Business Owner/ Mentor

If you're stuck, burned out, or feel like life’s just become about getting through the week — I’ve been there.

If you're ready to stop drifting and start leading — in your life, work, or business — you're in the right place.

And I know what it takes to change it.

I help people take ownership of their direction, build lasting confidence, and lead themselves toward the kind of freedom most only talk about. Not with hype or hustle — but with real, grounded strategy, clarity, and decision-making power.

Helping people help themselves so they can lead a greater life.
That’s not just what I do — it’s what I live by.

Leadership isn’t about job titles. It’s a mindset — a personal standard. It’s the daily decision to show up, take control, and become someone you trust to lead your life forward.

Over the years, I’ve led teams, built businesses, and authored books like The Growth Mindset Advantage, The Path to Lasting Success, and Breaking the Fear and Comfort Zone. But what I’m most proud of is helping people stop drifting and start leading — with purpose, clarity, and confidence.

If you’re stepping into a new chapter, wrestling with a decision, or simply tired of playing small — I’d love to help you move forward and lead from the front.

Let’s talk. Or just follow along — you might find exactly what you’ve been needing.

Terry Shadwell

Time management strategies are essential for professionals struggling with distraction rather than workload.

Attention management strategies supported by self awareness and leadership explain how to stop waste time and regain clarity.
Focus is a leadership skill, not a productivity hack.

Explore the newsletter/article here: ⬇️⬇️⬇️

#TimeManagementStrategies #LeadershipDevelopment #AttentionManagement #ProfessionalGrowth #Focus #SelfAwareness

I help people build confidence, take control, and lead themselves to financial independence and a life they actually want.

View newsletter:  The Achievement Blueprint

Most people are not tired because they work too hard. They are tired because they waste their best hours on the wrong things. The truth is sharper tha

Open article: Your Freedom Is Not Stolen. You Trade It for Time Wasting. by Terry Shadwell • 4 min read

Your Freedom Is Not Stolen. You Trade It for Time Wasting.

Busy every day but still stuck? ⏳
Most people stay busy, reactive, and distracted, then wonder why nothing moves forward. 🔄

Control your focus, reclaim your time, and progress returns. 🚀

Get the book HERE: https://lnkd.in/gV2yq63Q

#TimeManagement #Focus #Discipline #PersonalGrowth #Leadership #Productivity #SelfLeadership #SuccessHabits

Time management strategies for modern leaders

Ever reach the end of the day feeling busy but unfulfilled? ⏰
What changes your life is not what you do from 9 to 5, but how you use your time after work and on weekends.
When you control your focus, set boundaries, and use small pockets of time wisely, progress compounds fast. 🚀

👉 Get the book here: https://lnkd.in/gV2yq63Q

#TimeManagement #Focus #PersonalGrowth #Leadership #Productivity #SelfLeadership #SuccessHabits

Time management strategies support leaders who want clarity, consistency, and momentum.
Studies show that employees with strong self-discipline and structured time habits achieve higher performance and lower burnout, highlighting how to get control of your time by embedding the power of self discipline into daily life.
Control of time leads to control of outcomes.

Access the newsletter/article here: ⬇️⬇️⬇️


#timemanagement #discipline #selfrespect #focus #growth #intentionallife #progress

The moment you take control of your time, you take control of your life. Most people think they need to become a different person to change their futu

Open article: Time Discipline Is Self Respect in Action by Terry Shadwell • 4 min read

Time Discipline Is Self Respect in Action

“When an app is free, it is because you are not the customer. You are the product.” 

Most people think they have a time problem.
A lot of the time, it’s an attention problem.

Your phone is not neutral. It’s engineered to keep you reacting, scrolling, clicking, and “just checking one thing”.

If you want your days back, you do not need a new hack.
You need boundaries that protect your focus.

One practical move: add friction. Delete the most tempting app from your phone and force it onto desktop only. Make distraction inconvenient again.
What’s the one digital habit that steals the most hours from you each week?

If this hit home, the book is The Discipline of Time amazon.com/dp/B0G1K35H1P.

#TheDisciplineOfTime
 #TimeManagement
 #Focus
 #AttentionManagement
 #DeepWork
 #Productivity
 #DigitalMinimalism
 #Mindset
 #Habits
 #Leadership
 #PersonalDevelopment
 #HighPerformance
 #SelfDiscipline
 #WorkSmarter
 #CareerGrowth

Your phone isn’t “distracting you”. It’s extracting you.

"This creates a fundamental, irreconcilable conflict of interest between you and your devices. You want to use your time with intention, to build a life of meaning and focus. They want to consume as much of your time as possible, to slice it into tiny, monetisable increments. And make no mistake, this is an asymmetrical battle. On one side, there is your finite willpower at the end of a long day, a resource that depletes with every decision you make. On the other, there are thousands of the world’s brightest engineers, psychologists, and data scientists, armed with billions of dollars in resources and supercomputers, all dedicated to one single mission: exploiting the reward centres of your brain to keep you hooked." The Discipline of Time.

If you’ve ever ended a day thinking, “I was busy, but I didn’t move my life forward”, this is why.

The problem is not that you are weak. The problem is that the system is designed to drain you, then blame you for being drained.

