Growth Hacking Culture
Ivan Palomino 100 episodios nov. 10, 2026
Growth Hacking Culture argues that when engaged employees burn out or leave, the fault lies in broken workplace systems rather than in people. Host Ivan Palomino talks with executives from companies such as Apple, Goldman Sachs and Zappos, along with organizational psychologists, neuroscientists and founders, about how high-performing cultures are actually built. The show rejects corporate wellness clichés and recycled leadership advice in favour of behavioral science and psychology. It is aimed at HR leaders, CHROs, founders and executives who suspect the standard playbook no longer works.
Episodios
Gardener Leadership: Why the Best Leaders Grow People, Not Manage Them | John R. Miles
Gardener leadership is the idea that the best leaders don't pull on the plant to make it grow. They build the environment, clear the weeds, and step back. It sounds simple. Most organizations do the opposite.
John R. Miles spent years running multi-billion-dollar technology transformations at Dell and Lowe's. He inherited the most disengaged function at Lowe's and rebuilt it from the inside. Not
Your Ambition Has No Stop Button. Now What? with Hugo Brooks
Ambition is not a goal. It is an independent drive with no off switch, and most leaders never separate the force from the direction. Hugo Brooks on redirecting ambition before it redirects your life.
Hugo spent 35 years building and selling businesses, advising organizations like Coca-Cola, Unilever and Nestle. Then his wife asked a five-word question that stopped him cold: "Are you sure you want
CEOs Spend 5% of Their Time on People. Alain Bejjani Says That’s the Problem
Most CEOs say people are their greatest asset. Alain Bejjani actually measured how much time they spend on them: less than 5%. The rest goes to balance sheets, asset returns, quarterly reporting. Then they wonder why culture falls apart when the market shifts.
Bejjani knows something about market shifts. He took over as CEO of Majid Al Futtaim in 2015, a brick-and-mortar retail giant spanning 17 c
The Full Spectrum Workplace: Stop Saying Hybrid ft. Agustin Chevez
Return to office debates miss the point. Dr. Agustin Chevez explains why hybrid is the wrong word and how to design a full spectrum workplace that works.
In 2018, architect and workplace researcher Agustin Chevez walked 900 kilometers alone from Melbourne to Sydney. 42 days, no team, one question: what is actually broken about the way we work? His answer challenges office mandates, cost per visit
Stop Hoping for Creativity, Start Designing for It | Neuroscience of Creativity, Innovation & AI ft. Coral McConnon
Creativity at work is a process you design, not an event. Coral McConnon on the neuroscience of creativity, why brainstorming fails, and AI for innovation.
Most companies still run innovation workshops the same way: six hours in a room, "no idea is a bad idea", and a wall of ideas that end up safe, boring or off strategy. The right brain creativity myth is still shaping behavior, even in teams tha
Quiet Contributors and the Recognition Gap: What Companies Keep Getting Wrong | Greg Roche
Quiet contributors deliver results. But corporate recognition programs, performance reviews, and promotion criteria were built around visibility, not value. The recognition gap between introverts and extroverts in the workplace is costing companies their best talent, and most HR leaders cannot even see it happening.
Greg Roche is a total rewards and compensation expert with 20+ years at Fortune 50
Good Delegators Make the Best AI Users | Fractional CAIO, Judgment & AI Adoption ft. Sean Campbell
Good AI delegators were good human delegators first. Sean Campbell on why fluid intelligence, not technical skill, predicts who thrives with AI at work.
Sean spent 25 years running Cascade Insights, advising companies from startups to Fortune 500s on market research and competitive intelligence. When AI hit, he noticed a pattern: the leaders who struggled to delegate to people struggled even more
Grit vs Grip: The Body Signs You’ve Crossed the Line | Burnout, Rest & Nervous System ft. Pauline Nguyen
Grit turns self-destructive when you can’t put it down. Pauline Nguyen on grit vs grip, body signs of leadership burnout, and rest that restores performance.
Pauline ran Red Lantern, the most awarded Vietnamese restaurant in the world, for 25 years. She also worked 80 to 100 hour weeks until stress made her hair fall out. Her way out was not to try less. It was to learn the difference between grit
Above the Line Leaders Use AI for Flow, Not Busywork | Focus, Deep Work & The Flow Multiplier ft. Jared Quoyeser
AI brain fry drains focus, flow state, and deep work, and it starts when every tool meant to save you time becomes another inbox. Jared Quoyeser lived it, with 14 Slack messages, WhatsApp, Teams, and three AI assistants all competing for his attention. He knew the answer was a system, not another tool.
