CultureLab with Aga Bajer
160 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 days ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsThis podcast helps you turn your company culture into rocket fuel for meaningful growth. It explores how we can make work synonymous with fun, meaning, and belonging and looks at how we can build remarkable cultures that scale as our businesses grow and the world keeps on changing.
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Episodes
Jamie Dixon - The Story Habit
May 24, 2022 22:00 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBStorytelling is the very stuff of culture. It’s also the language of the mind. Stories bridge the gap between the past and the future, create shared identities, provide us with meaning, and shape the culture within our communities. But there is more to storytelling than just telling stories. Influencing, changing minds and inspiring action is ultimately about shaping the stories people choose to believe in. And in this interview, Jamie Dixon, the author of the upcoming book “The Story Habit ...
Daniel Coyle - The Culture Playbook
April 19, 2022 22:00 - 56 minutes - 78.4 MBWhat on Earth is frontalis? And why is it the most important part of human anatomy when it comes to forging authentic connections in the remote work environment? How can a corny catchphrase help a team accomplish more? What’s a better alternative to brutal honesty when we want to speak the truth at work? What can leaders learn from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy? And how can we harness the power of deep fun to improve our workplaces? These are just some of the topics we discuss in this epi...
Best of the Archives: People Like Us Do Things Like This | Seth Godin
April 05, 2022 23:00 - 57 minutes - 79 MBThis month we are sharing some of the best episodes from our archive and this one is very special as our guest is none other than the honorary godfather of our show, Seth Godin! Seth is the author of 19 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He’s also the founder of altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ...
Best of the Archives: Unleashing Your Team's Potential | Frances Frei & Anne Morriss
March 22, 2022 23:01 - 1 hour - 110 MBThis month we will be sharing some of the best episodes from our archive and we are starting with one of our biggest blockbusters - an interview with Frances Frei and Anne Morriss. When Google, Uber, WeWork, Riot Games or other high-growth companies need help with their culture and leadership, they call Frances Anne. Frances Frei is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School and her wife, Anne Morriss, is the Executive Founder of The Leadership Consortium....
LaTonya Wilkins - Creating Cultures of Belonging
March 08, 2022 23:01 - 46 minutes - 64.6 MBIn many companies, the approach to shaping culture can be quite superficial. Our guest, LaTonya Wilkins, suggests it's time to go "below the surface" and embrace a radically inclusive leadership style. This interview explores her signature REAL leadership system which creates psychologically safe relationships across differences, empowers underrepresented employees to feel valued, heard, and engaged - and creates cultures of belonging in the workplace. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyur...
Dr. Donte Vaughn - Helping Leaders Become Culture Champions
February 22, 2022 23:01 - 1 hour - 89.7 MBA bit like the operating system on their PCs, culture is something most leaders rarely think about - until it starts causing them problems. When culture slows their teams down and makes work more difficult than it should be, people often start panicking and finally give it the attention it deserves. But even then, it's often with the mindset of "Let's fix it asap and get back to work!" But what if culture was the work, especially for leaders? What if it was their primary responsibility to...
Jay Van Bavel - Social Identity and Company Culture
February 08, 2022 23:01 - 1 hour - 83.3 MBFrom neurons to social networks, Jay Van Bavel’s research investigates the psychology and neuroscience of implicit bias, group identity, team performance, decision-making, and public health. In this conversation, we talk about how we can put the science of social identity into practice so that we can increase performance, improve company culture and create more of a sense of belonging for our people. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources an...
Rodney Evans - Getting Ready for the Future of Work
January 25, 2022 23:00 - 1 hour - 90.7 MBRodney Evans is a pioneer in adaptive organization design and the future of work. She has taught new, better ways of working in dozens of complex environments—including Airbnb, Macy’s, GE, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Intuit, and Johnson & Johnson—to slay bureaucracy, unleash talent, and modernize traditional workplaces and practices. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.aga...
Rohini Anand - Leveling the Playing Field: How to Lead Global DEI
January 24, 2022 15:00 - 57 minutes - 79.7 MBIn this episode, Rohini Anand draws on her experience as the former Chief DEI Officer at Sodexo and shares insights from her book, Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations. We focus on how you can level the playing field so that anyone can do their best work in your organization, irrespective of their identity and background. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materia...