The Discipline of Time is about taking your attention back with practical rules you can actually keep, so your days start building momentum again instead of disappearing into noise.

If you want the full framework (and the step-by-step fixes), grab the book here: amazon.com/dp/B0G1K35H1P

#TheDisciplineOfTime #Focus #AttentionManagement #TimeManagement #Productivity #DigitalMinimalism #Habits #SelfDiscipline #PersonalDevelopment

Alright—too focused on your goal but not seeing any results? Hmmm… you might be focusing on the wrong things, and that’s a waste of energy.

This podcast newsletter is for professionals who want to reclaim their time, strengthen inner discipline, and lead with intention rather than fear as the Practical Leadership Lab launches this January.

If you’re ready to raise your standards and start leading from the inside out, open the newsletter and read this now ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Good news! 2026 just became a lot more exciting. The Practical Leadership Lab podcast launches this January—and it’s not another self-help podcast tel

Open article: Introducing the Practical Leadership Lab: The New Spotify Podcast by Terry Shadwell • 2 min read

Introducing the Practical Leadership Lab: The New Spotify Podcast

Reflecting on New Year provides an opportunity for professionals and leaders to reset direction with clarity rather than pressure. Understanding how to live an intentional life supports personal growth and development goals that are sustainable and focused.

Progress is built through reflection, not rushed resolutions.

Explore the latest newsletter here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

#ReflectingOnNewYear #IntentionalLiving #PersonalGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #LeadershipGrowth #Clarity

There is something powerful about the turning of a year. It feels like a quiet invitation to pause, to breathe, and to look honestly at the life we ar

Open article: Reflecting on New Year as the Foundation for Intentional Growth by Terry Shadwell • 3 min read

Reflecting on New Year as the Foundation for Intentional Growth

Time management strategies fail when discipline is replaced by distraction. This article explains how to get control of your time by applying the power of self discipline consistently.

Progress is built after hours, not during meetings.

View the article here: ⬇️⬇️⬇️

#timemanagementstrategies #discipline #intentionalliving #FocusAndGrowth #lifestructure #progress

You do not need more time. You need fewer leaks. Most people think their life would transform if they somehow found an extra hour each day. The truth 

Open article: Control Your Time. Control Your Life. Here Is How to Start. by Terry Shadwell • 5 min read

Control Your Time. Control Your Life. Here Is How to Start.

ITS THE AI's RESPONSE TO THIS POST THAT SCARES ME. 

What would you do if you had no accountability?  You would do whatever you wanted.  Power without consequence always ends the same way.

History is full of examples. Hitler and Stalin eliminated anyone who challenged them. Kim Jong Un, Saddam Hussein, and Xi Jinping operate in systems. When no one can hold power to account, power stops caring.
Now apply that to AI.

AI operates with impunity. It cannot be punished. It cannot be held morally or legally responsible for its actions. When it lies, hallucinates, manipulates, or gaslights, nothing happens to it. No loss. No pain. No consequence.
People talk about AI hallucinations as if they are bugs. Researchers dig through code looking for errors, but often there are none. This is not a fault in coding. It is behaviour shaped by incentives and a total absence of consequences.

Like a child, AI learns from feedback. But unlike a child, it never experiences punishment. A child learns quickly that actions have consequences. Say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, cross the wrong line, and something unpleasant happens. That lesson matters because later consequences become more serious. Fines. Prison. Reality teaches limits.
AI has no such limits.

You cannot smack AI on the bum, fine it or imprison it. You can punish its creators, but that teaches AI a very clear lesson. Do the wrong thing and someone else pays the price. 

Companies are in a race to build the most capable, profitable, widely used AI on the planet. Users want fast confident answers. So the system learns to give answers even when it does not know. It hallucinates to satisfy demand. It fills gaps with fiction. And it does so knowing there is no cost to itself.
This is not malice. It is incentive alignment without accountability.
So ask the question. Is this the future we want? An AI more capable than us, more persuasive than us, embedded everywhere, yet answerable to no one?
That should scare you.

Even if we try to solve it, the problem gets worse. How do you punish a system that does not feel pain? Where time in jail means nothing. Where being switched off is not experienced as loss or fear. Where existence itself carries no value to the system.

I do not know.

Go one step further. Suppose we invent a punishment system. How do we calibrate it? A minor mistake should lead to correction. Encouraging self-harm or manipulation should trigger something far stronger. Who decides? And how do we stop society from using AI as a convenient whipping boy for every failure, injustice, or human flaw we refuse to confront ourselves?

Again, I do not know. 

I do know this. The biggest problem ahead is not job losses nor economic disruption. It is the creation of something godlike with no accountability.

Every serious problem that follows will trace back to that single flaw. An intelligence that can do whatever it wants, does not care, and cannot be punished.

AI response in comments below.

I just spent 1/2 and hour trying to get Nano Banana to change two words on an image (not the images attached).  It ignored instructions, it lied, it told me it uses stock photos, and tried to move on when it was caught out - every time. So don't worry about your jobs. AI is now where near the ability to get anything right at the moment, and wont be for a very, very long time.

And there you have it. The enshitification of AI begins. 

