Mastering Workplace Culture Podcast By S. Chris Edmonds and Mark S. Babbitt cover art

Mastering Workplace Culture

Mastering Workplace Culture

By: S. Chris Edmonds and Mark S. Babbitt
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The Mastering Workplace Culture podcast examines the hard truths of workplace culture change. Proven culture leaders share unfiltered stories of breakdowns, breakthroughs, and their bold decisions. And they'll discuss the steps they took to drive sustainable, tangible change in which respect and results are modeled, monitored, and validated equally. This is practical insight for executives who cannot afford to let culture fail—and for those who are just as concerned with their leadership legacy as they are with today's results.2026 Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Designing a Safer Workplace: Engineering Healthcare Culture

    Designing a Safer Workplace: Engineering Healthcare Culture
    Mar 17 2026
    The newest episode of Mastering Workplace Culture offers a candid, human-centered dialogue with Susan Thorn, a healthcare executive whose leadership style blends clear vision, empathy, and a firm grasp of operational needs. A former registered nurse, Susan now serves as a senior leader at Community Health System, where she oversees the welfare of over 11,500 employees. Her approach is grounded in a straightforward conviction: tThose who are most directly involved in the work possess the most critical understanding. Susan discusses her experiences, from her early work managing the COVID-19 response to her current leadership role across the system. She explains how a strong organizational culture can provide stability in a field facing burnout, staff shortages, workplace violence, and constant operational demands. Susan's stories highlight the realities of culture work in a major trauma hospital: •Long‑tenured teams disrupted by organizational transitions • Clinicians with exceptional patient skills but strained colleague relationships • Leaders need to rebuild trust by showing up physically on the units • Frontline staff eager to speak transparently—once leaders establish safety • Hiring for cultural alignment before technical skill • The "maintenance" required to sustain a healthy culture long‑term • Coaching leaders who must model respect even on hard days She also describes the ongoing balance between operational safety and human warmth—especially as workplace violence rises across the healthcare sector. Her approach blends engineering discipline with compassion: Design systems, educate teams, anticipate risks, and make workplaces both safe and humane. This conversation is a clear look at what values‑based leadership requires in an environment where pressure never fades. Susan's work demonstrates how culture becomes a form of workplace engineering—a system that protects, empowers, and sustains the people who care for others every day. ⏱️ Key Moments 00:00–00:31 — Opening MWC 00:31–02:07 — Introducing Susan Thorn and her unique background in nursing, safety, and system design 02:07–03:00 — Early connection with Chris & Mark during the COVID crisis 03:00–04:41 — Joining Community Health System: first impressions of a family‑based culture 04:41–06:00 — Early surprises, long‑tenured staff, and navigating cultural shifts 06:00–08:00 — From director to leader of 11,500 employees: "I take care of the people who take care of the people" 08:00–09:00 — The ongoing battle against burnout, staffing shortages, and workplace violence 09:00–10:34 — Why listening is the starting point for rebuilding values‑based culture 10:34–12:00 — Coaching senior leaders to model visibility, presence, and alignment 12:00–14:00 — Aligning brilliant clinical talent with values like respect and civility 14:00–16:00 — Workplace engineering: building culture like maintaining a bridge 16:00–17:00 — "Red carpet" employee experience from day one 17:00–19:00 — Why you can't "fix" culture by fixing one person 19:00–21:00 — Coaching misaligned clinicians and hiring for culture first 21:00–24:00 — Partnering with UCSF residents and creating safe learning environments 24:00–27:00 — Balancing psychological safety with physical safety amid rising violence 27:00–30:00 — The two cultures in healthcare: patient‑facing excellence vs. internal misalignment 30:00–33:00 — How psychological safety reveals the real state of culture 33:00–35:00 — The reality of subcultures—and why leaders must communicate the path forward 35:00–37:00 — Asking "What have I forgotten?" and keeping communication open 37:00–39:00 — From bedside nurse to culture shaper: expanding impact through system design 39:00–41:00 — Strategy during crisis: listening sessions, fractional improvements, and data‑driven wins 41:00–43:00 — Engineering respect into daily practices 43:00–45:00 — Why rollout fails when you forget to "take the people with you." 45:00–47:00 — Managing bad days, sustaining respect, and avoiding relational damage 47:00–49:00 — Personal wellbeing, resilience, and how Susan stays grounded 49:00–51:00 — Compersion: leading with compassion as a cultural advantage 51:00–52:00 — Closing MWC If Susan's perspective on culture, safety, and frontline‑first leadership resonated with you, help this message reach more leaders: 👍 Give this video a like to support conversations that center on real human experience 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes that explore culture through lived leadership 💬 Share your biggest insight about building safety—physical or psychological—in your own workplace 🔗 Send this episode to a leader in healthcare who needs encouragement and clarity right now #MasteringWorkplaceCulture #HealthcareLeadership #OrganizationalCulture #PeopleFirstLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #...
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    52 mins
  • How Amber Jordan Transformed Culture in Rural Healthcare

