Examples of successful workplace cultures mapped with the Culture Design Canvas. Culture matters because it boosts productivity, agility, employee engagement, and innovation. A strong, positive workplace culture precedes business results. The culture of an organization encompasses much more than the values and purpose of your company. For the analysis, I'm using The Culture Design Canvas — a framework that captures the…

This post is more personal than the ones I usually publish. It’s not about my book Remote, Not Distant but the writing journey itself. …

Can workplace culture be designed? That’s the question I always get when I tell people what I do for a living. People still think that culture is something that just happens organically. A recent study by Glassdoor shows that companies with a strong culture outperform the Standard & Poor’s 500…

How do you get teams working as well as they used to? How do you deal with issues that are being amplified by virtual distance? Your culture depends heavily on connection and collaboration. However, the COVID-19 health crisis has forced most people to work remotely without the right preparation. …

Prioritizing is not easy — especially when you must choose between two good alternatives — Leadership is the art of making choices. Saying ‘yes’ is easy and comfortable, but what we say ‘no’ to defines our success. Great leaders know when to make sacrifices to stay focused. Imagine taking over a tech company that’s losing money because sales are down. …

How to create a culture where anyone can belong anywhere — Everyone acknowledges that Airbnb has disrupted the hospitality industry. However, what makes this company so unique is its obsession with culture. Speak to any Airbnb employee about what makes the company special, and they’ll answer “the culture.” It all started back in 2012 by the advice Peter Thiel gave the…

Your values guide your life — if you know what they are. — Most people don’t know what they don’t know. Psychologists Rozenblit and Keil coined the term ‘the illusion of explanatory depth’ to describe this phenomenon. We all believe we know more (about ourselves) than we actually do. My point is not to make you feel bad, but to invite you to…

Your culture should be more than words — One of the most common misconceptions about purpose is that it’s something squishy and weak, that it’s only for lighthearted organizations. This couldn’t be further from the trust. Being a purpose-driven organization is not about having a feel-good culture, but about solving complex problems. People want to be challenged. …

5 methods to help teammates grow and learn — Giving feedback is a gift that helps people learn and grow. When practiced as a team, it fosters collaboration — not just learning. Collective feedback encourages people to focus on the outcomes as a team. …