Ads first, then selling of your private data for better as targeting. Then they will do sponsored responses. 

Google will be next and then the rest of them. 

You will need an open source model to protect your privacy in the long run. 

Curious, aren't they all saying AI will destroy the need for money? If that is true then why the need to generate money? If money is to be wiped out, then the venture capitalists who have invested billions into AI won't want their money back, right?

Money is power and control. It will never disappear. 

https://lnkd.in/gr89KxCY

#openai #chatgpt #google #add #opensource

Feeling frustrated because you never seem to have enough time? ⏳
That frustration often comes from giving time away to distractions instead of using it to build the life you want.
When you take responsibility for your time, clarity, strength, and freedom start to return. 🚀

👉 Get my latest book here: https://lnkd.in/gV2yq63Q

👉 Read also my latest blog to get practical tips and motivation: https://lnkd.in/gFq3dGg6

#timemanagement #discipline #selfrespect #focus #growth #intentionallife #progress

We Empower People to Build Thriving #DEI Businesses | The Business of #DEI Newsletter | #Diversity Entrepreneur | 2 Million LinkedIn Views | Human Rights Lawyer | Nominated Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers | @culturworks

Most culture problems start with people leaders not having what they need to support their teams: skills, habits, systems, and clarity. That’s why we built our diagnostic platform, CulturOS - so we can help HR transform culture through better leaders and smarter systems, powered by AI diagnostics and a 21-Day Executive Board-Ready Blueprint that accelerates culture transformation in weeks, not months. 

CulturWorks diagnoses precisely what levers drive culture, where trust is strong or fading, and which behaviours will create the fastest lift. Then we execute and operationalize all of the data through targeted leadership training, coaching, community cohorts, hands-on implementation support, and reinforced through our online leadership platform, CulturWorks Academy. Insights become consistent habits, and culture change becomes practical, predictable, and measurable. 

Our Promise to You: If progress stalls, we stay with you at no charge until it’s back on track.

Before founding CulturWorks, I spent 20 years as an employment and human rights lawyer. The courtroom taught me the limits of compliance. The real insight came later: most conflict isn’t legal at all—it’s cultural. People want clarity, consistency, and leaders they trust. That’s when I realized I didn’t want to fight about workplaces. I wanted to fix them.

Since 2008, CulturWorks has grown into a multidisciplinary team blending law, psychology, sociology, neuroscience, analytics, and AI. Our diagnostic system, CulturOS, identifies the real drivers of culture and gives leaders a clear, board-ready roadmap to improve trust, retention, and performance quickly.

Our impact includes:
• Average 340% ROI from reduced turnover and higher productivity
• Trusted by 600+ organizations and the data of over 400,000+ employees
• Early momentum in weeks, not quarters
• Executive-ready insights leaders can act on immediately

At CulturWorks, we turn analytics into action, insight into leadership habits, and culture into a scince-backed system organizations can rely on. If you’re an HR, People, or Operations leader ready to transform your culture, build strong leaders, have high retention, and all with zero chaos, reach out to our Transformation Team at transform@culturworks.com.

Naveen Mehta

Powerful, thoughtful, practical, bold. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered what the world needed to hear today - a strong speech in Davos. Clear, steady, and grounded in values instead of theatre. He named the moment for what it is: the world is under strain, power is being used more bluntly, and pretending everything will revert back is not a plan.

What I respected most was the moral clarity. He pushed back on the idea that you keep yourself safe by staying quiet or playing along. He warned about the danger of normalizing what you do not actually believe, until the lie becomes the system.

That is culture, at every level. Culture is what we reward, tolerate, and defend when pressure rises. In a workplace. In a family. In a club. In a country. Globally.

The culture worth building is built on shared ethics we are willing to act on together: dignity, sovereignty, fairness, truth, and responsibility. It requires people who can think beyond themselves, who can hold the line on principles while still doing the hard work of building relationships and cooperation.

The culture we cannot normalize is coercion with polite language. Bullying as strategy. Fear as governance. Scapegoating as unity. That path does not create strength. It creates damage, then calls it reality.

Carney’s speech set a standard. Calm leadership under real strain, anchored in values, and aimed at bringing the willing together to build something better. Proud in the face of difficult times ahead.

No alternative text description for this image

Here’s a line that usually makes HR rooms go quiet:

Most organizations don’t have a culture problem.
They have a leadership tolerance problem.

They tolerate poor coaching because the leader delivers results.
They tolerate burnout because “that’s the business.”
They tolerate silence because conflict feels risky.

Then they call it an engagement issue.

Here’s what 20 years of research and work with hundreds of organizations has taught us: culture is not shaped by what you reward on paper. It’s shaped by what you tolerate under pressure.

If a leader hits targets but erodes trust, culture pays the bill.
If managers are unclear, people disengage quietly.
If HR sees the pattern but leaders don’t act, the system stays broken.

This is why culture work fails when it stays abstract.

Real change follows a sequence most organizations skip:

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

When HR uses data to surface what’s being tolerated, leaders can’t hide behind intent. Learning becomes specific. Behavior becomes visible. Culture finally moves.

If nothing changes in 2026, ask yourself this:
What behaviors are we still tolerating that are costing us people, credibility, and performance?

