With so many shifting rules and cultural norms, career success can feel like mastering a complex game. Jessica Lindl, Vice President of Ecosystem Growth at Unity Technologies and a Haas MBA alum, shows how a gaming mindset can be an advantage in today’s workplace. Her new book, The Career Game Loop: Learn to Earn in the New Economy, launches April 29.  Jessica joins hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava in the season 3 finale of The Culture Kit to discuss the gamer mindset, strategies for job crafting, and how leaders can build game-inspired workplace cultures.

From ride-hailing services to warehouses to hiring platforms, algorithms are increasingly taking on the role of manager. What does this mean for worker autonomy and meaningful engagement with work? On this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava interview Lindsey Cameron, assistant professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, about the research insights she gained from getting behind the wheel as a ride-hailing driver. Cameron discusses the cultural aspects of gig work, the “good bad job” paradox, and strategies for fostering equity and worker dignity in an increasingly algorithm-driven world.

Why do some workplaces enforce strict rules while others never seem to start a meeting on time? What happens when a rule-following “Order Muppet”—think Kermit the Frog—pairs up with a “Chaos Muppet” like Cookie Monster? And what does how you load the dishwasher reveal about your cultural mindset? In this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava welcome Dr. Michele Gelfand, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and pioneer of the “tight-loose” framework for analyzing culture. Gelfand, a cross-cultural psychologist, reveals how invisible cultural forces shape behavior across nations, organizations, and even households, offering a powerful lens to understand why some groups thrive with structure while others flourish with freedom. The conversation unpacks how companies navigate cultural challenges during crises like the pandemic, mergers, and the remote work revolution. Gelfand shares tools for leaders to identify when their organization has become too rigid or too lax, and strategies for achieving “tight-loose ambidexterity—a balance of accountability and empowerment that drives success.

IBM Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Nickle LaMoreaux is helping to steer the tech giant through the fastest change she’s seen in her two-decade career. In this interview with UC Berkeley Haas professors Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava, she shares how IBM’s bold shift to AI-powered HR helped free up her human team to better support the company’s 275,000 global employees. IBM’s digital AI agent now handles 11 million interactions annually with a 94% resolution rate, and employee satisfaction has soared. LaMoreaux makes the case that this digital transformation has enabled her team to focus on high-value work like leadership coaching and complex problem-solving. She discusses how domain expertise has become more important than ever.

How can leaders put AI to work without stifling human creativity and innovation? Berkeley Haas organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava are back for season 3 of The Culture Kit! The season kicks off with Hila Lifshitz, a Professor of Management at Warwick Business School and head of The Artificial Intelligence Innovation Network. She’s also a visiting faculty member at Harvard University’s Lab for Innovation Science (LISH). Jenny, Sameer, and Hila dive into her pioneering research on open innovation at NASA, revealing how they transitioned to an open innovation model and the significant cultural shift it required. They also discuss new research with fashion company H&M that revealed a common pitfall when implementing AI, and how to avoid it.

How can artistic thinking and practices foster a healthier and more effective organizational culture? On this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava host a panel of four experts to discuss using art in the workplace to unleash a team’s creativity and innovation—regardless of the industry. From Google’s art-infused Quantum AI Computing Lab to new methods of teaching, the discussion revolves around the profound impact of integrating art into business, the role of AI in creative processes, and practical advice for overcoming resistance from those who don’t understand the value of the sometimes-messy creative process. Panelists: Erik Lucero leads the Google AI Quantum lab. He believes in the deep relationship between art, beauty, and the ability to innovate. Erik brought art into his new lab for the sole purpose of inspiring creativity in the team. Forest Stearns is the Principal Artist and co-founder of the Artist-in-Residence program at the Google AI Quantum project. Nir Hindie founded The Artian, a training company committed to nurturing an artistic mindset in the business environment. He’s a relentless advocate for the connections between artistic talent and business entrepreneurship as two areas that fuel each other. Léo Boussioux is an assistant professor of Information Systems at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. He’s passionate about the transformative power of AI in art and creativity, and believes that we all have an artist within waiting to be unleashed. This episode is based on the CultureXChange forum “Finding the Synergy between Art, Creativity, and Innovation” held on December 2, 2024 by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation. Learn more.

Despite efforts to eliminate gender bias at work, women still face barriers their male colleagues don’t. How can companies today identify whether gender bias has crept into their organization and create cultures that are supportive of women? On this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava are joined by Laura Kray, a professor at Berkeley Haas and the faculty director of the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership. Laura has been studying the psychological barriers that hold women back at work for decades. Her work sheds light on the hidden biases that persist today. Jenny, Sameer, and Laura chat about the perceived differences between male and female leaders in terms of power versus status, as well as how age plays into how women are perceived. Laura discusses her research debunking the notion that pay disparities between men and women come from differences in negotiation skills and shares strategies for business leaders to uncover and correct inequities. 

