# culture
76 moments across 53 episodes. Click any moment to jump straight to that part of the episode.
56:15Final flags — the biggest green flags of allLeanne Elliott: Training their managers. Oh, you— I'm gonna kiss you on the lips Al Elliott: Do you know what I mean? Me or Meghan? Leanne Elliott: The person who's training their managers. Obviously, that's highly inappEP 324 · 4 Aug 2026·interview· 56:15–59:3230:03Truth or Lie: Does Nostalgia Make Teams Stronger?Leanne Elliott: So come back Al Elliott: I'll cut that out. Keep that in. Welcome back to Truth or Lie. It's that time of the week where we take a popular workplace idea and ask if the research actually backs it up. ThisEP 310 · 16 Jun 2026·truth or lie· 30:03–45:5540:56Building a culture of calmDanni Mohammed: I think we did a survey actually last week, the other week. And what I was seeing coming up was sort of calm. It's a lot of calm. I think we were talking about what's it like to work in this space. And juEP 293 · 16 Apr 2026·interview· 40:56–44:0744:05Building the Right Culture UphillAl Elliott: There you go. So that's also a very good resource. Great. Okay, now question number 2, how do you lead the right culture when the organization won't? So my organization talks a lot about values like psychologEP 292 · 14 Apr 2026·news roundup· 44:05–47:3134:46The commercial case for cultureKristien Turner: Yeah. And it's a media narrative that's being pushed too. Can AI get rid of the middle manager? Like that is one of, there's, if you Google that right now, there are dozens, if not hundreds of articles tEP LIVE-2026-04-03 · 3 Apr 2026·panel interview· 34:46–44:0335:10Job hugging — and why it's the best time to invest in cultureAl Elliott: You just mentioned there that it was job hugging. Now, we had 3 years ago the Great Resignation. People were just jumping around in jobs. Now it's the opposite. Everyone's hanging on to their jobs for dear liEP 285 · 19 Mar 2026·interview· 35:10–47:0257:07The best place I've ever worked and takeawaysAl Elliott: So let me just ask you one last question, and I imagine that you You overheard your employees talking about working at Studio Xav. What would be the biggest compliment you could overhear, do you think, about EP 271 · 29 Jan 2026·panel interview· 57:07–61:3311:30Lessons from Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-ADustin Hillis: Well, in the book I tell the story of meeting Dan Cathy and getting to go to breakfast with him and interview him, and it was incredible. So it was a rainy day. I went into Chick-fil-A. The guard met me inEP 267 · 15 Jan 2026·interview· 11:30–14:4414:45The Google Experience Center — a culture in contrastDustin Hillis: Um, it was kind of the opposite of Chick-fil-A when I walked into the Google Experience Center. Um, it, it was cool. It was, it was clean. It was nice. It just didn't feel personal. And so, uh, as we're deEP 267 · 15 Jan 2026·interview· 14:45–19:420:02Leanne's favourite definition of culture: 'The worst behaviours tolerated'Leanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business prEP 264 · 6 Jan 2026·panel interview· 0:02–5:395:39Why 50+ definitions of culture leave leaders stuck?: Hmm Leanne Elliott: There's more than 50 definitions of culture out there. So, if we can't agree on a definition, how do we then navigate how to help organizations create an effective culture? So, I think that's, thatEP 264 · 6 Jan 2026·panel interview· 5:39–8:068:06The biggest misunderstanding: culture isn't a ping-pong tableLeanne Elliott: The biggest misunderstanding I've seen, and I thought we were getting over it, but now I'm not so sure, is that culture is something tangible in that it is the offices we build, the cool break rooms that EP 264 · 6 Jan 2026·panel interview· 8:06–9:189:27Why an awesome workplace is fundamentally good for businessJosh Levine: The science of work. Why? This is something that I've struggled with, right? So my, my whole pitch to the world Is that we need to start employing and deploying culture as a strategic business advantage. It EP 264 · 6 Jan 2026·panel interview· 9:27–10:465:22The School of Dumbassery — what the word actually meansAl Elliott: Let's start with the School of Dumbassery. I believe it's not just a random word, dumbass. I believe there's some meaning behind it. Tell us more about the School of Dumbassery and what it means Garry Ridge: EP 251 · 20 Nov 2025·interview· 5:22–7:5032:56Garry's stinky locker room and the Maniac PledgeGarry Ridge: Are people talking to you? Are people open with you? When you put a meeting on their Outlook calendar, do they call in sick? How open are you? Or do they say, I can't wait to