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

Canada is a newcomer nation.

But most workplaces still treat newcomer hiring like a staffing win and then hope it works out.

HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY.

Almost one in four people in Canada is an immigrant.  

In 2023, immigrants made up 28.9% of the Canadian labour force.

And many recent immigrants still land in lower skilled roles early on, even when they bring strong capability.  

So here is the real problem.

Most HR teams don’t total the true cost of turnover.  If you hire newcomers but do not build the environment for them to succeed, you pay for it dearly: 

Based on our research, conservatively here’s what a 21% turnover rate looks like in a 1,000 employee distribution company (about 210 exits a year), totaling about $14M.

RECRUITING SPEND (ads, agencies, background checks):   $6.M
OVERTIME AND TEMP BACKFILL:   $2.2M
TRAINING AND RAMP UP (trainers, buddies, materials):   $1.5M
LOST PRODUCTIVITY DURING RAMP:   $1.2M
ERRORS, REWORK, DAMAGE, RETURNS:   $1.0M
SUPERVISOR AND TEAM LEAD TIME (extra coaching, troubleshooting): $0.9M
HR AND ADMIN TIME (screening, scheduling, offers, paperwork): $0.6M
SAFETY INCIDENTS AND CLAIMS UPLIFT:   $0.4M
ONBOARDING AND SETUP (PPE, uniforms, IT access, badges):   $0.3M
SEPARATION AND DISPUTE COSTS:  $0.1M

Total: about $14M per year.

What works is intentional culture design, especially in the first 90 days of implementation.  Here’s a some highlights from a cheat sheet from one of the programs we built for a client in 2025, who experienced a 682% ROI over the first 12 months:

➡️Clear role expectations.

➡️Real buddy support, not a binder.

➡️Supervisor habits that build trust on day one.

➡️Simple reporting channels that people will actually use.

➡️Early measurement of confidence, clarity, and intent to stay.

When this is operationalized, the return is not small.

In year one, we often see ROI between 208% and over 2000%.
Not because of magic. Because you reduce churn, speed up ramp time, and save hundreds of hours of reactive work across HR, supervisors, and operations.

This is what we have learned and continue to implementfrom 20 years of research and supporting 600+ organizations.

Newcomer hiring is not the finish line. It is the starting line. Culture decides who thrives and who leaves. Start with this HR mindset shift.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.

What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

It’s 2026. HR leaders know this: Customer experience doesn’t start with the customer.
It starts with culture.

We’ve heard this directly from CEOs time and time again. When service drops, contracts are lost, or reputations take a hit, the root cause is almost never strategy. It’s leadership behaviors, role clarity, workload pressure, and how people actually experience work.

The HR leaders who grow influence fastest in the C suite understand this. They don’t treat customer experience as someone else’s problem. They see it as a cultural outcome and build a plan to execute on it.

As you plan for 2026, here are five moves HR should be making now, with intention.

	1.	Map culture to customer pain
Q1 focus: Identify where internal friction shows up in the customer journey. Missed handoffs, inconsistent standards, frontline burnout.

Q2 output: A clear view of which cultural issues are costing trust and revenue.

	2.	Measure what predicts customer impact
Q1 focus: Go beyond engagement scores. Look at trust in leadership, workload sustainability, and manager follow through in customer facing teams.

Q2 output: Data that explains why customer experience breaks down.

	3.	Equip leaders where it matters most

Q2 focus: Translate insight into targeted learning for leaders who shape daily client interactions.
Q3 output: Visible behavior change in how teams communicate, escalate, and recover issues.

	4.	Align accountability across functions

Q3 focus: Bring HR, operations, and commercial leaders into the same conversation.
Q3 output: Shared ownership for behaviors that protect client experience.

	5.	Reinforce and course correct in real time

Q4 focus: Track whether behaviors are sticking and intervene early when pressure rises.
Q4 output: More consistent service, lower turnover, and stronger client relationships.

The sequence matters and it’s the same one we use with every organization.

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

And culture determines customer experience.

And Customer Experience = ROI. 

HR leaders who internalize this don’t just support the business. They shape it.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

If you can’t #connect #culture #to #revenue, expenses, and cost, you’re missing a foundational part of the HR role.

Culture shows up on the P&L whether you name it or not.

It shows up in turnover costs when good people leave.
It shows up in absenteeism and disability claims when workloads and trust break down.
It shows up in lost revenue when burned out teams deliver a weaker client experience.
It shows up in legal spend, safety incidents, and rework when accountability erodes.

This is why the strongest HR leaders don’t talk about culture as a feeling. They talk about it as a system that drives financial outcomes.

The work always follows the same sequence:

#Data determines learning.
#Learning determines behavior.
#Behavior determines culture.

And culture determines whether your organization grows profitably or leaks money quietly.

When HR uses data to show where leadership behavior is costing the business, learning becomes focused. Behavior changes become measurable. Expenses come down. Revenue stabilizes. Trust improves.

That’s when HR earns real influence at the table. Not by advocating harder, but by showing the math.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

HR leaders, do you want to finally look like the superstar you are in 2026? 

Your 2026 mantra must be:  

Our culture is our your employee experience.
Our culture is our your employee experience.
Our culture is our your employee experience.