Jared Quoyeser spent more than two decades at Intel, where he led teams and managed billions in
Capability Debt: The Hidden Cost of AI Shortcuts with Rahim Hirji
Every AI shortcut your team takes is borrowing against skills they no longer build. Rahim Hirji calls it capability debt: the accumulated cost of decisions not made, learning not done, and judgment not exercised because the machine got there first. Like technical debt, it's invisible until the system breaks and nobody knows how to fix it.
Rahim spent seven years researching over 200 organizations
Shadow AI: How to Use ChatGPT and Agents at Work Without Waiting for IT | Anna Berkman
Shadow AI is what happens when employees stop waiting for IT and start using ChatGPT and AI agents on their own to get real work done. Most advice about AI at work still comes from IT: what's banned, what's risky, what needs sign-off.
This episode flips that. Anna Carina Berkman, known as Architect Anna, has trained over 5,000 professionals and built her work around what she calls the AI Advantage
Dr. Melisa Buie on the FREE Method for Turning Failure Into Growth
Somewhere in your past there's a failure you still carry, a moment that convinced you of something about yourself that was never actually true. Dr. Melisa Buie calls it a life sentence, and she built an entire framework, the FREE Method, to help people finally set it down and turn failure into growth instead of shame.
Melisa Buie is a physicist by training, with a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Pl
Consciousness Over IQ: What Actually Wins in an AI Workplace with Bruce D. Randall
AI replacing high performers is not the scenario most companies prepared for. They planned for entry-level jobs disappearing. But when a two-day AI output matches what your best analyst produces in four weeks, and nobody in the room can tell the difference, the people most exposed are the ones who never had to build resilience, because raw intelligence was always enough.
That's the argument Bruce
How to Respond When You Get Interrupted in a Meeting | Andrea Wojnicki
Getting interrupted in meetings, or talked over right before someone else repeats your idea and gets the credit, happens more than most people admit, and to some people a lot more than others.
Dr. Andrea Wojnicki is a Harvard-trained executive communication and personal branding coach, host of the Talk About Talk podcast, and a Harvard Business Review contributor who has spent her career studying
Why 40% of Company Failures Are a Leadership Problem, Not a Product Problem | Dane Hudson
Most leaders assume when a company stalls, the problem is the product, the market, or the team. It rarely is.
After 25 years as a global CEO and mentoring over 150 of them, Dane Hudson keeps arriving at the same uncomfortable answer: the ceiling is usually the person running the company. Not their strategy. Not their product. Their leadership — and the gap between how fast it's growing and how fas
Sarah Rozenthuler: The Psychology of Purpose in the Age of AI
Six extra hours a week. That's what AI has reportedly handed back to people using it well. The real question isn't the time, it's what they do with it. Chartered psychologist Sarah Rozenthuler has spent nearly two decades studying how humans talk to each other about what actually matters, and she's noticed something: more people are turning to AI to think out loud about their purpose, their leader
Nicholas Janni & Amy Elizabeth Fox: What Comes After Human-Centric Leadership
Nicholas Janni and Amy Elizabeth Fox, authors of Leading in Chaos, explain why human-centric leadership has hit its ceiling, and what comes next.
For fifteen years, leadership development meant one thing: build emotional intelligence, train empathy, create psychological safety. It worked, until it didn't. Some of the most self-aware, emotionally intelligent leaders on the planet are still freezing
Why Hiring A-Players Doesn't Build Winning Teams with André Martin
Every organization wants to hire the best. Stack the roster with top performers, invest in individual excellence, let talent density do the work. It sounds like a winning strategy. The research says otherwise.
Dr. André Martin is an organizational psychologist, former Chief Talent Officer at Mars, and author of Collective Confidence: The Winning Formula Behind the World's Most Unbeatable Teams. He
Dr. Audrey Tang: Detours, Dopamine, and the Science of a Life Not Scripted
Most of us were handed a script before we were old enough to question it. A school told us what to study. A parent told us what success looks like. A career ladder told us which rung comes next. And somewhere along the way, we confused following the script with actually living.