“Tribalism” has a generally negative reputation these days. It’s often used to refer to an us-versus-them mentality, or a culture that’s divisive and exclusionary. But that perception, according to cultural psychologist Michael Morris, “could not be more inaccurate as a description of what human tribal instincts are. They're instincts for solidarity, not for hostility.” On this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srviastava interview Michael Morris, a professor at Columbia Business School, about his new book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together. Jenny, Sameer, and Michael discuss how tribal instincts allowed humans to break away from the primate back, and how these deeply ingrained instincts show up in organizations today. They also delve into modern and historical examples of leaders utilizing tribalism to adapt culture and even heal rifts.

Should corporate leaders speak out on social and political issues? And if they decide to do so, what’s the best approach? On this episode of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava chat with Matt Kohut, a leadership communications expert, about his new book Speaking Out: The New Rules of Business Leadership Communications. Jenny, Sameer, and Matt dig into historical examples of corporations and politics colliding, the potential pros and cons of deciding to weigh in on social issues, and strategies for business leaders to evaluate risk and maintain accountability when deciding to speak out. This episode’s question came from Laszlo Bock, co-founder of Humu and former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google.

In the season two premiere of The Culture Kit, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava tackle the complex question of how to create a culture of inclusion and belonging in the face of growing polarization in the workplace and society at large. To help answer this question, Jenny and Sameer turn to DEI expert Jarvis Sam. Jarvis is the CEO and founder of the strategy firm, Rainbow Disruption, which advises organizations on developing practical solutions that champion DEI in the workplace. Before that, Jarvis was the  Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Nike, where he spearheaded initiatives to enhance diverse representation and foster inclusive leadership. He also led organizational efforts around DEI with athletes like Serena Williams and Lebron James, as well as leagues like the WNBA and NFL. Jenny, Sameer, and Jarvis discuss what an inclusive culture really means, go over actionable steps leaders can take to create and manage a culture of inclusion and belonging, and address some of the biggest myths and misconceptions surrounding DEI.

While “psychological safety” has become somewhat of a buzzword in management circles, it’s a concept that forward-thinking leaders dismiss at their own peril. “I cannot think of a place where lower psychological safety would help you in any way,” says Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, known for her pioneering research on the topic. “Lower psychological safety would make you take fewer risks, but not necessarily better risks. So having anxiety about what other people think of you isn't a great state for optimal performance.” In this bonus episode of The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer, Edmondson, along with WD-40 CEO Steve Brass, joins hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava to discuss how to create a culture of psychological safety—and why it matters. This session was held November 13, 2023 as part of the Culture XChange series sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation and is being broadcast publicly for the first time. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” You can learn more about the podcast and the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation at https://haas.berkeley.edu/culture/culture-kit-podcast/. *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

When Patrick Collison and his brother John Collison founded digital payment company Stripe in 2010, he didn't come in with “any kind of enlightened leadership expertise or genetic muscle memory.” As the company took off and grew to a dominant platform with $1 trillion in total payment volume and millions of customers, its culture grew more intentional—and strategic. “Because Stripe's domain is really complicated and the details really matter, if we make a mistake—just one mistake—there's a very good chance that somebody's paycheck is wrong…There's a culture at Stripe of just really prizing the small details,” he says. In this bonus episode of The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer, Collison shares his leadership journey and the evolution of Stripe’s unique culture in a fireside chat with hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava. This April 16, 2024 event was part of the Dean’s Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation.

What are the benefits and challenges of running a fully remote company? What does research show about the shift to “work from anywhere”? In this bonus episode of The Culture Kit, host Sameer Srivastava interviews Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, the Lumry Family Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School, and Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier, on how to use technology and organizational insights to create high-performing, inclusive, and engaging remote work cultures. Choudhury is one of the pioneers in research on the future of work, especially the changing geography of work. He was included in Forbes’ Future of Work 50 list last year and Time’s Charter 30 list of thinkers and innovators shaping the future of work in 2024. Sammut is a two-time chief people officer currently at Zapier, a software automation platform with an all-remote team that spans over 40 countries. He believes that remote work is the way to expand both individual opportunity and business results, drawing on his prior experience in talent acquisition, talent development, strategy, consulting, business development, and venture capital. This episode is based on a CultureXChange forum held on April 11th, 2024 by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation. Learn more.

In a fireside chat with host Jenny Chatman, best-selling author Michael Lewis shares the inside story of the strange culture Sam Bankman-Fried created at his failed crypto exchange, FTX. Lewis got to know SBF for his latest book, "Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon." The story is a fascinating example of a strong organizational culture gone terribly wrong.

