THE DEEP DIVE with Aga and Shani: Activating Your Values The Deep Dive with Aga and Shani is your monthly episode about all things culture. This episode focuses on activating company values and creating a culture where values are not just talked about but lived and breathed by every employee. Whether you're a seasoned HR professional, a team leader, or an entrepreneur looking to build a strong culture from the ground up, our podcast has something for you. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Do you ever wonder why some teams thrive while others struggle? According to recent studies, the secret sauce to success may lie in something unexpected - play at work. My guest, Kristi Herold, the founder and CEO of JAM and the author of “It Pays to Play” talks about how to incorporate play into how we run our businesses. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Is it possible to make a difference and make money? Nikki Gatenby says yes! If you are looking to make a difference in the world while still running a successful business, this episode is a must-listen. Nikki provides valuable tips and ideas on how to be profitable and purposeful and how we can contribute to creating a better world through our businesses. Tune into this episode to learn how to pursue both success and positive impact. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

When it comes to creating a truly just workplace, many companies today seem fixated on ticking off diversity metrics. But DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) is not just about numbers - it's about creating a culture where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. Our guest today, Trier Bryant, the President of 82VS, Alloy Therapeutics’ affiliated venture studio that builds and invests in next-generation biotech companies and the Co-Founder and CEO of Just Work, puts it perfectly: "If even your straight white men don't have a good experience at work, increasing the diversity of your workforce will not solve the problem - it will probably make it worse." Tune in to this episode with Trier to learn about creating truly inclusive and equitable workplaces. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

In this episode, we dive into the importance of innovation in the modern business world. Our guest, Dan Strode, shares insights on how a corporate culture that nurtures creativity and encourages experimentation can foster innovation and give a company a unique competitive edge. He delves into the ways companies can cultivate an environment that values and prioritizes innovation, and how it ultimately leads to success in an ever-changing marketplace. Join us as we explore the role of innovation in driving growth and competitiveness for businesses today. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Drama in the workplace is a major drain on productivity, creativity, and collaboration. It manifests as emotional outbursts, unresolved disagreements, resistance to change, or misalignment with strategic priorities. It’s not just unpleasant - it can cost billions in lost engagement and productivity, exacerbating mental health issues. Fortunately, we can learn how to minimize or even eliminate drama in the workplace, and that’s exactly what we talk about in this episode of the CultureLab podcast with my guest, Caitlin Walker. Tune in to hear us explore her methodology and demos of a series of “clean questions”. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Belonging is not a by-product of success - it’s a necessary condition for any team. In this episode, I am joined by one of the most distinguished experts on belonging and community building, Charles Vogl. Tune in to hear us do a deep dive into some of the foundational principles of nurturing authentic and supportive communities at work - and in life. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Jessica Zwaan has amassed quite a following among HR professionals frustrated with the old way of doing things and keen to develop an agile, evidence-based approach to serve their people and business and to drive performance. Jessica is currently the COO at Whereby, and outside of her company, she is most well known for her approach to people ops as a product. Jessica’s latest book is called Built for People - Develop an Agile, Evidence-based Approach to HR to Drive Performance, and together we explore people ops. Tune in! To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

There’s a major positive side-effect to the pandemic - it presents us with the biggest opportunity we’ve had in the past 100 years to redesign the way we work and finally fix the stuff that's been broken since the industrial era. In this episode, Lynda Gratton, a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School talks about how you can make hybrid work. She is one of the foremost global thought-leaders on the future of work, named by ‘Business Thinkers 50’ as one of the top fifteen business thinkers. It’s worth tuning in and learning from her! To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

For many people, fun and work don’t mix. We tend to think of work as the serious and virtuous stuff of life. Fun, on the other hand, is perceived as something frivolous, an indulgence that we can rarely afford. But fun at work turns out to be serious business; it’s one of the pillars of thriving cultures, alongside meaning and belonging. Today my guest is an award-winning science journalist, Catherine Price who went down a similar rabbit hole when it comes to fun as I did. Catherine’s latest book is called The Power of Fun - How to Feel Alive Again and together we explore the power of fun at work. Join us! To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Most people struggle with “constructive” feedback. It’s hard to hear it and even harder to give it. We are neurologically hard-wired to avoid feedback like the plague. And yet, we cannot grow and develop without it. Our guest, Kim Scott, discovered that when feedback comes from a place of caring deeply and challenging directly, it can be very effective. She calls it radical candor. If you are not familiar with radical candor, this episode is a great introduction, not just to the concept but also to its origin story. Plus, we have a really interesting conversation about recognizing and addressing bias, prejudice and bullying at work. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

