.

Just last week, hedge fund manager Steve Cohen complained that there was a lack talent in the hedge fund industry (for more, read Top Hedge Fund Managers of 2015).

Griffin argued that talent exists. Good managers simply need to fight for these employees.

“Every new generation of managers has the same story about how hard it is to find talented people,” he said. “Good people have great sets of opportunities. You need to sell people on why they need to leave one firm and come work for you. I believe that the best talent is the talent that you go out and find. The talent that knocks on your door is not the best.”

The Salt Conference runs from May 11 to May 13.