be with Al because I know that IEP 251 · 20 Nov 2025·interview· 32:56–41:0216:42Impact of music misfit at workLeanne Elliott: Well, do you know what else got my beef boiling this week, Al? Al Elliott: Beef boiling? That's not a phrase Leanne Elliott: Yes, it isEP 248 · 11 Nov 2025·news roundup· 16:42–23:2324:42Can culture genuinely replace the leader?Leanne Elliott: You said right at the top that, can culture replace the leader? You're not allowed to say it depends Danny Wareham: Yeah, I think it does. Yeah, it does. You know, who's the leader when the leader's not iEP 243 · 23 Oct 2025·interview· 24:42–31:1615:05What it means to be 'waggish'Leanne Elliott: Can I ask you, I've heard you described, um, HR as waggish. What does that mean? Tony Cooke: The, the, the waggish piece is is, is in a fun sort of way, getting the best out of people by appealing to peopEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 15:05–16:0641:26The 'North Mafia' storyLeanne Elliott: What's the mafia story? Were you genuinely accused of being in the mafia? Tony Cooke: We had a management team, uh, the management team, uh, essentially the, the 3 most senior was myself, the FD, and the EP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 41:26–44:2834:45Where real change startsLeanne Elliott: And that's the point. Inclusion isn't about getting everything perfect. It's about building a culture where people feel safe enough to show up as they are and supported enough to keep showing up, even wheEP 199 · 22 May 2025·interview· 34:45–35:1530:20The Gordon Gekko era and redefining powerAl Elliott: So you just mentioned there Gordon Gekko, which obviously is a fictional character, but we also have seen Jordan Belfort in Wolf of Wall Street, and we've had a glimpse into what that world is like. Do you thEP 197 · 15 May 2025·interview· 30:20–37:1343:15Managing A-players and scaling cultureAl Elliott: You said something there that A-players come to you and say, look, there's a better way to do my job. I think my worry would be if I say, oh, cool. Okay. Give it a go. And it completely goes wrong. Do you havEP 193 · 1 May 2025·interview· 43:15–51:3021:57Guilt, culture and changing nappiesAl Elliott: You mentioned there your Sikh culture, which is something which I think a lot of people wouldn't have any experience of. So tell me, what, what's your experience of being a proud dad who also wants to take tiEP 191 · 24 Apr 2025·interview· 21:57–24:5611:45Warning signs of a toxic cultureLeanne Elliott: You said that there are certain signs of a toxic culture, whether it be the organizations you work with or that you've observed? What are the key red flags, I guess, for a toxic workplace culture? Eric StEP 179 · 13 Mar 2025·interview· 11:45–14:1236:09When leadership behaviours become normalisedEric Stone: There's no doubt. And I'll give you, I'll share an example, but this also will go back to my point. So there was a point with someone like a Jack Welch who His leadership style was get rid of the bottom 10, aEP 179 · 13 Mar 2025·interview· 36:09–38:5745:34The hourglass approach to cultureEric Stone: I'll give you a very brief version of an approach that keeps culture going. I wanted to come up with a visual and that was timeless and hence an hourglass. So, you can see if you're on video, you can see an hEP 179 · 13 Mar 2025·interview· 45:34–48:5714:04How we learn anger from modelling and cultureLeanne Elliott: You mentioned the modeling of behaviors, and I wonder whether that's something people might associate more in terms of like children or childhood, or I mean, what role does behavior modeling play in adultEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 14:04–20:4745:20Fun at work — is it still allowed?Bruce Daisley: Yeah, I love this woman I have the utmost admiration for called Zeynep Tan. She's a professor of operations at MIT. I've had her on twice. She wrote a book called The Good Jobs Strategy, and she wrote a goEP 162 · 14 Jan 2025·interview· 45:20–48:517:01The Most Misunderstood Aspect of Workplace CultureNora Burns: I think the most misunderstood aspect of workplace culture is that it doesn't matter what the sign says on the wall of the break room. It matters what employees say when the manager leaves that room. That's yEP 161 · 9 Jan 2025·interview· 7:01–8:5318:51When culture and operations collideAl Elliott: Tell me then, when you deal with clients who have got a similar kind of problem where there's a mismatch between either customer expectation and delivery or potentially employee, what their job title is and wEP 147 · 21 Nov 2024·interview· 18:51–24:306:44Is the workplace more polarized than ever?Leanne Elliott: Can I ask you a bit more about that then, Kath? Has the workplace, from what you've seen, become more polarized over the last few years? Because I think anecdotally it seems to be the case, but in terms oEP 137 · 17 Oct 2024·panel interview· 6:44–12:1033:17Living company values, not just displaying themAl Elliott: So here's a question: if you mandate a certain way of behaving with these agreed values, can you use this as a kind of guideline for behaviour, Leanne? Leanne Elliott: Yeah, values can definitely be used to gEP 137 · 17 Oct 2024·panel interview· 33:17–39:5843:17Workplace Surgery: Fostering culture in a remote teamAl Elliott: Okay, so question number 3, Lee, I think is right up your street, and you'll see why in a second. I run an online marketplace for handmade goods that's grown from a side hustle to a team of 40 over the past 3EP 134 · 8 Oct 2024·workplace surgery· 43:17–48:1124:50The growth journey: from deliberate slow start to 42 peopleAl Elliott: So let's find out a little bit more about the culture at SmartClinic. It's grown to 42 people in a very short period of time. In most high-growth companies, particularly when they're tech-led, culture often fEP 129 · 19 Sept 2024·interview· 24:50–29:2329:23The biggest learning curve from a people and culture perspectiveLeanne Elliott: Yeah Harry Cramer: But hard conversations are really hard. You get better at that with time, but I don't think you ever get fully used to it. I certainly don't feel like I've got fully used to it. But, yoEP 129 · 19 Sept 2024·interview· 29:23–29:2321:15Fresh Voices: Connie Hadley on team ritualsLeanne Elliott: Welcome back. Our second segment in September is called Fresh Voices, where we showcase the thought leaders that have caught our attention and share their fresh insights on the modern workplace. This weekEP 128 · 17 Sept 2024·news roundup· 21:15–29:4335:42Fix it loud — what it really meansPaula Brockwell: I think the first step is always going to be, how do we want it to be around here from a leadership point of view? What is it that we need to get from people? And then have a conversation with your staffEP 110 · 27 Jun 2024·panel interview· 35:42–40:5016:49Shame and the cultures we inheritDimple Dhabalia: Well, again, you know, I think these cultures we've, these are cultures we've inherited for generations, right? And the shame comes because we don't talk about any of this in the workplace, right? We donEP 108 · 20 Jun 2024·interview· 16:49–20:4925:22What employees are really looking forAl Elliott: So, Leigh, let's just talk about this for a second. Why is it that teams change? The original people Start to feel a little bit like everything's going wrong. What is the actual psychology behind this?EP 104 · 6 Jun 2024·interview· 25:22–25:348:11Google's 15-minute onboarding secretAl Elliott: Well, Inc magazine had an article about how Google uses a 15-minute conversation to onboard. So Google did a load of research to understand why some new employees adapted quicker than others. They concluded wEP 95 · 7 May 2024·news roundup· 8:11–12:2018:44The strategic role of culture in business successAl Elliott: What are the signs that a great culture is actually evolving? Ben Branson-Gateley: So, yeah, I would say the first thing is stepping back. Is it enabling your people to be successful? Can you see evidence of EP 89 · 11 Apr 2024·interview· 18:44–20:2425:54Workplace Surgery: NPS scores for culture measurementLeanne Elliott: Sure Al Elliott: Okay, so I've got a second question here, and it's about NPS surveys. So I think this is quite a new manager, as in like someone who maybe has a business for 2 or 3 years. I'm trying to rEP 88 · 9 Apr 2024·workplace surgery· 25:54–32:466:12The Legal Industry's Archaic CultureLeanne Elliott: Certainly in the UK, and I think in many other countries around the world as well, the legal industry and profession has a few major problems. I mean, first of all, it is quite archaic. The structure is oEP 73 · 11 Jan 2024·interview· 6:12–7:5112:24The virtuous cycle of hospitality cultureLeanne Elliott: So what makes a good culture in a restaurant, for example? Patti Simpson: Well, we have a virtuous cycle in setting the table that starts with the employee, and we take care of each other first. It then gEP 66 · 23 Nov 2023·interview· 12:24–14:1614:16How do you know if your culture is working?Patti Simpson: There's a couple of things. I think the easiest way to know is your turnover. If people are staying, you know that you're doing all right. We have employee experience surveys, and there are some backend thEP 66 · 23 Nov 2023·interview· 14:16–19:2919:29Building culture from day one and