With the world of work constantly evolving and the introduction of new technologies like AI, how can leaders prepare themselves to successfully lead their companies into the new frontier? On the season finale of The Culture Kit, Haas School of Business professors and organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava are joined by a special guest. Laszlo Bock, one of the leading industry voices on people management, was the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, served as the CEO of Humu, and then co-founded Gretel AI. He's also the author of The New York Times’ bestseller, Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. Jenny, Sameer, and Laszlo answer a question from Melissa Wernick, the Global Chief People Officer for Kraft Heinz, on what key skills leaders will need to be successful in the evolving workplace. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” You can learn more about the podcast and the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation at www.haas.org/culture-kit. *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.* Jenny & Sameer’s 3 Main Takeaways: The best leaders are diagnostic and deliberate. They look at things on a situation-by-situation basis and ask themselves: How can I add value here? And they plan for that. Cultivate a broad and flexible set of leadership styles. Situations are varied and vast, so have a broad and flexible leadership portfolio that you can draw from depending on what the circumstances are. The best leaders recognize that they're never actually done learning. Leadership development is a lifelong pursuit, so keep working on it and be a student always (as we say at Haas). Show Links: Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality [Harvard Business School] Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy Edmondson Creativity from Constraint? How the Political Correctness Norm Influences Creativity in Mixed-sex Work Groups [Administrative Science Quarterly] Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner CEO Fires 90 Percent of Support Staff, Saying AI Outperforms Them [Futurism] How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management [Harvard Business Review] Chatman, Jennifer A., Sameer Srivastava, and David Rochlin, “How Lyft’s Strategy Informed their Return to Work Approach.” University of California, Berkeley Haas Case Series, 2024. forthcoming. Maersk: Driving Culture Change at a Century-Old Company to Achieve Measurable Results [Berkeley Haas Case Series] Kaiser Permanente: The Electronic Health Record Journey [Kaiser Permanente International] The Next Normal: Let’s Rewrite the Rules Together [Mars] Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence [Harvard Business Publishing] The Berkeley Transformative CHRO Leadership Program co-led by Laszlo Bock [Berkeley Exec Ed]

A “yes man” culture that is adverse to dissent can not only be stifling for employees, but in some cases, can be downright dangerous. So how do you create a culture where everyone feels empowered to bring their ideas to the table? On today’s episode of The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer, Haas School of Business professors and organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava answer a question from Shuchi Mathur, the Vice President of Customer Experience at Reelgood. Jenny and Sameer share examples of companies they’ve worked with like Pixar and Netflix that have built cultures around celebrating failure and farming for dissent. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” Find the full transcript and learn more about the podcast at https://haas.org/culture-kit. *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.* Jenny & Sameer’s 3 Main Takeaways: -Be intentional – recognize that you need to go out of your way to prioritize dissent; otherwise you might inadvertently stifle it. -Build systems – some organizations even establish processes to encourage people to take deliberate action to surface dissent. This is mission-critical in an organization where life and safety are on the line. -Model what you want to see – leaders need to actively model a willingness to admit when they’re wrong and own up to mistakes. At the same time, they can seek out and defer to expertise, rather than acting like they always have the answers. Show Links: Boeing Hit by Damning FAA Report Faulting Safety Culture [Bloomberg] Fixing Boeing’s Broken Culture Starts With a New Plane [Bloomberg] Boeing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) [YouTube] The Lasting Leadership Lessons From The Challenger Disaster [Forbes] The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA [University of Chicago Press] Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank [Harvard Business Publishing] Zappos has quietly backed away from holacracy [Quartz] Structure That’s Not Stifling [Harvard Business Review] 'Farming for dissent': The strategy that helped Reed Hastings turn Netflix into a $240 bn company [Business Today] Reed Hastings: This 3-word tactic helped make Netflix a $240 billion company [CNBC] Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility [Harvard Business Publishing] No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention [Penguin Press] Mindset: The New Psychology of Success [Random House Publishing Group] Lessons from Pixar 2: Failure Is an Ingredient for Creativity [Medium] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Apologizes For Comments On Women's Pay [Forbes] Microsoft's CEO Sent an Extraordinary Email to Employees After They Committed an Epic Fail [Inc] Satya Nadella at Microsoft: Instilling a Growth Mindset [Harvard Business Publishing] Managing High Reliability Organizations [California Management Review] Must accidents happen? Lessons from high-reliability organizations [Academy of Management Perspectives] The Opposite of Complacent: How Risky Businesses Avoid Disaster [Berkeley Haas Newsroom]