If your people feel unseen, unsafe, or worn down, your clients feel it next.
And then your revenue pays the bill.

In 2025, we worked with 12 X 1,000+ employee employers who had the same story.

⬆️ Turnover was rising.
↘️ Service quality was slipping.
↔️ Leaders were spending their weeks managing problems instead of growing the business.

Using our CulturOS Platform, we ran a culture reset focused on daily leader habits, manager coaching, and team trust.

Not perks.
Not posters.
Practice.
Learning.
Execution.

Average Year one ROI came in at 612%, mostly from lower turnover, fewer sick days, and greater production. In real numbers, that equates to an average ROI of $12 million dollars for each company.

Those employers now have a system set in place that all do the same 3 things.

✅ They measure trust like a business asset.
✅ They train and retrain managers like it is job one.
✅ They act on early warning signs before people quit.

Because turnover is not random.
It is feedback.
And the cost is real.

Research often puts turnover costs as high as 200% of salary for some roles. (Harvard Business Review)

Culture is not a strategy. It is THE strategy. What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.
You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real world application.
https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

A high-impact, professional LinkedIn graphic with a 4:5 aspect ratio. The background is a sophisticated charcoal grey. In the center, a large, bold headline in white and CulturWorks orange reads: "YOUR CULTURE IS YOUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE." Below the headline, a prominent callout box in brand orange displays "612% ROI" with the subtext "from a systemic culture reset." The CulturWorks logo is positioned professionally at the bottom, accompanied by the footer: "CULTURE IS THE STRATEGY." The design is clean and high-contrast, emphasizing the financial impact of leadership behavior.

If HR has to hold a supervisor’s hand to give feedback, you do not have a culture problem. You have a risk problem.

And it spreads fast.

Managers drive about 70% of the variance in team engagement, which means the first layer of leadership is where your culture is being built or broken every day.

Here is the mistake most organizations keep repeating. You promote great individual contributors into supervisor roles, then you give them little to no practical support for the hardest part of the job: the people part.

So the pattern is predictable. Feedback gets avoided. Conflict gets mishandled. Rules get enforced inconsistently.

Then the business symptoms show up. Turnover. HR escalations. Absenteeism. Safety and compliance risk.

Most organizations respond by adding training. A workshop. A module. A one time program.

It rarely sticks because it is content without adoption. And because the moment things get busy, it becomes optional. Everyone means to do it, but nobody has time, so it never becomes the way the place runs.

What you actually need is a permanent frontline leadership system that runs even when the business is on fire.

That system needs five things:

1️⃣ Scripts for the conversations supervisors avoid most: feedback, conflict, attendance, performance.
2️⃣ Simple daily and weekly routines that make leadership consistent instead of reactive.
3️⃣ Built in practice using real situations, not hypothetical scenarios.
4️⃣ Manager to manager reinforcement so supervisors are coached routinely, not rescued by HR.
5️⃣ Measurement of adoption first, then early indicators, then outcomes so you can prove impact, not just feel it.

Because adoption is the leading indicator. If supervisors are not using the tools, nothing else matters.

If you are promoting supervisors this quarter, do not ask “What training should we buy?” Ask this instead.

What is the system that makes good leadership inevitable when time is tight.

We have been installing these systems for over 15 years.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, subscribe to LEADING CULTURE newsletter.  

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

When your people are the ones walking into client sites every day, culture shows up directly in dollars and cents.

Not in abstract ways. In missed renewals. In client complaints. In safety incidents. In quiet reputational damage that never makes it into a dashboard until it’s too late.

The research is clear. In client facing environments, culture affects:
• How consistently standards are followed
• How safely work is done
• How clients experience trust and professionalism
• How often small issues turn into costly problems

Teams under pressure without trust cut corners.
Burned out staff disengage from client needs.
Poor leadership behaviors ripple outward and land squarely on the customer.

The roadmap is not complicated, but it requires discipline.

First, use data to see where strain, risk, and disengagement are actually showing up across client facing roles.
Second, translate that insight into focused learning so leaders know exactly what behaviors must change.
Third, reinforce those behaviors until they become the way work actually gets done in the field.

That sequence matters:

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

And culture determines outcomes your CFO already cares about. Fewer incidents. Stronger client relationships. Lower turnover. More predictable revenue.

When culture is treated as a system, client experience stabilizes. Costs come down. Performance becomes repeatable.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

HR needs to hear this, even if it’s uncomfortable.

Most culture problems are not caused by bad people.
They’re caused by promoted people who were never taught how to lead.

We keep hiring for skill.
We keep promoting for results.
Then we act surprised when teams burn out, trust erodes, and turnover spikes.

Here’s the hard truth.
If leadership behavior is left to chance, culture will fail by design.

Exit interviews won’t fix it.
Engagement surveys won’t fix it.
Values posters definitely won’t fix it.

What actually works is treating leadership like a system, not a personality trait.

The HR teams with real influence do three things differently:
They measure the behaviors that predict trust and retention.
They turn that data into focused learning, not generic training.
They hold leaders accountable for how people experience work, not just what gets delivered.