finding great managersPatti Simpson: I think you have to start with where you are. It's really important that you, you know, when things— you set your standard of what you want to do. And if culture is important, that starts when you have oneEP 66 · 23 Nov 2023·interview· 19:29–23:1528:56The C-word: COVID's lasting impact on workplace healthLeanne Elliott: And of course, no conversation about culture would be complete without the C-word. Not that C-word. COVID Al Elliott: We all know a lot of people at the moment who have been through the financial crisis, EP 58 · 28 Sept 2023·other· 28:56–32:5517:46Myth 3 — Hire the right people and culture takes care of itselfAl Elliott: I love it. I love it. So number 3. Now this one's a bit of a contentious one because I genuinely don't know whether it is a lie or whether there's some truth within it. So Let's ask you, Leigh Leanne Elliott:EP 50 · 3 Aug 2023·other· 17:46–26:0326:03Myth 4 — Culture doesn't work in remote or hybrid setupsLeanne Elliott: Go for it Al Elliott: So lie number 3 is that workplace culture doesn't work if you're fully remote or a hybrid Leanne Elliott: That's bullshitEP 50 · 3 Aug 2023·other· 26:03–38:0138:02Myth 5 — Stick values on the wall and you've got a great cultureLeanne Elliott: I'm gonna go 15 because I was born on the 15th Al Elliott: If you create values and you stick them on the wall, then you've got a great culture Leanne Elliott: Go. Why?EP 50 · 3 Aug 2023·other· 38:02–48:1148:12Final thoughts and what makes values actually stickAl Elliott: 6 words? Leanne Elliott: Yeah. If it's a sentence with more than one clause in it, it's probably too long Al Elliott: There you goEP 50 · 3 Aug 2023·other· 48:12–49:1060:54Trend 6: Leadership and cultureLeanne Elliott: That leads us nicely onto our 6th trend, which again, I'm sure not necessarily comes as a surprise to regular listeners of the podcast. Trend number 6, leadership and culture. So, we're currently finishinEP 49 · 27 Jul 2023·panel interview· 60:54–72:1120:57Lesson 1: Values Are for Life, Not for WallsAl Elliott: Just bullshit. Not for Kevin. Let's listen. Let's hear from Kevin. Yeah, no, I'm a big proponent of having clear values. You know, of course, like Most companies do have values. They end up being something thEP 44 · 21 Jun 2023·other· 20:57–25:2142:31Lesson 5: Culture Trumps Strategy, Every TimeAl Elliott: So, number 5, Kevin's 5th lesson is culture trumps strategy every time. When I asked Kevin about this, he drew on his own experience from case studies from other industries, and he explained that if you look EP 44 · 21 Jun 2023·other· 42:31–51:3440:03Employees don't come for ping pong tablesAl Elliott: We actually have a lot in common. We both use behavioral science to help people do better at work Al Elliott: It can Leanne Elliott: But come backEP 39 · 17 May 2023·other· 40:03–42:0152:38Recommendation #4: culture as a living, breathing thingAl Elliott: So number 4 is all about this idea of culture. People think culture is very complex. And, you know, they go, right, we're going to go away. The leadership team are going to go away for 2 weeks, and we're goinEP 39 · 17 May 2023·other· 52:38–53:5856:27Google's 20% time — culture in actionLeanne Elliott: Again, I think we're talking here about psychological safety, around making sure that workloads actually facilitate time to innovate and create. Um, you can't just say, oh, we have a culture of innovationEP 39 · 17 May 2023·other· 56:27–57:1268:28What happens when you get it right — shared mission unites cultureAl Elliott: All right, so we've talked about what happens if you get it wrong. Let's just take a moment to think about what it could look like if we get this right. I've been able to work with some of the, uh, really somEP 39 · 17 May 2023·other· 68:28–71:0322:51What a fulfilling employee experience looks likeOliver Yonchev: From a culture standpoint, I would love us to be known for a place that gives everyone a very fulfilling experience, and fulfilment is very subjective. But I do think, as people, we all have similar wantsEP 38 · 10 May 2023·interview· 22:51–23:5314:45Theme 1: Board-level buy-inLeanne Elliott: Yes, theme number 1, board-level buy-in. Uh, so having culture on the board agenda. This first theme won't be a surprise for our regular listeners. Uh, culture and wellbeing has to be on the board agenda,EP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 14:45–17:1562:36Theme 9: The outlook for people and cultureLeanne Elliott: So number 9 is the fact that culture and wellbeing is here to stay, regardless of the changes in remote work, with hybrid work, with the economy, postcode recovery, the list