Leandro Herrero - The 5 Principles of a Viral Culture Change
December 28, 2021 23:01 - 1 hour - 90.3 MBLeandro Herrero is the pioneer of Viral Change™ - a methodology that delivers large-scale behavioural and cultural change in organizations. In this episode, we explore how to create viral change within an organization by following five vital principles for change. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/
Charlie Sull - Using AI to Understand Your Culture
December 14, 2021 23:01 - 1 hour - 85 MBCharlie Sull developed a groundbreaking AI tool to understand and assess organizational culture through the use of big-data processing. The tool mines “digital traces” of culture in electronic communications, such as emails, Slack messages, or Glassdoor reviews. By studying the language employees use in these communications, AI can gauge what the current culture is and how it influences people's thoughts and behavior at work. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To a...
Timothy Clark - The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
December 01, 2021 01:00 - 1 hour - 94 MBTimothy Clark is an expert on psychological safety in the workplace. He is recognized as a global authority in the fields of senior executive development, strategy acceleration, and organizational change. He is also the author of five books, including The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, a wonderful, hands-on guide that shows us how we can build psychological safety in our teams and organizations. Tune in for actionable insight on how to build the foundations for a healthy culture. To j...
Kevin Oakes - It's Time for Culture Renovation
November 17, 2021 01:00 - 56 minutes - 77.4 MBKevin Oakes is CEO and co-founder of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), the world’s leading human capital research firm focusing on people practices that drive high performance. In this episode, he shares his research into company culture and what he's learned about culture change. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/
Pim de Morree - Corporate Rebels, Unite!
November 01, 2021 23:01 - 1 hour - 93.6 MBPim De Morree, co-founder of Corporate Rebels talks about what he and his partner, Joost Minaar discovered traveling the world and researching innovative organizations. He shares the 8 shifts that the pioneering organizations embrace as they move towards a more engaging and meaningful work experience. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/
Tom Chi - Cultivating a Culture of Innovation
October 19, 2021 22:01 - 1 hour - 112 MBTom Chi is one of the founding members of Google X who served as head of product experience at developing technology such as Google Glass and Google's self-driving cars. In this episode, we dive into the topic of cultivating an innovative culture and the role leaders play in enabling their teams to develop radical new technologies to solve some of the world’s hardest problems. To join the CultureBrained Community, go to: tinyurl.com/culturebrained
Tom Chi - Cultivating a Culture of Innovation
October 19, 2021 22:01Tom Chi is one of the founding members of Google X who served as head of product experience at developing technology such as Google Glass and Google's self-driving cars. In this episode, we dive into the topic of cultivating an innovative culture and the role leaders play in enabling their teams to develop radical new technologies to solve some of the world’s hardest problems. To join the CultureBrained Community, go to: tiny.one/culturebrained
Gina Bianchini: Communities at Work
October 05, 2021 22:01 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBCommunity and social belonging are fundamental human needs, hardwired into our DNA. Gina Bianchini, the founder and CEO of Mighty Networks has had a front-row seat to hundreds of thousands of successful communities. She has also seen an equal number of communities fail. In this conversation, she shares what she learned about what sets successful communities apart and how you can apply her insights to create community and social belonging in your company. To join CultureBrained® go to tiny...
Yvette Pasqua: Cultivating a High-Performance Culture
September 22, 2021 15:24 - 1 hour - 79.3 MBWith hybrid and remote work, building diverse teams that collaborate well together is more challenging than ever. So, how do you go about creating an environment that drives innovation, performance, and impact and where people can create products that customers love and the business needs? My guest today, Yvette Pasqua, shares her experience on the topic. Yvette is the CTO of EXOS where she leads the product and engineering teams with a focus on continuous improvement, iteration, and usi...
Katarina Berg: Culture at Spotify - Lessons in Scaling
September 06, 2021 22:01 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBSpotify's CHRO, Katarina Berg, knows how to maintain a thriving culture while scaling from a successful startup to a global giant. She shares some of her secrets around unlocking human potential and turning the company culture into the grease that helps it keep rolling at top speed. She also discusses the importance of clarity about who you are and what you stand for and finding effective ways to operationalize your Culture Playbook. She shares how Spotify helps people connect meaningfully w...
Brian Robertson: Getting Rid of Managers
August 24, 2021 07:06 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBPeople don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers. So here is a radical idea: What if we got rid of managers altogether? What if we could do it without decreasing the power of traditional hierarchy but by increasing the power of everyone else? This week Aga is joined by Brian Robertson, the father of holacracy to explore these questions and more. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click...