This conversation with Dr. Audrey Tang starts with a simple but unsettling question: what if the detour was never the pro
John Nieuwenburg on Building Systems That Don't Need You in the Room
Picture the busiest person you know. First to answer email, last to leave a meeting, always available. Now ask yourself: are they actually the best decision maker in the room? John Nieuwenburg has coached hundreds of leaders through exactly this contradiction, and his answer might surprise you.
John spent decades working his way up in retail, eventually running a $3 billion operation as company pr
Julian Reeve: Unmistakable Identity, Burnout, and Why AI Recovery Is the Same Skill
At 43, at the peak of his career as music director of Broadway's Hamilton, Julian Reeve had a stress related heart attack. The two things driving it, workaholism and perfectionism, are the same two things now deciding who thrives with AI and who burns out trying to outrun it.
Julian Reeve is a keynote speaker, executive coach, and founder of Perfect Equilibrium. He spent years helping high achieve
The Neuropsychology of Power: What Happens to Your Brain When You Lead
Power changes everyone, especially leaders, whether they realize it or not. Discover the hidden neuroscience behind how authority rewires your brain, alters your behavior, and can transform you in ways you never expected.
In this episode, Ivan Palomino speaks with leadership expert Nick Kinley, a former forensic psychotherapist whose work spans prisons, boardrooms, and decades of research into pow
How to Leave a Toxic Job Without Losing Yourself | Jeff Davis
There is a version of you that walks into a job feeling capable, energized, and sure of who you are. And there is a version, months or years later, who can't remember when that confidence left. Nobody names the moment. There usually isn't one. Just a slow accumulation of small cuts that eventually add up to a person who doubts themselves.
Jeff Davis has spent years collecting these stories. He's a
Colette Molteni: Emotional Intelligence for People Who Think in Systems
If you think in systems, empathy probably never made sense as a soft skill. It felt vague, unquantifiable, impossible to debug. But what if it is not a personality trait at all, just a system you have not built yet.
Colette Molteni spent 20 years working inside data analytics, sales operations, and engineering teams before founding Empathy Elevated. She does not ask technical people to become some
Wisdom Over Intelligence: A World Champion's Framework for Smarter Decisions | Andres Kuusk
There is a version of you that works harder, thinks faster, and still ends up in the same place. Not because you lacked the ability — but because the process producing your decisions had a flaw you never examined. And the smarter you are, the longer it takes to notice.
This conversation is about that flaw, and what it actually takes to correct it.
Andres Kuusk is a seven-time World
From Bottleneck to Coach: Brad Sugars on the Leadership System Most Organizations Never Install
Most senior leaders do not know they are the bottleneck. They think they are the standard.
They are in every key decision, every escalation, every thread that matters. And they have quietly trained their teams to wait for them. It does not feel like a problem. It feels like leadership.
Brad Sugars is the founder of ActionCoach, the world's largest business coaching firm operating in 1,000+ offices
How to Diagnose Employee Disengagement Instead of Just Measuring It with Dustin Snyder
Most organizations know something is wrong long before they run a survey. The sense that good people are pulling back, that processes are harder than they need to be, that the same conversations keep happening in the same conference rooms without anything changing. The survey confirms it. And then, usually, not much else happens.
The problem is not the data. The problem is that most organizational
Fix Work, Not People | Burnout, Job Design & What Good Work Actually Looks Like ft. Dr. Kat Page
Your organization has a wellbeing program. Maybe a meditation app, some mental health days, a resilience workshop or a Friday yoga session nobody attends because everyone is still in back-to-back meetings.
And your people are still burning out.
Here's the question most leaders never ask: what if the problem was never your people? What if it was always the work itself, how it's structured, how it's
The Shame Loop Keeping Smart People Stuck | Burnout, Executive Function & Breaking Free ft. Frankie Berkoben
Burnout isn't a motivation problem. It's not a willpower problem. And if you're one of the smartest people in the room — it might be happening to you precisely because of how good you are.