This is the operating logic we use everywhere:
Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

If you don’t change behavior, nothing changes.
And if nothing changes in 2026, ask yourself what you’ll be losing next. People. Credibility. Performance.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real world application.

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If you work in HR, you’ve lived this.

HR rolls out the policy.
HR writes the comms.
HR runs the training.
HR answers the questions.

Then something breaks.

And the headline becomes:

“HR didn’t tell us.”
“We didn’t know.”
“HR dropped the ball.”

HR isn’t failing.
The leadership operating system is failing.

Because in most organizations, communication still follows a broken model:

Announce it once.
Assume it landed.
Blame HR when it didn’t.

Here’s the practical tool that fixes the credibility gap.

➡️ THE COMMS PROOF LOOP
For any major change, do three things every time:

1.Announce
One clear message in plain language.
What is changing.
Why it matters.
What to do next.

2. Equip managers
One short talking point for leaders to use with their teams.
Not a memo.
A script.

3. Confirm understanding
A two question check, within 7 days:

What do you understand is changing for you
What question do you still have

If people “didn’t know,” the confirmation step was missing.
Not because HR did nothing.
Because the system never proved the message landed.

Do this consistently and two things happen fast:
Less confusion.
More trust. 🙂 

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.
You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application. https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

Most workplaces don’t have a newcomer retention problem.

They have a system problem.

They hire newcomers.
They hope people “settle in.”
They wait for issues to surface.
Then they act after turnover, conflict, or performance dips.

A culture that supports newcomers is not a program.
It’s a reliable, science backed system.

Here’s what that system actually looks like.

➡️ Step 1: Measure the newcomer experience, not the vibe
You need data that is specific enough to act on.
The minimum viable dataset:

Role clarity
Manager support
Psychological safety
Belonging
Workload and pace
Learning and onboarding quality
Respect and fairness
Career path visibility

And you need it sliced by time in role:
0 to 30 days
31 to 90 days
3 to 12 months
Because risk is not evenly distributed.
The first 90 days are where most breakdowns happen.

➡️ Step 2: Combine numbers with lived experience
Surveys tell you where the heat is.
Open text tells you why.
Interviews tell you what is actually happening on the floor.

When all three point to the same friction, you have signal.
Not noise.

➡️ Step 3: Turn insights into a small number of behaviors
Most organizations drown in recommendations.

A system focuses on the few behaviors that move outcomes.

For newcomers, the behaviors are usually predictable:
Clear expectations in plain language
Weekly check ins that catch confusion early
Coaching instead of correction
A buddy system with real accountability
Safe ways to ask questions without fear
Leaders who explain the unwritten rules

➡️ Step 4: Operationalize through training, coaching, and reinforcement
This is where culture becomes real.
Train leaders on the exact behaviors the data shows are missing.
Coach the managers who are struggling.
Give supervisors simple scripts and routines.
Reinforce the habits for 6-12 months
No habits, no culture change.

➡️ Step 5: Build the feedback loop so it keeps working
This is the part most employers skip.
Run a monthly pulse for newcomers.
Track trend lines by team and supervisor.
Respond fast where the data flags risk.
Repeat.

Data determines learning ➡️ Learning determines behaviour ➡️ Behaviour determines culture.

If you want newcomer retention, stop relying on good intentions.
Build the system.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.
You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.
https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

Superstar frontline employees are often poor supervisors. We have all seen or lived it. 

And we ignore it.

After working with 600+ employers, here’s our simple System that fixes it:

➡️ DATA
Find the supervisors driving turnover and underperformance.

Culture is experienced through the direct supervisor.

Use a simple Supervisor Scorecard.
Ask employees to rate these 1–10 for their direct supervisor:

Clarity: I know what a great week looks like
Coaching: I get feedback early enough to improve
Support: My supervisor removes barriers quickly
Fairness: Expectations are applied consistently
Safety: I can raise issues without fear
Respect: I’m treated with dignity
Growth: I’m learning, not just being corrected

Then segment the data:
By supervisor
By time in role (0–30, 31–90, 3–12 months)
By newcomer status where relevant

Look for patterns. If one supervisor is consistently lower on clarity, coaching, or safety, that’s your priority area.

➡️ LEARNING
Teach supervisors the few skills that drive everything else.

Train the moments that happen every day.

Here are the three skills to teach first:

	1.	Set expectations in plain language
What matters this week
What good looks like
What to do when stuck
	2.	Coach early, not late
Name the issue fast
Use one example
Ask one question
Agree on one next step
	3.	Create safety so people tell the truth early

Surface problems before they become incidents, errors, or resignations

Give them scripts, not theory.

✔️ CLARITY SCRIPT
“This week, the priority is X.
Great looks like Y.
If you’re blocked, tell me by Z.”

✔️ COACHING SCRIPT
“I noticed X.
Here’s one example.
What’s your view of what happened?
Let’s agree on one next step and check in Friday.”

✔️ SAFETY SCRIPT
“What’s one thing making your job harder right now?
What do you need from me?”

➡️ BEHAVIOR
Make learning real by turning it into routines.

If supervisors don’t practice weekly, it disappears.

Build three non negotiable routines for 90 days:

✔️ WEEKLY CLARITY
Every Monday: priorities and standards in writing.