Giff Constable: Talking to Humans
March 29, 2021 22:01 - 1 hour - 62.9 MBGiff Constable is a product leader, entrepreneur, and author who has sold three companies and helped build many others. In this wide-ranging interview, we cover a lot of ground: from developing great products, leadership, cognitive biases, designing an HR function that actually works for the business, creating psychological safety, taking on creative pursuits that scare us, and much more. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials...
Bretton Putter: Building a Remote Culture
March 08, 2021 23:01 - 1 hour - 56.2 MBBretton Putter is the CEO of CultureGene and he helps companies build and develop strong, functional company cultures. He recently published his second book, Own Your Culture, and in this episode, we talk about what to think about and what to do (asap!) to create a thriving culture in the world of remote or hybrid work. Brett shares plenty of actionable insights and examples of practices you can implement to adapt to this new way of working. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/cultu...
Frances Frei & Anne Morriss: Unleash Your Team's Potential
February 23, 2021 11:39 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBThe world’s top leadership and culture whisperers - Frances Frei and Anne Morris joined me for a fun, wide-ranging, and insightful conversation about how you can unleash your team’s potential. Frances and Anne talk about redefining leadership, the relationship of culture and strategy, love and trust in the workplace, their experience working with Uber, WeWork and Riot Games, and much more. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and material...
Tommi Forsström: Building Product and Culture during the Weird Middle Part
January 12, 2021 23:01 - 1 hour - 65.5 MBGrowth. We all crave it. Both in our personal lives and in business. But what we often forget is that the biggest growth spurts inevitably come with growing pains. Suddenly we are in this weird place in the middle - no longer a child but still not an adult. Adolescence: something’s emerging, everything is changing and it’s really, really messy. Turns out that startups go through a very similar stage. And this is exactly what my guest today and I talk about in this episode of the CultureLab p...
Dorie Clark: Reinvent Yourself
December 21, 2020 23:01 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBMy guest today, Dorie Clark, suggests we need to make things easier for ourselves in 2021 and embrace the lowercase "r" reinvention: small, subtle changes that, over time, compound and often produce major transformations. But to achieve such impressive results over time, we need to develop a "reinvention habit." And this is exactly what we talk about in this episode of the CultureLab podcast. I can't think of a better way to ease ourselves into 2021. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyu...
Darius Mirshahzadeh: Start with Core Values
December 07, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 154 MB"I hate this company,” I said to myself, sitting in the office in San Francisco. “I can’t believe I created this.” This is how my guest today, Darius Mirshahzadeh, opens his book, The Core Value Equation. Darius had been successful by any external measure. He was the founder and CEO of a company that would soon hit the $10,000,000 revenue mark. He had 150 employees and a seventeen-thousand-square-foot modern tech office space in the heart of San Francisco’s SOMA district. And yet, he h...
Ethan Mollick: Beyond the Startup Myth
November 24, 2020 18:20 - 57 minutes - 94 MBWhat does a successful startup founder look like? You probably have a vivid picture in your head – two supercharged recent college graduates bursting out of the gate with a fresh new idea that hits them like a lightning bolt, gets massive funding, and leads to a product launch that is an astounding success. Nothing could be further from the truth. My guest today is Ethan Mollick, an award-winning researcher at Wharton and the author of a new book, THE UNICORN’S SHADOW: Combating the...
Peter Rabey: Growing During a Pandemic
November 09, 2020 23:01 - 59 minutes - 99.6 MBToday, my guest is the co-founder and CEO of X4 Group, Peter Rabey. Peter and his team managed to scale and grow their business through extremely challenging times. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, X4 Group has realigned the entire business strategy to avoid layoffs. The reboot went so well that their business - and headcount - grew by over 50% since June. Tune in to this wide-ranging conversation about scaling through the pandemic, hiring, onboarding, cultivating a healt...
An Audio Postcard from Wendy Smith
September 07, 2020 22:01 - 4 minutes - 7.06 MBWendy Smith is an associate professor of organizational behavior at the Alfred Lerner School of Business at the University of Delaware. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, and she researches a really interesting area - strategic paradoxes. For the interview with Professor Smith, click here. To be the first to receive the new audio postcards, please click here. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and ...
Bobby Herrera: The Gift of Struggle
August 24, 2020 22:01 - 1 hour - 118 MBTo say that 2020 has been a challenging year would be an understatement. But there are many ways to look at our struggles and Bobby Herrera, the founder and CEO of Populus Group, suggests that we choose to see them as a gift. In this wide-ranging conversation, Bobby and I talk about his entrepreneurial journey and the culture he is committed to cultivating in his company. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating t...
