Insights
How Libby Kranz’s Non-Profit is Unraveling a Cure to Pediatric Cancer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toGTHVrnU4M Libby Kranz shares her personal journey of turning grief into action after losing her daughter to pediatric cancer. She discusses the creation and growth of her nonprofit organization, Unravel Pediatric Cancer, which aims to...
The Art of Storytelling to Drive Organizational Change with TED Speaker and Author Karen Eber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5UANc4CIgA Karen Eber’s journey in storytelling began with her personal experiences and evolved into a professional passion. Her approach goes beyond traditional methods, integrating storytelling into the fabric of leadership and...
Embracing Realistic Business Goals to Achieve Lasting Results with Lloyed Lobo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9S81ZRlJls Lloyed Lobo, the co-founder of Boast.AI and an expert in community-led growth, shares his journey of building deep, meaningful connections in the business landscape. In this inspiring episode, Lobo discusses the significance...
Inspiring Wholeness: The Cultural Revolution at First United Bank
In a bold reinterpretation of corporate metrics, First United Bank has introduced 'Key Purpose Indicators', a play on the traditional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This program takes an innovative look at what gets measured. At the heart of First United Bank's...
A Masterclass in Culture with IKEA CEO Jesper Brodin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdS0UHGkGE4 From leading IKEA, one of the world's largest furniture brands, to championing sustainability and innovation, Jesper Brodin's journey is a remarkable tale of leadership and forward-thinking. As CEO, Brodin has been...
Strategies for Attracting Top Talent with Toptal CPO Michelle Labbe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo9q-F2ISQU Michelle Labbe, the Chief People Officer at Toptal, shares her expert insights into the rapidly evolving world of HR and talent acquisition. In this episode of Culture Leaders Podcast, Labbe discusses the significant...
Navigating Life’s Toughest Moments: Ryan Leak’s Lessons for Business and Beyond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-oAVeF4zo Leak, an acclaimed speaker and coach, brings a fresh perspective on leadership and generosity. In this insightful interview, Leak shares his journey and how he empowers others to unleash their potential. He delves into his...
The Echo Chamber of Social Media and Perception vs. Reality
A consultant has gone viral on TikTok promoting a networking trick she calls 'corporate flirting' to get ahead at work The concept of "corporate flirting," a viral term popularized on platforms like TikTok, is often misunderstood. Contrary to its seemingly flirtatious...
The Double-Edged Sword of the Open Door Policy
The open door policy poses a complex challenge in the world of corporate leadership, especially for CEOs. Although the intention is to foster an environment of transparency and accessibility, it frequently unintentionally allows for a steady stream of complaints and...
It’s Time to Retire These Common Workplace Terms – Lessons In Change Management
The gap between various employee categories has shown to be an ongoing issue in workplaces across the board. The distinctions between hourly and salaried workers, blue collar and white collar, knowledge workers and non-knowledge workers, front line and office,...
It’s Time to Retire These Common Workplace Terms – Lessons In Change Management
The gap between various employee categories has shown to be an ongoing issue in workplaces across the board. The distinctions between hourly and salaried workers, blue collar and white collar, knowledge workers and non-knowledge workers, front line and office,...
A Shocking Change to the Workforce: Insights from New Pew Research Report
The changing makeup of the American workforce is highlighted in yesterday’s Pew Research Center report, which focuses in particular on older workers (those 65 and older). Today, we’re diving into the report’s main conclusions and talking about how they affect...
What It’s Like to Work at a Company That Doesn’t Use Email
When new employees are onboarded at Toptal, a hypergrowth company with a staggering 40% annual growth rate and a workforce of 1200 employees, they’re told: email isn’t our thing. This company is redefining the rules of communication. Toptal has chosen to abandon email...
One Simple Tool For Cascading Your Purpose
I want to dive into an inspiring initiative that caught my attention in the ever-evolving world of company culture. It concerns a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at a significant electronic company based in Japan, responsible for a 70,000-person workforce with a...
Unveiling the Trust Triangle: Building Authentic Company Cultures
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the UKG Aspire event in Las Vegas, where I had the honor of delivering a keynote on the spotlight stage. It was a packed house, standing room only for 500 people in person and over 400 more tuning in online. The title of my...