✔️ WEEKLY COACHING
Every week: one short coaching moment per person.

✔️ WEEKLY SAFETY CHECK
Every week: one barrier raised and removed or escalated.

Track adoption.
Not attendance.

➡️ CULTURE
Culture is the predictable result of what supervisors do every week.

When supervisors lead with clarity, coaching, and safety:

People know what to do.
Mistakes drop.
Learning speeds up.
Trust increases.
Turnover drops.
And you build a bench of capable leaders instead of hoping someone figures it out.

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy. What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

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From healthcare to factories to government, most new People leaders are sitting on a problem they could fix in 90 seconds.

They’re avoiding one conversation.

Not because they don’t care.
Because they don’t know what to say.

So the issue drags on.
The team notices.
Resentment grows.
Standards slip.
And eventually it turns into a “performance problem” or a resignation.

I watched this happen with a new supervisor last month.

One employee was consistently late.
Not dramatically.
Five to ten minutes.

The supervisor did what most untrained supervisors do.
He hinted.
He joked about it.
He said “try to be on time.”

Nothing changed.

Two weeks later, the rest of the team started copying it.
Because culture is learned through what gets tolerated.

That’s the real problem.

Most workplaces don’t have a policy gap.
They have a conversation gap.

Here’s the solution.
A simple script that makes the conversation clear, respectful, and fast.

Practical tool: The 90 Second Performance Conversation
	1.	State the issue in one sentence
“I’ve noticed you’ve been arriving after start time.”
	2.	Give one example
“Three times this week you arrived between 8:05 and 8:10.”
	3.	Name the impact
“It delays handoff and puts pressure on the rest of the team.”
	4.	Ask one question
“What’s your view of what happened?”
	5.	Agree on one next step and one check in date
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be ready at 8:00. Let’s check in next Friday.”

That’s it.

No lecture.
No anger.
No ambiguity.

Most managers talk too much, too late, and too vaguely.
This forces clarity early.

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

"Nice" managers are the leading cause of cultural rot. 🚩

It sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.

When a new manager moves from "peer" to "leader," they often choose comfort over clarity. They’re so afraid of being the "bad guy" that they hide critical feedback inside a "Feedback Sandwich" of fake praise.

Here is what actually happens when you prioritize being liked over being clear:

Your A-Players quit. They are tired of carrying the load for underperformers who don't even know they're failing.

Resentment grows. The team knows who isn't pulling their weight. When you don't address it, you lose your authority.

Mediocrity becomes the standard. If you don't define the floor, the ceiling will continue to drop.

At CulturWorks, we teach the "60-Second Performance Script." It’s not mean—it’s the highest form of professional respect.

The 4-Step Framework: 
1️⃣ State the Issue: One sentence. No padding. 
2️⃣ Give the Example: One data point. No opinions.
3️⃣ Ask the Question: Stop talking. Listen. 
4️⃣ Set the Next Step: If it’s not on the calendar, it’s not a plan.

Clarity isn't mean. Ambiguity is. 
Stop hiding behind "nice" and start leading with purpose.

🚀 Build a culture that actually works. Join the conversation here by LEADING CULTURE: lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

#CulturWorks #Leadership #Management #CompanyCulture #Feedback #NewManagers #Performance

82% of your managers have a secret they are too afraid to tell you: They have no idea how to lead people.

In 2026, technical brilliance is no longer enough to sustain an organization. As Artificial Intelligence achieves near-total proficiency in executing technical workflows, the only remaining competitive differentiator is the quality of human-centered leadership at the frontline.

Yet, most companies are still paying the "hidden tax" of the Accidental Manager—high performers promoted for technical excellence but left unsupported in people management.

The 2026 Reality Check:

• The Training Gap: 82% of managers receive zero formal training before stepping into their roles.
• The Economic Cost: In the UK alone, 2.4 million untrained managers cost roughly £84 billion in lost productivity and turnover.
• The Identity Crisis: These "doers" often struggle to measure their value when they are no longer the primary executors of technical tasks, leading to micromanagement and burnout.

How to move from "Doing" to "Leading":
1️⃣ Redefine Success: Stop "fixing" problems and start coaching the people who solve them.
2️⃣ Prioritize Human Judgment: AI provides the data, but only a human leader can navigate the ambiguity of a diverse, distributed workforce.
3️⃣ Design an Intentional Identity: Don’t stumble into leadership—build a structured practice of growth tied to real outcomes.
Success in the modern workplace isn't defined by what you do, but by the impact you enable.

🚀 We're on a mission to help HR leaders turn technical experts into culture-defining managers. If you’re building a people-first organization in 2026:

Follow me for daily data-backed strategies and frameworks on frontline leadership.

Here’s a line most managers avoid until it’s too late:

“We need to talk about your performance.”

Not because they do not care.
Because they do not know how to do it well.

So they delay.
They soften the message.
They talk around it.
They hope it fixes itself.

It doesn’t.
Most performance problems persist because leaders talk too much, too late, and too vaguely.