Max McKeown: Culture & Strategy Have Breakfast Together
July 06, 2020 22:01 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBDr Max McKeown is a visionary, and influential presenter who reveals insider knowledge, gleaned from twenty-five years’ experience consulting for Pfizer, Topshop and Sony, amongst many other major global brands. In this conversation, we talk about how to find your next big idea, what role strategy plays in your ability to create the future you want and what scenarios could emerge if culture and strategy really sat down to have breakfast together instead of trying to cannibalize each other.
An Audio Postcard from Garry Ridge
June 22, 2020 22:01 - 2 minutes - 2.76 MBGarry Ridge is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the WD-40 Company, a billion-dollar business with a 93% employee engagement index. WD-40 has been making history when it comes to harnessing the power of organizational culture. It has kept its values aligned for over six decades by making them the heart and soul of the company. On its culture homepage, WD-40 has the following message for job applicants: "Please consider employment with WD-40 Company only if you feel as strongly ab...
An Audio Postcard from Bobby Herrera
June 15, 2020 22:01 - 3 minutes - 4.25 MBThis audio postcard comes from Bobby Herrera, from Michigan. Bobby Herrera is the co-founder and CEO of Populus Group - one of the fastest-growing HR services companies in the United States with annual revenue of $500 million and many Fortune 100 customers. Bobby speaks beautifully about how he sees his role as the CEO during the times of Coronavirus. I hope you enjoy his message.
Aaron Dignan: Brave New Work
June 08, 2020 22:01 - 1 hour - 79 MBToday, on the CultureLab podcast, we welcome Aaron Dignan - the author of one of my favorite business books of the past few years - Brave New Work and the founder of the Ready. If you feel like the way we work hasn’t worked for a while and if you are curious about what new ways of working we could adopt, you’ll enjoy this conversation. In this interview, Aaron and I talk about why scale and bureaucracy that once made companies strong have become huge liabilities. Today, it’s the compani...
An Audio Postcard from Melissa Agnes
June 01, 2020 22:01 - 3 minutes - 4.65 MBIt's in times like these that our values and ethical standards are put to the test. COVID-19 emergency and its aftermath will call for empathy, compassion, and generosity. If business leaders don't rise to the occasion, they'll put their companies at risk. In this audio postcard, crisis expert, Melissa Agnes, encourages us to put ourselves in our stakeholders' shoes and ask: how can we serve them to the best of our capabilities?
Amy Edmondson: Building a Fearless Organization
May 26, 2020 17:00 - 52 minutes - 63.5 MBWhen people don't speak up, the organization's ability to innovate and grow is at great risk. A culture of silence is a dangerous culture. A culture of openness and candor, on the other hand, offers immense benefits for creativity, learning, and innovation. But for people to speak up, they need to experience psychological safety and this is what Amy Edmondson, my guest today, has studied for more than 25 years.
An Audio Postcard from Thimon De Jong
May 22, 2020 11:05 - 2 minutes - 3.84 MBIt looks like we might be in a pretty long tunnel. And while there's certainly light at the end of it, why wait? We can create some light right now by building human connections through the means we have available. Here's Thimon De Jong speaking on this topic.
An Audio Postcard from Ron Carucci
May 11, 2020 22:01 - 2 minutes - 3.95 MBWe have a new postcard - this time from Ron Carucci. Ron says that we are currently in an odd, liminal space, in between chapters. And while it's undoubtedly a difficult season, things will resume eventually. So how can we prepare for our new normal? Listen in!
An Audio Postcard from Aga Bajer
May 08, 2020 06:59 - 4 minutes - 6.02 MBWe have created the Audio Postcards series to help you tackle the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic in a calmer and wiser way. This week, the postcard comes from Aga Bajer and she shares three questions to explore with your team to regain a sense of control and purpose in these crazy times.
Simon Sinek: Embracing an Infinite Mindset in Times of Crisis
May 04, 2020 22:01 - 45 minutes - 57.6 MBAs time goes by, we all realize that the Coronavirus outbreak is, first and foremost, a human tragedy. But it has also become increasingly clear that COVID-19 is having a growing impact on the global economy, causing many businesses to switch to full-on survival mode. While taking short-term measures to mitigate the effects of the current disruption, many leaders ask themselves: How do you deal with the current issues without losing sight of the long-term goals? And how do you embrace an ...