Your Job Title Is Holding You Back
When we think about what we do, it's natural to describe our work with our job titles. We say things like, "I'm the VP of Sales," "I'm a receptionist," or "I am a truck driver." These titles serve as convenient labels for the tasks and activities we perform. However,...
Trust Over Surveillance: A Lesson from Dropbox’s CEO on Remote Work
As the world cautiously inches back towards in-person work, Dropbox's CEO, Drew Houston, offers a fresh and unconventional perspective that challenges the prevailing norms of the corporate world. "I'd say, 'your employees have options. They're not resources to...
Unpacking the Remote Work Premium: The Dollars and Sense of Working from Anywhere
Earning roughly $6000 without leaving your home sounds pretty good. Meet Emilie Bergstrom, a vibrant 28-year-old with a passion for making a difference. Just a few years ago, she was working the daily grind as a personal assistant in the bustling heart of New York...
Coffee Badging May Be The Secret Driver To Unprecedented Employee Engagement
Let's dive into an intriguing workplace phenomenon known as "Coffee Badging." This trend is reshaping the traditional office attendance model, and it's something every CEO and leader should be aware of. Bosses want people back in the office, but employees are finding...
Why CEOs with No Values Are Winning
Did I get your attention? I'd like to challenge a commonly held belief in the world of corporate culture: the idea that corporate values matter. Pause right now and list out the values of your organization. I’ll wait. Could you remember all of them? Have you ever made...
Why It’s Good News for CEOs That Only 27% of Workers Feel They Have a Healthy Relationship with Work
HP Inc. unveiled its first-ever HP Work Relationship Index, providing insight into the condition of workplace relationships around the world. This extensive study offers helpful insights into the shifting dynamics of our work culture and is based on surveys from more...
Unlocking the Power of Group Identity: How Belief Adaptability Drives Success in Workplaces and Beyond
During my high school years, I wholeheartedly embraced the identity of a theater geek. I not only identified with it but took pride in it, considering my fellow theater enthusiasts far superior to the cheerleaders or the computer nerds. This phenomenon can be...
When Purpose Conceals a Lack of Morality in Leadership
How should you respond when your executive team utilizes the purpose statement as a means to cover up a lack of moral compass? It's a question that cuts to the core of ethical leadership, and today, I want to explore it in depth, drawing connections to the...
Breaking the Silence: Supporting Menopausal Women in The Workplace
Just a few days ago, I turned 40. It got me thinking about the journey ahead and, more importantly, the tremendous support I've experienced from the company I'm proud to work for. Employers all over are finally waking up to the fact that there's a vital group of...
Leading with Heart: Navigating Social Issues with an Authentic CEO Approach
I'm sure you all heard something about the unexpected chaos that erupted when Bud Light had the idea to send beers to a trans influencer. This seemingly harmless gesture set off a whirlwind of controversy, throwing both the beverage giant and its CEO smack into the...
Unveiling the Gender Pay Gap in Sports and Beyond
Kickoff: Celebrating the FIFA Women's World Cup So, who caught the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup? The 3 a.m. start time would usually be too early for me, but let me tell you, that game was worth it. A one-score game will never fail to keep me on the...
Navigating the Complexities of Leadership: Embracing Alignment and Fearless Direction
Lasting impressions are made by those who challenge conventions. But breaking the rules alone does not necessarily translate to achieving business success. As companies face more uncertainties and fears, there's a temptation to resort to leadership tactics driven by...
“The Culture of Hollywood: Uniting Fairness On and Off The Set”
In the heart of the city of dreamers, or in a more literal sense, angels, you will always find a constant creative frenzy. How could you not, with Disneyland around the corner? But this isn't just another day in Hollywood; it's an event that highlights the struggles...
How To Improve The Front Lines
There is a recent study from Monster in which 38% of respondents called their boss "horrible" and 54% total gave their boss a 1-2 rating on a five-point scale, with five being the highest. In good (maybe?) news from that survey, 17% did rate their boss as "excellent."...
Which type of culture yields 316% revenue growth?
We conducted research in concert with Stanford University in H1 of 2023, studying 243 organizations in the process. We divided culture into eight attributes, then analyzed the long-term financial implications of each attribute across the 243 companies. Our results...
Understanding Zodiak and bolstering the financial acumen of front-line managers
Zodiak®: The Game of Business Finance and Strategy is a fast-paced, classroom-based simulation designed to improve the business acumen and financial literacy of anyone whose daily decisions impact the overall health of your organization. You can learn more about it on...
