Culturelab With Aga Bajer

Megan Reitz, Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Hult International Business School talks about creating spaces for dialogue that enable employees to speak truth to power and elaborates on the skills we need to develop to successfully navigate the relatively new territory of employee activism. To join CultureBrained®, go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained

Robin Dunbar is a professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University. He has spent most of his career trying to answer a deceptively simple: How and why did humans evolve to be such a sociable species? He is perhaps best known for the so-called Dunbar's number, the idea that there is an upper limit to the number of meaningful social relationships we can maintain. In this interview professor Dunbar talks about how we can apply the findings from his research when we design our teams and organisations, why the number 150 is so important to keep in mind when we build a business, his forecast when it comes to the return - or no return - to the office - and so much more! To join CultureBrained, go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained

We’ve all felt pulled in two seemingly opposite directions and faced tough dilemmas at work at times: Culture fit or culture add? Employees-first or customer-first? Innovation or efficiency? Self-managed teams or traditional hierarchy? In this episode, Professor Wendy Smith from the University of Delaware talks about her new book Both/And Thinking; Embracing Creative Tensions and the opportunities that open up when dropping the “either/or” mindset and embracing a paradoxical one. To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

Have you ever felt frustrated by the fact that people tend to stick to their guns, even when presented with indisputable evidence that their beliefs are completely unfounded or plain wrong? This is the question that intrigued my guest, David McCraney, a science journalist fascinated with brains, minds, and culture. It led him on an investigative journey that resulted in a new book, How Minds Change. In this episode, David and I do a deep dive into the science of practices and methodologies that can lead to significant changes in how people think, feel and act at an individual and a collective level. To join CultureBrained®, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

This month we are sharing some of the best episodes from our archive and this episode with Max Mckeown is a must-listen and a great place to start when thinking of how to align culture and strategy. 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. Just a note: This episode is a rerun and was recorded a while ago. There are some references that may seem a little out of date but the content is more relevant than ever.  To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

What would happen if you got rid of traditional HR? Listen to this episode where Heiko Fischer, the CEO of Resourceful Humans, talks about how he moved from noodling over this question to actually giving it a go at Crytek, one of Europe’s biggest video gaming companies. Learn how Crytek transitioned from a traditional hierarchy to a network of self-managed teams that are fueled by 100% entrepreneurship and 0% bureaucracy - and how you can implement some of these practices at your company.   To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

How do you avoid joining a company with a toxic culture—or build a healthy one when you are already a part of the organization? These are just a couple of questions addressed in this episode of Adam Grant’s WorkLife that we are grilled to bring you as part of our new collab with TED Audio Collective. In this episode, Adam Grant explores how to recognize the four deadly sins of work culture when you’re on the outside looking in, and shares strategies that can help shape a thriving workplace from the inside.  To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

As a society, we've certainly made some progress in honoring the contribution of the LGBTQ workforce. But, there are still minds, hearts, teams, and companies that do not engage and where people, irrespective of what group they identify with, do not experience psychological safety. And so we thought that during the Pride Month, it would be more relevant than ever to release the interview with the mother of psychological safety, Amy Edmondson. Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School with a long standing academic career. She’s the author of The Fearless Organization and in this podcast, we explore why the fear of taking interpersonal risks will destroy your culture and any DEI efforts you might have undertaken.    To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

How do you know that it’s time to update your views on what’s best for your team and your business? Our guest, Mark Rickmeier, the CEO of  TXI, believes that the best time to rethink comes when you first sense that the way you work no longer serves your team. In this interview, Mark shares his personal journey of challenging his personal beliefs evolving the culture at TXI, and of the three major shifts that tested his open-mindedness and ultimately helped his company to thrive in this brave new world of remote and hybrid work.  To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

Storytelling 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 – How Leaders Shape Stories that Drive Action” shares his methodology for doing just that. To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

What 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 episode with Dan Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code, and the upcoming title, The Culture Playbook. Tune in and enjoy. Join CultureBrained here: https://www.agabajer.com/culture-brained-community/

This 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 ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership, and most of all, changing everything - including culture!  To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

This 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. They supported a growing list of companies with culture change and wrote a wonderful book on leadership called Unleashed, The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You. Just a note: This episode is a rerun and was recorded in January 2021. There are some references that may seem a little out of date but the content is more relevant than ever.  To join CultureBrained, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

In 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 learn more about CultureBrained, go here: tiny.one/culturebrained

A 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 create an environment where people can do their best work? And what would happen if leaders took a more intentional approach to culture?  This is what Dr. Donte Vaughn and I talk about in this episode of the CultureLab podcast. 

From 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 the CultureBrained Community, go to: tiny.one/CultureBrained

Rodney 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 the CultureBrained Community, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

In 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 learn more about the CultureBrained community, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/culture-brained-community/

Leandro 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 the CultureBrained Community, go to tiny.one/culturebrained

Charlie 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 the CultureBrained Community, go to tiny.one/culturebrained