817: Culture by Design: How Leaders Drive Strategy, Execution, and Performance with Krista White

817: Culture by Design: How Leaders Drive Strategy, Execution, and Performance with Krista White

In this episode, Krista White, coauthor of Culture Design and cofounder of Culture Design Lab explains how leaders can treat culture as a strategic lever rather than an HR initiative.

1. Culture is inseparable from strategy

Krista stresses that culture cannot be treated as background. It determines whether strategic plans survive contact with execution.

"We were noticing that there was a gap in people knowing how to connect culture with strategy. Our hope is that this book serves as a practical guide."

Leaders who design culture deliberately create alignment and resilience. Those who ignore it risk drift and underperformance.

2. Leadership presence remains essential

Digital tools cannot replace visible leadership.

"Everyone should be able to get five minutes with you. The CEO should not be a high on a hill person who is not reachable."

Walking the floor and observing frontline conditions show employees what leadership values.

3. Rituals make values real

Rituals translate values into behavior. "The rituals that stick are the ones tied directly to your business model and purpose not borrowed from another industry."

4. Resistance is part of the process

Cultural change often meets skepticism. Krista advises leaders to treat adoption like marketing.

"Think of it like marketing. You need many touches before someone clicks buy. Culture change requires consistency and repetition."

Consistency reduces resistance.

5. Context shapes culture

Best practices cannot be copied blindly.

"I used to think there was one right way for culture to look. I learned it is industry and context dependent."

The principle is to design culture that fits your strategy and market position.

6. Leadership lessons that endure

Krista learned two lessons from her father James White that remain relevant for executives

  • Discipline and preparation: "Practice makes perfect."

  • Balance and resilience: Never sacrificing family relationships even under pressure.

7. A broader leadership mission

Krista frames her work around freedom and engagement.

"My why is to do my part in creating a freer and more joyful world for everyone. For me that is through storytelling."

Organizations perform best when employees can bring their full selves to work.

📚 Get Culture Design here: https://shorturl.at/NVrs1

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Episoder(815)

211: Ignore the case interviewer at your peril

211: Ignore the case interviewer at your peril

It is quite common for Firmsconsulting to receive the following emails, questions or comments from clients and readers. When reading the comments below, try to think about why a reader would have these questions. In other words, what are their underlying assumptions?

12 Aug 201412min

210: Yale PhDs, Berkeley PhDs and Harvard MBAs start here

210: Yale PhDs, Berkeley PhDs and Harvard MBAs start here

Due to our longstanding relationships at Yale and Berkeley, since several Firmsconsulting mentors are Harvard alumni, our Harvard and Yale clients' involvement in the development of The Consulting Offer Season 1 and 2, students of these schools receive complimentary access. This podcast offers some unique suggestions for PhDs and MBAs from these schools to use the material. In particular, 32 Harvard MBAs were intimately involved in testing the program between December 2012 and June 2013. We discuss their experiences and advice for using the material.

6 Aug 201417min

209: Unemployed To The Big-3, Behind The Scenes

209: Unemployed To The Big-3, Behind The Scenes

Putting together the September 2013 Quarterly feature article, "Unemployed to the Big-3," was both an interesting and challenging article. It follows the new format of the Firmsconsulting Quarterly. This podcast discusses the lessons you should be taking from this article. The context for those lessons, however, is determined by the way this article was written.

31 Jul 201428min

207: Case Interview Support

207: Case Interview Support

This series of detailed podcasts provides prospective applicants to our program all the information they need to put together an application package, do well in the screening interviews, and, should they be the offered a place in the Firmsconsulting program, succeed at their McKinsey, BCG et al interviews.

19 Jul 201411min

206: Case Interview Coaching

206: Case Interview Coaching

This series of detailed podcasts provides prospective applicants to our program all the information they need to put together an application package, do well in the screening interviews, and, should they be the offered a place in the Firmsconsulting program, succeed at their McKinsey, BCG et al interviews.

13 Jul 201448min

205: Case Interview Networking

205: Case Interview Networking

Networking will not lead to an interview in management consulting. That is because networking is very poorly done and treated merely as a process of asking for help and referrals. We have a very high success rate due to the unusual steps we take to prepare clients. All time allocated in this part of the training is at the sole discretion of Firmsconsulting since it is not subtracted from the 12 hours of coaching.

7 Jul 201412min

204: Case Interview Resumes

204: Case Interview Resumes

For the majority of clients, the most important area is resume preparation. A poor resume leads to a poor LinkedIn profile which results in no networking when consultants view the weaker online profile. Our most successful clients take the time to build effective resumes. All time allocated in this part of the training is at the sole discretion of Firmsconsulting since it is not subtracted from the 12 hours of coaching.

1 Jul 201410min

203: Case Interview Planning

203: Case Interview Planning

Give our extensive screening process; we have a detailed file on clients before the program begins. The planning call sets the agenda, timetable and objectives for the next few weeks or months if needed. Very few candidates tend to work with us for less than a month and the majority are working with us for more than 6 months.

25 Jun 201414min

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