An Audio Postcard from Liane Davey
April 27, 2020 22:01 - 3 minutes - 4.76 MBWe have created the Audio Postcards series to help us tackle the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic in a calmer and wiser way. This week we have a postcard from Toronto, from my dear friend Liane Davey who speaks about how not to let a good crisis go to waste. If you want to be on our postcard mailing list, sign up here: http://tiny.cc/5utvnz
Mary Abbajay: Managing Up
April 20, 2020 22:01 - 1 hour - 82 MBThe quality of the relationship with your boss has a major impact on your career, satisfaction and even your overall wellness and health. And yet, it’s much easier to find advice and guidance on how to be a good boss than on how to manage a relationship with one. In this episode, Mary Abbajay, the author of the best-selling Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss. shares how you can take control of your career by managing up. Episode Highlights Here a...
An Audio Postcard from Michael Bungay Stanier
April 15, 2020 08:35 - 2 minutes - 3.01 MBWe have created the Audio Postcards series to help us tackle the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic in a calmer and wiser way. The tricky thing with being a leader or an entrepreneur in times like these is that while we have no clear answers, our team, our family, and our friends are looking to us for guidance. And so it's important that we learn how to walk the line between the light and the dark. Here's a message on this topic from Michael Bungay Stanier.
An Audio Postcard from Cy Wakeman
April 06, 2020 22:01 - 3 minutes - 4.65 MBWe have created the Audio Postcards series to help us tackle the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic in a calmer and wiser way. This postcard is second in the series and comes from Cy Wakeman. Cy challenges us to let ourselves and our teams be impacted by the current crisis and approach it with curiosity, using this "time-out" to grow, develop and perhaps even transform the way we think, feel and act.
An Audio Postcard from Seth Godin
March 30, 2020 22:01 - 2 minutes - 3.68 MBIn difficult times, we all need some guidance, some inspiration and... an occasional kick in the butt. To help leaders, entrepreneurs and soloists navigate the unchartered waters of the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our lives, our team started producing audio postcards. They contain powerful messages from the world's leading thinkers, leaders, movers, and shakers. This message comes from Seth Godin.
Nikki Gatenby: Putting People and Purpose First
March 23, 2020 23:01 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBOur guest today is Nikki Gatenby. Nikki is a business consultant and best selling author, specializing in the field of culture and engagement at work, having been featured in The Guardian, The Times, Management Today, Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Rebels. Over the last 10 years as MD and co-owner of Propellernet, Nikki transformed the Brighton based SEO agency into a global marketing organization and SAAS technology provider, serving the PR, content and search world with coveragebook.c...
Siobhan McHale: Disrupting Dysfunctional Patters
March 10, 2020 07:28 - 53 minutes - 60.4 MBOur guest today is Siobhan McHale, a culture change specialist, EGM People, Culture & Change at DuluxGroup and the author of The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change. Siobhan has worked across four continents, helping thousands of leaders to create more agile and productive workplaces. She has been on the “inside”, as the executive in charge of change in a series of large, multinational organizations. One of these inside jobs was a radical seven-year change initiative at Australia and New Z...
Kirsty Bashforth: Culture Shift
February 24, 2020 23:01 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBOur guest today is Kirsty Bashforth, the founder and CEO of QuayFive Ltd. Her new book on managing organizational culture (Culture Shift) was published by Bloomsbury in July 2019. In this episode, Kirsty and I talk about shifting culture so that it serves the business, its employees and the wider ecosystem.
Jitske Kramer: The Making of a Corporate Tribe
February 10, 2020 23:01 - 1 hour - 100 MBJitske Kramer is a Dutch anthropologist. She travels the world to learn from traditional healers, leaders, surprising innovators, and random passersby. She looks at the world and at organizations through the eyes of an anthropologist, and what she sees is fascinating. In this interview, we talk about what's involved in the making of a corporate tribe. Episode Highlights Here are some of the things that we discussed: The lessons Jitske learned when doing research in Uganda The two oppo...
Mike Ganino: How Stories Shape Culture
January 27, 2020 23:01 - 1 hour - 84.9 MBOur guest today is Mike Ganino. He is a storytelling and communication expert who helps executives, teams, and thought leaders communicate, connect, and engage. Mike is also the author of Company Culture for Dummies and has been named a Top 30 Culture Speaker by Global Guru. Mike is also the executive producer of TEDx Cambridge and the head performance coach at Heroic Public Speaking, where he helps people connect in authentic and engaging ways with audiences. I first met Mike when he was...