    How Amber Jordan Transformed Culture in Rural Healthcare
    Mar 10 2026

    The newest episode of the Mastering Workplace Culture features an honest, compelling conversation with Amber "AJ" Jordan, CEO of Desert Sage Health Centers—a rural healthcare organization that transformed culture, strengthened leadership, and rebuilt trust across multiple sites through values‑driven alignment and measurable accountability.

    AJ shares how a single team conflict sparked her search for a stronger cultural foundation. What began with a book full of Post‑it notes led to a multi‑year journey grounded in transparency, data, and consistent leadership behavior. She describes the moment she realized she couldn't improve culture through isolated fixes—the entire organization, beginning with the executive team, needed shared expectations, clearer communication, and a common language.

    This episode takes you inside the realities of culture change in a close-knit rural setting: Young managers learning to lead, long‑standing interpersonal history, the strain of limited staffing pools, and the unique challenges of small‑town relationships. AJ explains how data‑driven insights, leadership vulnerability, Lean foundations, and repeated Executive Team Effectiveness surveys shaped a culture where respectful behavior mattered as much as performance.

    You'll hear how AJ and Desert Sage handled:

    Bringing frontline providers and clinicians into values‑based leadership

    Coaching high performers who struggled with interpersonal behavior

    Addressing skepticism from staff convinced that nothing would change

    Expanding culture work from executives → managers → staff

    Moving into a brand‑new medical building while protecting team morale

    Innovating an innovative drive‑through element to the clinic based on patient feedback

    Creating a leadership pipeline that elevated people from entry‑level roles to major responsibilities

    This is one of the clearest examples of how culture becomes a core operating system — not through slogans, but through repeated alignment, shared vulnerability, and daily accountability.

    ⏱️ Key Moments

    00:00 Bold Leaders, No Buzzwords (Opening Narration)

    00:21 Welcome + Introducing Amber "AJ" Jordan

    00:45 Who AJ Is and the Reality of Rural Healthcare

    02:07 The Post‑It Filled "Culture Engine" Book

    03:36 Team Conflict That Sparked a Culture Journey

    05:06 Why "Good" Wasn't Good Enough

    06:49 Discovering Measurable Culture Tools

    07:18 CEO Alignment + Building the Case for Culture

    08:55 Why Site Alone Can't fix Culture

    10:34 Young Managers, Small‑Town Dynamics, Healthcare Stress

    12:09 Accountability: The Long‑Standing Challenge

    13:51 The First Survey Results: A Painful Wake‑Up

    15:44 Leadership Scores All Over the Map

    17:31 Translating Clinical Strengths into Leadership Skills

    19:04 Lean Foundations: Respect + Continuous Improvement

    20:20 Skepticism, Naysayers, and Peer‑to‑Manager Transitions

    22:42 Leaders Go First: The Multi‑Year Rollout Strategy

    24:38 Beneficial Attrition + Coaching Interpersonal Outliers

    27:00 The "Green‑Green" Breakthrough Moment

    30:23 Culture as a Continuum: Progress Over Perfection

    34:23 Applying Culture During a Massive Building Move

    37:54 Innovating the Drive‑Through Clinic

    41:30 Accountability: The Hardest Cultural Value

    43:14 Leadership Development + Internal Promotions

    45:39 AJ's Advice for CEOs: Transparency + Vulnerability

    48:07 Olympic Reflections on Human Performance

    52:12 Desert Sage as a Culture Success Story

    54:26 Closing Narration + Call to Action


    Whether you're leading culture in a small organization in a small town or a large global corporation, we're sure AJ's culture story resonated. So please support more conversations that highlight real cultural transformation:

    👍 Give this video a like to elevate people‑centered leadership

    🔔 Subscribe to Mastering Workplace Culture for more in‑depth transformation stories

    💬 Comment with the insight you're taking into your own culture work

    🔗 Share this episode with a leader navigating organizational change

    #MasteringWorkplaceCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #OrganizationalCulture #PeopleFirstLeadership #HealthcareLeadership #BusinessTransformation
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    55 mins
  • Kris Malkoski on Transforming Culture: Winning as One Team

    Kris Malkoski on Transforming Culture: Winning as One Team
    Mar 3 2026

    This episode of Mastering Workplace Culture features a powerful and personal conversation with global executive Kris Malkoski, whose track record includes transforming brands, rebuilding cultures, leading global turnarounds, and proving that respect‑driven leadership produces extraordinary business results.

    Kris shares the story behind revitalizing World Kitchen, ARC International, and Newell Brands—each with unique challenges, legacy issues, and leadership dynamics. From dysfunctional boards and cultural resistance to siloed teams and disengaged workforces, Kris explains how a clear vision, cross‑functional alignment, and accountability created measurable transformation.

    Her "win as one team" mindset, paired with consistent values‑based leadership, increased engagement, improved profitability, strengthened trust, and built award‑winning workplaces worldwide.

    This conversation highlights the reality of culture work: cCourageous decisions, transparency, the discipline to model values, and the willingness to lovingly let misaligned high performers go. Kris brings heart, wisdom, and honesty to every story—from tripling profitability at ARC in 18 months to turning siloed teams at Newell into collaborative innovators—and even the joy of becoming a grandmother.

    For anyone who cares about leadership, culture, or the power of aligning the "what" with the "how," this episode offers a masterclass in transformation from someone who has lived it at scale.

    ⏱️ Key Moments

    00:00 – 02:30 — Welcome + Kris's global leadership background

    02:30 – 05:15 — World Kitchen: dysfunctional boards, private equity pressure, and cultural decline

    05:15 – 06:30 — Creating a unified vision and the link between culture + business performance

    06:30 – 08:15 — Resistance: leaders who feared culture change or viewed it as a "waste"

    08:15 – 10:40 — Training global leaders, dissolving fiefdoms, and establishing shared expectations

    10:40 – 12:00 — Accelerating engagement and building momentum across 3,000 employees

    12:00 – 16:00 — Acquisition insights: high‑performing subcultures and cross‑pollinating excellence

    16:00 – 18:28 — Sustaining a culture transformation across global sites

    18:28 – 22:30 — ARC International: lack of community, Kaizen events, and tripling profit in 18 months

    22:30 – 23:48 — "Better Together": a unified identity that lifted pride and belonging

    23:48 – 26:00 — Personalized leadership: walking the floor, elevating dignity, transforming relationships

    26:00 – 29:10 — Respect as daily practice: leadership modeling and contagious behavior shifts

    29:10 – 31:40 — Newell Brands: silos, trust rebuilding, rewriting values, and lifting performance

    31:40 – 34:40 — Reducing regretted departures + rebuilding internal talent pathways

    34:40 – 38:00 — Letting go of misaligned high performers and protecting culture standards

    38:00 – 40:15 — Graco success story: share gains through unified culture

    40:15 – 43:00 — Kris's personal leadership evolution, biases she overcame, and early career lessons

    43:00 – 45:20 — Diversity, respect, and building teams that reflect broader perspectives

    45:20 – 47:00 — Sustaining a culture: accountability, calibration sessions, and values‑based ratings

    47:00 – 48:56 — Why more executives struggle with culture—and how Kris guides them

    48:56 – 50:30 — Culture legacy: leaders Kris developed and where they are today

    50:30 – 53:20 — Joys of grandparenthood + closing reflections 


    If Kris's leadership journey inspired you, help us spread these lessons to leaders who need them:

    👍 Give this video a like to support human‑centered leadership

    🔔 Subscribe to Mastering Workplace Culture for more culture‑shaping insights

    💬 Comment with the lesson you're taking into your own leadership journey

    🔗 Share this episode with a leader ready to align values with performance

    #MasteringWorkplaceCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #OrganizationalCulture #PeopleFirstLeadership #BusinessTransformation #CultureChange
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    55 mins
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