Your Company Culture Is Broken. Here's How We're Going to Fix It Together.

Introducing the Collaborative Culture Podcast: The no-BS guide to building workplace cultures that help your business thrive

Picture this: You've just sat through another company all-hands where leadership talks about "core values" printed on conference room walls. Meanwhile, your best performer just quit because of a toxic manager, and half your team is quietly job hunting.

Sound familiar?

If you've ever felt the gap between what companies say about culture and what employees actually experience, you're not alone. And you're exactly who we created the Collaborative Culture podcast for.

The Problem: Culture Has Become Corporate Theater

When Monica Smith and I first connected through a women's consulting program, we bonded over a shared frustration. Despite coming from completely different backgrounds. I’m a cultural anthropologist who studies how human systems actually work, and Monica has spent decades leading diverse teams across industries and continents. We kept seeing the same problem everywhere:

Companies treat culture like a marketing campaign instead of an operating system.

The result? Workplace cultures that look good on LinkedIn but leave employees feeling disconnected, undervalued, and ready to jump ship at the first better offer.

We knew there had to be a better way. More importantly, we knew we weren't the only ones craving honest, practical conversations about what culture really is and how to build it intentionally.

The Solution: Real Talk About Real Culture

Culture isn’t just a vibe. It’s not solved by swag, snacks, or surface-level slogans.

Culture is the operating system of your business. And when it’s intentional and aligned, it drives employee engagement, team performance, and long-term business success.

But most people never get taught what culture really is or how to shape it.

The Collaborative Culture podcast exists to bridge the gap between culture theory and culture reality—giving you the tools, insights, and honest conversations you need to build something better.

What You'll Get from Every Episode

Starting July 2nd, we're dropping new episodes every other Wednesday at 8:00 AM CST. Each episode is a deep-dive conversation between Monica, myself, and occasionally game-changing guests—CEOs who've transformed their companies, HR leaders fighting the good fight, researchers uncovering what really works, and culture champions making waves in their own organizations.

Here's what we're tackling:

🔥 The hot-button issues: Why psychological safety isn't just feel-good fluff (it's a performance driver), what makes company values change behavior instead of becoming wall art, and why most hybrid work policies are failing teams

🌍 The global perspective: How leaders navigate cultural differences when managing across time zones and continents, and what we can learn from companies getting it right worldwide

📊 The data-driven insights: What the research says about engagement, retention, and performance, and how to apply it in your real-world context

💡 The practical tools: Frameworks you can implement Monday morning, conversation starters that work, and strategies for culture change that don't require a complete organizational overhaul

Who This Podcast Is For

You're our people if you're:

• A leader who's tired of watching talented people leave because of "culture fit" issues
• A founder who knows your company culture will make or break your scaling efforts
• An HR professional fighting to move beyond compliance toward true transformation
• A team member who cares about building a workplace where everyone can do their best work

Whether you're trying to course-correct a toxic environment, scale culture in a growing startup, or navigate change in a legacy organization, these conversations will give you both the why and the how.

A July 4th Reflection: The Culture We're Fighting For

As we launch this podcast on Independence Day weekend, we're reminded that the fight for better culture isn't just about our workplaces. It’s about the values we hold as a society.

The United States was built by people who left everything behind to create something better. Immigrants, dreamers, and rebels who believed that diverse perspectives and the freedom to speak truth to power weren't just ideals—they were necessities for progress.

Today, as we face deep divisions and real challenges in our country, we can't ignore the work still needed. But we can honor the original promise of America: that when people from different backgrounds come together, when we create space for all voices to be heard, when we choose collaboration over domination—that's when we build something stronger than what came before.

The same principles that make democracy work make workplaces work. Psychological safety. Diverse perspectives. The courage to have hard conversations. The belief that everyone deserves dignity and the opportunity to contribute their best.

Your Culture Journey Starts Now

Here's the truth: Culture isn't something you fix once and forget about. It's something you cultivate, day by day, decision by decision, conversation by conversation.

The companies that understand this—the ones that invest in culture as intentionally as they invest in product development or customer acquisition—are the ones that don't just survive disruption. They use it as fuel for innovation.

Ready to join the conversation?

🎙️ Listen now: The Collaborative Culture podcast is live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts

• 🎧 Subscribe on Apple

• 🎶 Listen on Spotify

• 🔊 Follow on iHeart

Help Us Build a Movement

If you believe, like we do, that thriving employees create thriving businesses, we need your help:

✅ Subscribe so you never miss an episode
✅ Rate and review—5 stars help us reach more culture champions
✅ Share with that colleague who's always talking about making things better
✅ Join the conversation on LinkedIn using #CollaborativeCulture

Because here's what we know: The future belongs to companies that figure out how to unlock human potential at scale. And that future starts with leaders like you who are ready to do the work.

Let's build something better. Together.

Want to dive deeper? Follow Monica Smith and Kristine McKenzie Gentry on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes insights and culture resources that didn't make it into the episodes.