Executive coach Frankie Berkoben has spent years inside Google, Airbnb, and the most demanding startup environments in Silicon Valley. She works with engineers, founders, and product leaders who are genuinely br
How to Become a High-Impact CHRO: Mindset, Habits & Career Moves That Actually Work | Tom Emery
Most HR leaders never make it to Chief People Officer — and those who do often struggle to create real impact once they get there. The difference isn't technical expertise. It's mindset, habits, and knowing exactly which career moves accelerate your path to the top.
In this episode of Growth Hacking Culture, Ivan Palomino sits down with Tom Emery, founder of Hex and author of People People: Reach
How HR Leaders Can Actually Use AI to Kill Admin Work (2026) with John Sansoucie
AI use in HR climbed to 43% in 2026, yet most HR leaders still spend the majority of their day on spreadsheets, manual reconciliations, and transactional work that adds zero strategic value. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, John Sansoucie, CEO of Cognet, shares a practical roadmap for HR leaders who want to implement AI in HR, eliminate admin overload, and finally operate
HR Leaders Will Soon Manage Humans and Agents. Most Aren't Ready. | Tami Rosen
The job description for HR leader just changed. Again.
Not the version that added culture after COVID. Not the version that added AI literacy after ChatGPT. The version that nobody has written yet — the one where you are responsible for a workforce that is part human, part agent, and entirely your problem to lead effectively.
Most HR leaders are not ready for this. Not because they lack intelligen
Stop Measuring Culture. Start Changing It. How AI Makes the Difference | Omar Shbaro
Most HR leaders already know the survey isn't working.
They know because they've seen the same deck three years in a row. They know because the workshops got scheduled and nothing changed. They know because the employees who participated last year are participating again this year with slightly less enthusiasm and exactly the same frustrations.
And yet the survey gets launched again. Because it's
The System Is Pushing Out Your Best People. Here's Why Age Is the Hidden Culprit | Lucy Standing
Most organizations lose their most experienced people without ever understanding why.
Not through dramatic exits or public conflicts. Through a quiet, cumulative process of being overlooked, underinvested in, and gradually made to feel that what they bring no longer fits. And by the time anyone notices, the knowledge, judgment, and institutional memory they carried has walked out the door with the
What Zappos Knew About Trust and Failure That Most Companies Still Refuse to Learn | Megan Petrini
Most organizations say they have a safe to fail culture.
Then someone actually fails. And you find out very quickly whether they meant it.
Megan Petrini spent years at Zappos — one of the boldest cultural experiments in corporate history — watching the difference between an organization that genuinely treats failure as data and one that just puts it on the values poster. As a certified professiona
Stop Blaming Resistance: What Actually Kills Organizational Change | Jeff Wetherhold
Seven out of eight organizational changes fail.
Not because the strategy was wrong. Not because the timeline was unrealistic. Not because the employees were difficult.
Because nobody on the leadership team knew how to have the real conversation that change requires. Not the announcement. Not the update. The one where you sit with someone's ambivalence, listen to what's underneath the pushback, and
The Scoreboard Doesn't Lie: How to Build a Team That Wins Consistently | Jamison Carrier
Most leaders think they have a talent problem.
They don't. They have a clarity problem.
When winning isn't defined, performance becomes an opinion. And when performance becomes an opinion, the wrong people get rewarded — not because the system is broken, but because nobody built a scoreboard in the first place.
Jamison Carrier has spent decades doing the unglamorous work of building performance-dr
The Communication Gap Nobody Talks About: How to Lead and Be Heard Across Every Generation
There's a conversation happening in most organizations that nobody is having out loud.
Experienced professionals going quiet in meetings. Younger leaders assuming everyone speaks the same language. Messages that land perfectly with one part of the team and completely miss another. And somewhere in the middle, a slow leak of engagement, trust, and performance that shows up on the bottom line long b
Your Meeting Starts Before You Walk In — Master Presence with Amy Reczek
You've done the work. Hit the targets. Delivered consistently. And yet somehow, when the promotion conversation happens, your name isn't the first one that comes up.
It's not about performance. It's about presence. And most of us were never taught the difference.
Amy Reczek has spent years helping professionals bridge that gap — not with grand gestures or personal branding frameworks, but with som
Lisa Woodruff on How to Manage "Invisible Work" and Reclaim Your Mental Clarity
In the modern corporate world, we have been sold a lie that if we just find the right app or work an hour longer, we will finally catch up. For many of us, work feels less like a ladder and more like quicksand—the more we struggle, the deeper we sink into a pile of invisible work that never makes it into the official job description.