goes on. There was one thing tEP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 62:36–66:5815:19What is a toxic workplace culture?Leanne Elliott: I thought we decided that snowflake was no longer allowed Al Elliott: And I was being a character. I was playing a character Leanne Elliott: OkayEP 34 · 12 Apr 2023·other· 15:19–19:2952:53'Finally, I'm in charge' — building the culture you wantLeanne Elliott: Mm-hmm Al Elliott: You have to let people just fly. And I think that lifting the lid off, um, anyone can do anything if they really put their mind to it and they're blessed with the physical and mental caEP 33 · 5 Apr 2023·other· 52:53–58:3959:05Psychological safety and setting ground rulesLeanne Elliott: What I liked about Fidel's point here is he's kind of making the point that culture and policy require each other. And equally, if there's some kind of disparity or difference between how, how we're, you EP 31 · 22 Mar 2023·other· 59:05–62:1449:48Culture can be measured (Leanne's getting a sign)Leanne Elliott: The cool thing about culture as well is that it can be measured. I understand it might feel a bit intangible. It might feel something that, that's just the way that we do things around here, but culture cEP 28 · 1 Mar 2023·panel interview· 49:48–52:2456:41Well-washing vs. genuine wellbeing culturesLeanne Elliott: Let's hear a bit more from Simon on the importance of a wellbeing culture Simon Berger: There's so many solutions out there, and that's what people are calling well-washing and stuff. Now it's about usingEP 28 · 1 Mar 2023·panel interview· 56:41–59:1831:59Melissa on M&A integration and scaling cultureAl Elliott: And this is Melissa's experience at Accenture Leanne Elliott: You know, a partnership to— I was there for almost 19 years. I saw a lot of evolution from a private company to a public company to a, you know, aEP 27 · 22 Feb 2023·other· 31:59–39:4522:48Lessons from the winners: culture, leadership, and line managersLeanne Elliott: The survey is a really great resource, and as Gill said, it's free and it's going to give you some really great insights into how your, your business is currently managing it. its wellbeing, its wellbeingEP 24 · 31 Jan 2023·other· 22:48–28:5036:51Three traits of leaders who build great culturesLeanne Elliott: Some really great examples from, from Kyle there. And I guess just 3, 3 traits and behaviors that I see in leaders that Kyle talked about there to expand on and explain a little bit. He talked there aboutEP 23 · 25 Jan 2023·other· 36:51–38:540:33What the best teams have in commonAl Elliott: Nice. Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses Stephan Wiedner: The best teams had the highest degree of psychological safety, and the worst had the lowest level of psycholoEP 15 · 6 Dec 2022·interview· 0:33–3:124:05The positive psychology movement and its application to cultureLeanne Elliott: Yeah. So, I mean, in psychology, if you're reading anything psychology-based and you see the word positive, that comes from a movement called positive psychology, which was founded by a guy called Martin EP 08 · 23 Aug 2022·other· 4:05–5:4416:19The 6 characteristics of positive cultures and the learning cultureAl Elliott: Okay, that makes sense. So, I mean, moving back onto this article, if I remember, they've got 6 characteristics of a positive workplace culture, and there's one that just jumped out at me. Which it didn't feeEP 08 · 23 Aug 2022·other· 16:19–18:5530:04Silo 3: Culture, Bad Managers, and the 3 R'sAl Elliott: Okay, so back in the '80s and '90s, the Tom Peters of the world were talking about this open-door management technique where anyone can walk in, etc., etc. There have been lots of different management fads siEP 05 · 25 Jul 2022·other· 30:04–39:570:33What is culture, really?Al Elliott: Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses. Okay, so if someone's listening to this and thinking, shit, this is the way that I recruit at the moment based on culture fit, thenEP 04 · 19 Jul 2022·other· 0:33–1:5812:00The JFK janitor storyAl Elliott: It can Leanne Elliott: But come back Al Elliott: Yeah, come back. Definitely come back. Because Nudge isn't as good as this, so come back. I'll cut that out. Keep that in. But let me ask you then, if, if you'EP 04 · 19 Jul 2022·other· 12:00–14:249:39The cost of leaving disengagement uncheckedLeanne Elliott: So they're not going to follow the new processes. They're going to be very vocal negatively when things change. They might be taking an approach with clients that is destructive and detrimental. Um, it's EP 01 · 6 Jul 2022·other· 9:39–11:26
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