Our Workshops: Culture Equation and Accountability
We offer two primary workshops to clients. Workshops are smaller engagements (one to 1.5 days) that focus on key topics of culture, prioritization, and change management -- but do so in a compact way that both creates immediate action and gets you some exposure to how...
The State Of Culture Report: Q1 2023
From January to March 2023, we surveyed professionals of all levels (n=150) across multiple industries about their cultures, their confidence in those cultures, and general organizational success. The questions about culture were open-ended, but we coded responses and...
How culture can be quantified
Executives often understand the inherent power of culture, but don't understand how it links to financial returns -- which is often, logically, how they are judged. We put together a quick one-pager to show you some of the connections between a strong culture and...
Flexibility, adaptability, and the power of good teams
This originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn newsletter. Subscribe to that, if you'd like! I had the pleasure of working with a client this week in Nashville with some of my tremendous colleagues -- Ron Paul, Ph.D., Joe Kozub, and John Henry Scott III:...
How to best define work “culture”
This post originally appeared as part of Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn newsletter. Feel free to subscribe to that, if you'd like! Every week, one or more of my colleagues at CULTURE PARTNERS is at a company somewhere, engaging with senior leaders on how to...
The COVID Shift: “Double down on flexibility and adaptability”
This article originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn. Most Americans began truly reckoning with COVID around mid-March 2020; some are still grappling with COVID and all its various effects. There have been a many theories tossed around about COVID's ultimate...
What if change management processes DON’T need to be hard?
This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as a Jessica Kriegel newsletter edition. To subscribe to her newsletter, go here. Working on finishing up significant research on #culture based on work we did with 240+ organizations. We found that the best type of culture...
From CNN: “Loud Quitting” and the need for adaptability and flexibility
Jessica Kriegel, our Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture, appeared on CNN's Early Start this morning to discuss some recent Gallup studies about general disengagement in the workplace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jol9RI7W9E Near the end of the three-minute clip,...
That time we got an entire room to sing “The Greatest Love Of All”
At a client engagement in May 2023, two of our consultants opened a session by getting members of a Mississippi-based organization to sing Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All" as a tie to their desired end-state culture, purpose, and mission. It's fun to...
How to begin building accountability in a team
This is undoubtedly a complicated topic, and thousands of teams around the world struggle with accountability and autonomy. As HBR has noted, the lack of accountability is rarely intentional, meaning managers and executives do have the best intentions. (We've seen...
Is there a type of layoff that’s more humane?
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel’s LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. I had the privilege of being mentioned in a BBC WorkLife article about humane layoffs a few weeks ago. You might see the words...
Diversity 2.0: Interculturalism, As Opposed To Multiculturalism
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel’s LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. We’ve been trying – sometimes in a performative way – to get diversity right within organizations for literal decades now. We’ve...
In a potential crisis of apathy, what is the proper role of leadership teams?
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel’s LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. I came across this article from TIME recently: "It's Harder Than Ever To Care About Anything." It's similar in some ways to...
Why love and consciousness matter to workplace culture
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel’s LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. I come across significant amounts of content on management styles, culture, psychology and human flourishing. I get to see, and...
You don’t want your employees to burn out. But you also don’t want them bored to tears.
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel’s LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. We've talked a lot about burnout in the last five years, and that's a very important narrative about present work and where work...
In a recession, will “culture” matter to executives?
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. The cynical answer to the question in the headline is: "No, we need to focus on keeping the lights on." The real answer...
Why should you aspire to be a “Great Place To Work?”
This originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. To start to answer that question, let me show you a LinkedIn post from Michael C. Bush, who is the CEO of Great Place to Work. Based...
Do your employees work with the proper pace? There’s a way to get them there.
This post originally appeared on Jessica Kriegel's LinkedIn. To subscribe to her every-Friday newsletter, also on LinkedIn, go right here. This topic will be broad brush to a certain extent, but it’s something we constantly hear about from clients at CULTURE...
Reminder: “Culture” is not the same as “Perks”
When this video from the YouTube channel How Money Works first came out, dozens of people sent it to various Culture Partners executives, keynoters, and practitioners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88SGfykwt8g The video makes some good points, and is admittedly...