In this episode, we sit down with Lisa Woodruff, founder of Orga
Working Parents Have the Highest Burnout Rates in Your Company. Here's What to Do About It | Rosina McAlpine
Every HR leader knows the numbers. Absenteeism. Turnover. Declining performance. What most won't say out loud is who's driving them.
Working parents.
Not because they're less committed. Not because they can't handle pressure. But because we built the modern workplace for a reality that stopped existing decades ago — and nobody has had the courage to redesign it.
Dr. Rosina McAlpine has spent over
The Neuroscience of Company Culture: How Stress, Psychological Safety and Brain Science Drive (or Kill) Organizational Performance
Most organizations are investing billions in leadership development, resilience training, and mindfulness programs — and burnout rates keep climbing. The problem isn't the intervention. It's that they're treating symptoms while the culture keeps producing the damage.
In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, Ivan Palomino speaks with Dr. Irena O'Brien — cognitive neuroscientis
Why Talent Won't Save You | Evan Marks on the Mental Edge Every Leader Needs
Most leaders are wired to push harder when things get tough. Evan Marks spent 25 years on Wall Street doing exactly that — until a panic attack stopped him cold at 46.
What he built after that experience became M1 Performance Group, and a coaching philosophy that's now used by top executives, athletes, and traders around the world. His core argument: talent is table stakes. What actually separates
Fredrik Haren on The Curiosity Architecture: Designing a Brain That Thrives at Work
Have you ever felt like your brain is on "auto-pilot"? You sit in the same chair, stare at the same screen, and follow the same routines until your office feels like a "sensory desert". Biologically, we are wired for discovery, yet the modern workplace often trades that natural curiosity for pure efficiency.
In this episode, I’m joined by the "Creativity Explorer" himself, Fredrik Haren. Fredrik h
The Habit Factor: Transform Corporate Values into Daily Actions with Christoph Merrill
In this episode of Growth Hacking Culture, we dive deep into The Habit Factor—the scientific bridge between stated company values and actual employee behavior. Our guest, Christoph Merrill (The Habit Freak), argues that most culture initiatives fail because they rely on inspiration rather than habit formation.
When the pressure of the corporate world hits, people don't fall back on mission stateme
Human-Centric AI Leadership: Paul Gibbons on the "Great Collisions" of Agency & Algorithms
How do we lead with soul in a world run by code? In this episode, we explore the concept of Human-Centric AI Leadership with renowned strategist Paul Gibbons. We dive deep into his framework of the "Great Collisions"—the friction points where human agency, empathy, and algorithmic decision-making meet in the modern workplace.
Paul discusses why the rise of AI doesn't mean the end of human influenc
Stop Leading, Start Being: The Provocative Path to Authentic Authority with Will Steel
The world is full of exhausted leaders who have been conditioned to believe that leadership is a performance—a set of KPIs to hit and a professional mask to wear. But what if the very act of trying to lead is what is stopping you from being effective?
In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture podcast, we sit down with Will Steel, a former RAF pilot and executive coach who argues that your lead
How to Use AI for Innovation and Creative Problem Solving with Andy Sitison
Stop using AI just to move faster—start using it to think bigger.
In this episode, we sit down with Andy Sitison, CTO of Share More Stories, to explore the shift from AI as a productivity tool to AI as a cognitive catalyst. Most companies use AI to automate tedious tasks, but the real competitive advantage lies in using it to break through human cognitive biases like functional fixedness.
We dive
The ROI of Belonging: Using Neuroscience to Unlock Team Productivity with Andrea D. Carter
Is "Culture Fit" actually sabotaging your bottom line? In this episode, Ivan sits down with neuroscience-based researcher Andrea Carter, founder of the Belonging First methodology. We dive into the biological reality of high-performing teams and why traditional EDI metrics often miss the mark.
Learn why "masking" at work causes the prefrontal cortex to shut down and how shifting your focus from "f
Linda M. Perry on Upstream Causes, Downstream Results: The Science of "Why" at Work
In this episode of Growth Hacking Culture, host Ivan Palomino sits down with Linda M. Perry, a renowned leadership and execution strategist, to explore why high-performing teams suddenly lose momentum. If you are seeing a drop in productivity or a rise in "quiet quitting," the problem likely isn't your software or your systems—it's a Meaning Gap.