“When’s the last time you had a good chat with yourself? The kind of chat where you ask yourself, “How am I in there?” - this is one of the questions Jeanette Bronée likes asking. Rethinker, Culture Strategist, Global Keynote & 2 x TEDx Speaker, Author, CEO & Founder of Path for Life®, Jeanette Bronée is rethinking self-care in the workplace as the foundation for peak performance, engagement, and a culture where people belong and work better together. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Megan Reitz, Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Hult International Business School talks about creating spaces for dialogue that enable employees to speak truth to power and elaborates on the skills we need to develop to successfully navigate the relatively new territory of employee activism. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Robin Dunbar is a professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University. He has spent most of his career trying to answer a deceptively simple: How and why did humans evolve to be such a sociable species? He is perhaps best known for the so-called Dunbar's number, the idea that there is an upper limit to the number of meaningful social relationships we can maintain. In this interview professor Dunbar talks about how we can apply the findings from his research when we design our teams and organisations, why the number 150 is so important to keep in mind when we build a business, his forecast when it comes to the return - or no return - to the office - and so much more! To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

We’ve all felt pulled in two seemingly opposite directions and faced tough dilemmas at work at times: Culture fit or culture add? Employees-first or customer-first? Innovation or efficiency? Self-managed teams or traditional hierarchy? In this episode, Professor Wendy Smith from the University of Delaware talks about her new book Both/And Thinking; Embracing Creative Tensions and the opportunities that open up when dropping the “either/or” mindset and embracing a paradoxical one. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

Have you ever felt frustrated by the fact that people tend to stick to their guns, even when presented with indisputable evidence that their beliefs are completely unfounded or plain wrong? This is the question that intrigued my guest, David McCraney, a science journalist fascinated with brains, minds, and culture. It led him on an investigative journey that resulted in a new book, How Minds Change. In this episode, David and I do a deep dive into the science of practices and methodologies that can lead to significant changes in how people think, feel and act at an individual and a collective level. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

This month we are sharing some of the best episodes from our archive and this episode with Max Mckeown is a must-listen and a great place to start when thinking of how to align culture and strategy. We talk about how to find your next big idea, what role strategy plays in your ability to create the future you want and what scenarios could emerge if culture and strategy really sat down to have breakfast together instead of trying to cannibalize each other. Just a note: This episode is a rerun and was recorded a while ago. There are some references that may seem a little out of date but the content is more relevant than ever. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

What would happen if you got rid of traditional HR? Listen to this episode where Heiko Fischer, the CEO of Resourceful Humans, talks about how he moved from noodling over this question to actually giving it a go at Crytek, one of Europe’s biggest video gaming companies. Learn how Crytek transitioned from a traditional hierarchy to a network of self-managed teams that are fueled by 100% entrepreneurship and 0% bureaucracy - and how you can implement some of these practices at your company. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

How do you avoid joining a company with a toxic culture—or build a healthy one when you are already a part of the organization? These are just a couple of questions addressed in this episode of Adam Grant’s WorkLife that we are grilled to bring you as part of our new collab with TED Audio Collective. In this episode, Adam Grant explores how to recognize the four deadly sins of work culture when you’re on the outside looking in, and shares strategies that can help shape a thriving workplace from the inside. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/

As a society, we've certainly made some progress in honoring the contribution of the LGBTQ workforce. But, there are still minds, hearts, teams, and companies that do not engage and where people, irrespective of what group they identify with, do not experience psychological safety. And so we thought that during the Pride Month, it would be more relevant than ever to release the interview with the mother of psychological safety, Amy Edmondson. Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School with a long standing academic career. She’s the author of The Fearless Organization and in this podcast, we explore why the fear of taking interpersonal risks will destroy your culture and any DEI efforts you might have undertaken. To join CultureBrained® go to tinyurl.com/culturebrained To access our free resources and materials on cultivating thriving cultures, click here: https://www.agabajer.com/resources/