In this time of quiet quitting and burnout, how do organizational leaders create a culture that encourages workers to go above and beyond their job description? Organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava are back to answer this question from Meili Hau, the director of the Student Health Center at San Francisco State University. Tune in to hear Jenny and Sameer share real-world insights and research as well as strategies you can put to work to improve your workplace culture. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” Find the full transcript and learn more about the podcast at www.haas.org/culture-kit. *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.* Jenny & Sameer’s 3 Main Takeaways: Codification – Codify your values and norms and systematically bake them into the fabric of your organization. Opportunity – Set up systems and opportunities for people to not only document their work and share knowledge across boundaries, but also to form relationships and meaningful connections that span those boundaries. Leadership – Leaders should reinforce the big picture, laying out a strong vision that inspires people to go above and beyond their job descriptions to achieve big goals together. Show Links: Who is Quiet Quitting For? [The New York Times] The Berkeley-Haas School of Business: Codifying, Embedding, and Sustaining Culture Case Study A and B Berkeley Haas Defining Leadership Principles Where Culture Really Matters: Berkeley’s Haas School [Poets&Quants] How Stripe Built a Writing Culture Dean's Speaker Series | Patrick Collison, Co-Founder & CEO, Stripe; Co-Founder, Arc Institute The Hidden Power of Social Networks Enculturation Trajectories: Language, Cultural Adaptation, and Individual Outcomes in Organizations [Management Science] Organizational Commitment and Psychological Attachment: The Effects of Compliance, Identification, and Internalization on Prosocial Behavior [Journal of Applied Psychology]

Is it better for an organization to have one unified culture or a collection of mini ones? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each approach? Organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava are back with more research insights, real-world examples, and tips for company leaders, this time about the complex world of subcultures. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” Find the full transcript and learn more about the podcast at www.haas.org/culture-kit. *Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.* Jenny & Sameer’s 3 Main Takeaways: Awareness – know what subcultures exist within the organization and anticipate the possibility that they conflict in dysfunctional ways. Agility – be willing to try out different cultural priorities. Before deciding that the counterculture is necessarily problematic you should look at what it is solving for. Alignment – prioritize one cultural norm that applies to all units and unifies the organization rather than trying to be perfectly aligned on everything. Show Links: The Role of Subcultures in Agile Organizations [Leading and Managing People in the Dynamic Organization] Maersk: Driving Culture Change at a Century-Old Company to Achieve Measurable Results [Berkeley Haas Case Series] Identifying Organizational Subcultures: An Empirical Approach [Journal of Management Studies] A Language-Based Method for Assessing Symbolic Boundaries [Sociological Methods & Research] The Lasting Leadership Lessons From The Challenger Disaster [Forbes] 5 Ways to Create a Culture of Innovation in Your Organisation [Salesforce Blog]

In this world of hybrid work, how to build and maintain long-lasting and impactful relationships at your company can be a head-scratcher of a question. The Culture Kit hosts, Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava, are here to help. On today’s episode, they’re answering a question from HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan about how to keep employees connected whether they’re at home or in the office. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” at https://forms.gle/mxt7gBpRFqy4e52z5. Find the full transcript and learn more about the podcast at: https://www.haas.org/culture-kit *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

Welcome to The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer, a podcast created by the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation. In this inaugural episode, hosts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava—two Berkeley Haas professors who have dedicated their careers to studying and advancing workplace culture—answer a question from WD-40 CEO Steve Brass about how to create and maintain a strong workplace culture. What does it mean to have a strong culture? According to Jenny: “A strong organizational culture is one where people both agree about what's important and care. And so if you think about in your head a two-by-two box here, which is what academics love to think in terms of, you have one with agreement, low-high, one with intensity, low-high. If you're high on both, you have a strong culture. If you're low on both, you have a weak culture. But if you're high on agreement but low on intensity, you have what we call a vacuous culture. Everybody agrees, but nobody cares. And you could be high on intensity but low on agreement, and there you'll probably have a lot of conflict, or what we call warring factions. So those are the possibilities for how strong culture can array.” Jenny and Sameer also discuss the dark side of strong culture. According to Sameer: “I think it's also important to keep in mind that strong cultures can also have a dark side, and an organization with a culture that is too strong can quickly become stifling and fail to recognize the value and importance of non-conformists who are often really central to efforts to innovate and change the culture over time. In fact, if an organization's culture becomes too strong, it can actually take on the qualities of a cult. And so there's a risk of having a culture that may be just too strong.” The two also discuss Jenny's take on Netflix and Genentech's cultures and how leaders even know how strong their culture is. Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” at https://forms.gle/mxt7gBpRFqy4e52z5. Find the full transcript and learn more about the podcast at: https://www.haas.org/culture-kit *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*