Linda uses her unique background as a former federa
The Connection ROI: Why Feeling "Seen and Heard" Boosts Profits by 38% with Jonathan Thorp
Are your employees truly engaged, or are they part of the 70% just "plotting along" until the end of the day? In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, we dive into a "five-alarm fire" for business leaders: the massive disconnect in the modern hybrid workplace.
Joining us is Dr. Jonathan Thorp, researcher and founder of Quantum Connections, to discuss why the fundamental supervisor-em
The Analytical Manager’s Guide to Leadership with Dalmo Cirne
Why do highly talented engineers and technical experts often struggle when promoted to management?
In this episode, we sit down with Dalmo Cirne, author of "The 4 Streams of Leadership," to deconstruct the "management bug" that many analytical minds face. Moving from a world of logic and technical precision into a world of constant change and human demand requires a total "refactor" of your profes
Bionic Branding: How to Build and Protect Corporate Trust in the Age of AI with Gal Borenstein
Navigating Digital Transformation in the modern landscape requires more than just processing power; it demands a resilient Human Infrastructure to safeguard your brand’s most valuable asset: trust. In this episode, Ivan Palomino is joined by Gal Borenstein, CEO of The Borenstein Group and author of Don't Believe the Hype, to explore the "Bionic Branding" framework.
As corporations race to integrat
How to Lead Through the Fog: Communicating Uncertainty with Salvatore Manzi
When navigating organizational change, communicating uncertainty effectively is the most critical skill a leader can possess. While many leaders' first instinct is to wait for "all the facts" before speaking, silence during a transition can be dangerous. Neuroscience reveals that the human brain treats ambiguity as a physical threat, triggering a "survival mode" that stifles creativity and fuels t
AI vs. Bureaucracy: How to Lead at Formula 1 Speed with Nikki Barua
Is your organization trying to drive at Formula 1 speeds using a horse-and-carriage engine? In this episode, we dive into the "Speed Paradox" of AI leadership and why buying the latest technology is useless if your corporate culture is built on layers of bureaucracy.
Corporate structures are often designed for safety and consensus, but the AI era demands non-linear speed and workforce autonomy.
Can AI Make You More Human? Scaling Empathy in Leadership with Ben Perreau
Nearly 75% of employees identify their manager as the primary source of workplace stress. In this deep-dive discussion, we explore how AI help for leadership is transitioning from a futuristic concept to a "bionic enhancement" for the modern executive. Host Ivan Palomino sits down with Ben Perreau, the founder of Parafoil, to discuss the "Empathy Mirror"—a radical approach to management that uses
How to Build Human Infrastructure for Digital Transformation with Barbara Wittmann
In an era where technology evolves at the speed of light, many organizations find their Digital Transformation efforts stalled by a neglected component: Human Infrastructure. While billions are poured into software patches and AI integrations, the "Human OS"—the cognitive and cultural framework of the workforce—often remains trapped in a legacy state. This episode features a deep dive with Barbara
Mastering the Mind of a Leader: Sébastien Page on the Psychology of High Performance
Why do companies spend billions on leadership development only to see engagement scores tank and top talent quit? The answer often lies in the "blind spots" of the human mind. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture podcast, we sit down with Sébastien Page, a leader in quantitative finance and author of The Psychology of Leadership.
Sébastien shares how his own journey through high-stakes st
Hanna Bauer: Beyond the Burnout Myth - Why Resilient Leadership is Your Best Business Strategy
We’ve all heard the "hustle harder" mantra, but the numbers tell a different story. Right now, workplace disengagement is a global crisis, costing businesses an estimated $9 trillion in lost productivity. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, we’re getting real about what it actually takes to lead without running yourself—or your team—into the ground.
Our guest, Hanna Bauer, autho
From Flop to Flow: Achieving Superperformance & Escaping the "Prison of Expectations" w/ George Pesansky
Why do 75% to 95% of business improvement projects fail to last beyond two years?
In this episode, we are tearing down the broken systems that hold businesses back. We are joined by George Pesansky, Operational Excellence Expert and author of Superperformance, to discuss the "massive leaky bucket problem" costing organizations billions.
George argues that most leaders are trapped in a "glass half-
The Boardroom Battle: Beyond the EU 40% Quota—Achieving Optimal Diversity with Dr. Keith Dorsey
Is the EU's 40% women on boards quota a genuine push for diversity or a looming compliance trap?
In this essential discussion, board strategy expert Dr. Keith Dorsey breaks down the unwritten rules of the boardroom and the real danger that the 2026 deadline poses for high-potential women. We move beyond outdated concepts of "Old Boys Networks" to explore the proven science of Optimal Diversity—the
Healing the "Wounded Workforce": Dr. Brian Alman on Confidence & Performance
The Confidence Crisis: Why many leaders mistake employee "wounds" for weakness.
Join clinical psychologist Dr. Brian Alman for a powerful discussion on the roots of low morale, burnout, and confidence issues in the modern workplace. Dr. Alman, a world-renowned expert in self-hypnosis and mindset, reveals the direct link between an employee's emotional state and their professional performance.
Lear
Stop Blaming Your Mindset: The Science of Rewiring Your Brainwaves for Peak Performance with Santiago Brand
Are you trying to solve a hardware problem with software solutions? In a world dominated by chronic stress, information overload, and the pressure to outperform AI, we often rely on willpower, productivity apps, or endless caffeine to stay focused. But what if the key to sustainable productivity isn't about managing your time, but literally training your brain to function better?
In this episode,
From Strategy Fatigue to Resilient Leadership: A New Framework with Dr. Lance Mortlock
Most strategic plans are obsolete the moment they're printed. In a world of constant uncertainty, 20th-century models are failing, leaving teams paralyzed by "strategy fatigue."
How do we fix this broken system?
In this episode, we sit down with a leading strategy expert to discuss a powerful new framework. It's designed to move beyond static, 100-page plans and embrace strategy as a daily, adapt
Stop Worrying About AI: The Human Superpowers That Future-Proof Your Career (Interview with Allister Frost)
Are you grappling with change fatigue, anxiety, or a chronic sense of being unready amidst the rapid rise of AI and automation?
In this illuminating and vital episode, we host Allister Frost, a visionary who has spent three decades navigating digital transformation. Allister, a former Microsoft leader and the author of the essential new book, ReadyAlready: The Future-Ready Mindset to Keep Up, Stan
DEI Backlash: The Truth About Equity & How to Overcome Workplace Resistance with Celeste Warren
In this essential episode, we dive deep into one of the most critical and challenging topics in the modern workplace: the powerful resistance to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Our guest is global corporate leader, former Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Merck, and author of the vital new book, The Truth About Equity: What it really is, what it isn't, and why everyone
The $223 Billion Cost of "Me Culture": Kyle McDowell on the Shift to WE-Oriented Leadership
This is an essential conversation for any leader, manager, or entrepreneur who wants to build a high-performing, sustainable culture.
We're joined by Kyle McDowell, a former Fortune 10 senior executive and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Begin with We: 10 Principles for Building and Sustaining a Culture of Excellence. Kyle is candid about the dysfunctional "me-oriented" mindset that
Beyond Suppression: How to Weaponize Negative Emotions for Peak Leadership (Greg Stewart's I³ Framework)
The conventional leadership advice is a lie: Don't show fear. Suppress the anger. Keep your cool. But what if that intense energy behind frustration or rage is the most potent fuel you're wasting?
In this thought-provoking deep dive, author and executive coach Greg Stewart (drgregstewart.com) introduces his radical concept of unleashing the rage of negative emotions —not at your team, but agains
The Coaching Crisis: Why 70% of Leadership Development Investments Fail to Show ROI with Andrea Caldwell
Are you a business leader or HR professional frustrated by the lack of measurable return on investment (ROI) from your leadership coaching programs?
You are definitely not alone. Industry reports indicate that a staggering 70% of organizations struggle to effectively measure the ROI of their leadership development initiatives.
This massive disconnect leaves companies feeling like they have investe
Resilience, Purpose, and Sustainable Relationships with Muriel Favarger (Ma Table & Co)
Welcome to the Growth Hacking Culture Swiss Made Edition! In this episode, we host a truly inspiring discussion with Muriel Favarger, founder and director of Ma Table & Co, an intergenerational ecosystem based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Muriel shares her incredible journey of resilience, detailing how she navigated immense personal and professional challenges—including a serious health diagnosi
Beyond OKRs: How the OHL Framework Can Drive Real Innovation with Radhika Dutt
Are your OKRs and KPIs actually holding your team back? In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture podcast, we challenge the traditional approach to goal setting with Radhika Dutt, author of "Radical Product Thinking." Radhika argues that our obsession with traditional performance metrics is deeply flawed and actively damages our products and culture. We explore why these systems, which were re
Stop the BS! Why Most Employee Wellness Programs Are a Waste of Money with Jordan Peace (Fringe)
In this eye-opening episode of the Growth Hacking Culture podcast, we dive deep into the often-misunderstood world of the employee experience. Forget the free snacks and meditation apps; we're here for the naked truth about what genuinely drives engagement, loyalty, and a thriving company culture. Our host sits down with Jordan Peace, CEO and co-founder of Fringe, a company built on the radical i
The Hidden ROI of Disability Inclusion: Why Accommodating Employees is Good for Business with Rachel Shaw
In this powerful episode, we challenge the outdated notion that disability inclusion is just a "feel-good" initiative. We're joined by expert Rachel Shaw to dive into the compelling business case for a robust disability inclusion program and expose the true costs of ignoring this critical conversation.
Rachel reveals that the average workplace accommodation costs surprisingly little—often between
The "Nice" Boss Trap: Why Kindness Without Courage Backfires (with Andrea Wanerstrand)
Welcome to The Growth Hacking Culture Podcast. In this episode, we challenge the conventional wisdom that being a "nice" boss is always a good thing. We dive deep into a hidden source of workplace chaos: the overly nice leader.
Join us as we talk with leadership expert Andrea Wanerstrand about the critical distinction between being merely "nice" and being genuinely kind. We explore how an overemph
Evan J Schwartz on The Human-Centric AI Revolution: A Guide to Successful Digital Transformation
Are we approaching the age of AI all wrong? While headlines champion the latest algorithms and ever-expanding large language models, a critical component is being overlooked: the human element. The real challenge of digitalization isn't found in the code, but in the culture, strategy, and people tasked with implementing it. Research indicates that while over 90% of companies are increasing their
The Toxic Workplace Survival Guide: Catherine Mattice on When to Cope and When to Quit
Do you ever feel a knot in your stomach on your way to the office? Do you dread upcoming meetings or interactions with certain colleagues? If so, you're not alone. An astonishing 75% of employees report having experienced a toxic workplace, and the consequences are staggering, affecting not just productivity and turnover, but the very mental and physical health of the workforce. While the term "t
Escape Burnout Culture: Lindsay Barnett on How to 'Work Well' and Craft Your Dream Job
Are you feeling stuck, stressed, or completely burned out by your job? You're not alone. With a staggering 77% of professionals experiencing burnout, the modern workplace can often feel like a minefield of exhaustion and dissatisfaction. But what if you had the power to fundamentally change your relationship with work, starting today?
In this episode, we sit down with workplace experience expert a
Beyond Goals: Dr. Apollo Emeka on Mastering Business Strategy and Accountability
In this powerful episode of The Growth Hacking Culture podcast, host Ivan Palomino interviews Dr. Apollo Emeka, an expert in leadership and organizational culture, to dissect one of the most persistent and costly challenges in business: the massive gap between a brilliant strategy and its execution. Dr. Emeka reveals that between 70% and 90% of strategies fail not because they are bad ideas, but
The Power of Differentiation: How Culture Drives Business Growth with Barry Labov
In this episode, we're joined by Barry Labov, author of "The Power of Differentiation," to challenge the traditional pillars of competition. For decades, the business playbook has focused on innovating your product, slashing prices, or outspending competitors on marketing. Barry argues that the most powerful and sustainable competitive advantage isn't something you advertise, but something you bui
Dr. Ute Liersch on Less is More: How Minimalism Builds Resilience in a Chaotic World
In this inspiring episode, Dr. Ute Liersch, author of "A Minimalist Guide to Becoming Resilient," joins us to discuss how we can build mental fortitude without the overwhelm. We dive into the science behind a resilient brain, the power of neuroplasticity, and why emotions like anger and sadness aren't "negative." Dr. Ute challenges our conventional ideas of success and happiness, offering practica