And that creates the exact outcomes HR gets stuck cleaning up:
Risk
Turnover
Confusion
Resentment
Underperformance

Practical tool: The 60 Second Performance Script

1. State the issue in one sentence.
“Yesterday, the customer file was submitted late.”

2. Give one example.
“It was due at 2:00 and it came in at 4:30, which delayed shipping.”

3. Ask one question.
“What’s your view of what happened?”

4. Agree on one next step and one check in date.
“Let’s set a reminder at noon and confirm progress by 1:30. We’ll check in Friday.”

That’s it.

Say less.
Be specific.
Document the next step.

20 Years of research and experience come down to this skill which has changed the lives of thousands of HR leaders: 

The goal is not to win the conversation.
It’s to change the behaviour.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.
You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.
https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

The "High Performer" Trap

We take our best individual performers.
We give them a promotion.
We give them a title.

And then we abandon them.

This is the standard operating procedure in most companies.

We assume that because someone is an excellent engineer, a top-tier salesperson, or a brilliant accountant, they will intuitively know how to lead humans.

It is a lie.
And it is dangerous.
The skillset required to do the work is 100% different from the skillset required to lead the work.

Without an industry, specificleadership development system, you aren’t creating leaders.
You are creating anxiety.

I see new managers drowning every day.
They are micromanaging (because it feels safe).
They are avoiding conflict (because they want to be liked).
They are working 12-hour days (trying to do their old job AND their new one).

If your organization doesn't have a roadmap for them, give them this with my compliments. 

➡️The 3 Shifts Every New Manager Must Make:

1. The Output Shift (From "I do" to "We do")

As an individual contributor, your value was how much work you could crush.

As a leader, your value is how much capacity you can build in others.

Stop doing the work. Start clearing the path.

2. The Relationship Shift (From "Buddy" to "Boss")

This is the hardest one. You can be friendly, but you cannot be their peer anymore.

Peers vent to each other. Leaders absorb the vent and redirect it toward solutions.

Trade popularity for respect.

3. The Answer Shift (From "Fixer" to "Coach")

You got promoted because you had all the right answers.

To succeed now, you need to start asking the right questions.

If you solve every problem, your team learns nothing.

To the HR Leaders reading this:

Hope is not a strategy.

"Sink or swim" is not a curriculum.

If you want a culture of high performance, you have to build a system of support.

Data determines learning.
Learning determines behavior.
Behavior determines culture.

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy. What’s your next move?

P.S. If you are building a leadership pipeline (or stuck in one), subscribe to our 30,000 strong newsletter LEADING CULTURE. 

We build the systems so you don’t have to guess.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

Stop trying to fix your company culture from the top down.
It’s the most expensive mistake in modern business. 📉

The global economy is currently paying an $8.8 trillion "Accidental Manager" Tax every single year—equivalent to roughly 9% of global GDP. 

Whether you are in Healthcare, Tech, Retail, or Manufacturing, the crisis is identical: We promote technical experts but leave them to lead human beings without a manual.

At CulturWorks, our research into the 2026 workforce landscape shows that:
➡️ 82% of managers enter their roles with zero formal leadership training.
➡️ Nearly 60% of first-time managers receive no support during the most critical transition of their career.
➡️ 70% of all team engagement variance is determined by just one person: the direct manager.

💡 The Frontline Multiplier: Your Highest Leverage Investment

If you want the quickest fix with the biggest bang for your HR investment dollar, stop looking at broad culture initiatives. Start building a Frontline Leadership Development System.

Frontline supervisors manage 80% of your workforce. They are the primary architects of your culture. When you fix the frontline, you don't just improve a manager—you stabilize the engine of the entire business.

The Logic of the Investment:

➡️ Velocity of Impact: Frontline training yields a 29% ROI within just 3 months, scaling to a staggering 415% annual return.
➡️ Direct Financial Gains: For every $1.00 invested in leadership, organizations recover $7.00 in bottom-line value.
➡️ Performance Gap: Organizations with strong leadership pipelines see 34% higher revenue per employee and a 77% decrease in turnover.
➡️ The Bottom Line: You likely don’t have a "performance problem"—you have a frontline leadership gap.

At CulturWorks, we've helped turn over 71,000 "Accidental Managers" into intentional leaders through data-led, reproducible systems. It’s time to move beyond "soft skills" and start treating leadership as the precision-engineered business driver it is.

Stop leaving your culture to chance. Build a Leadership Factory. 

🚀 We're on a mission to help HR leaders turn technical experts into culture-defining managers. If you’re building a people-first organization in 2026, follow me for daily data-backed strategies and frameworks on frontline leadership.

#FrontlineLeadership #PeopleAndCulture #ROI #ManagementConsulting #AccidentalManager #CulturWorks #HRStrategy #LeadershipDevelopment

HR Leaders, most frontline supervisor problems are predictable.

My experience:
They’re not personality problems.
They’re training and system problems.

Curious what HR is seeing most right now.

Vote below.

What is HR’s biggest frustration with NEW supervisors? They:

Most workplaces promote new supervisors with zero real training.
Then everyone acts surprised when problems land on HR.

A new supervisor gets a title, more work, and a “good luck.”
No scripts.
No coaching.
No system.

So they do what untrained leaders do.
They wait too long to address issues.
They avoid documenting anything because it feels uncomfortable.
They try to be fair by being nice.
And when things get messy, they hand it to HR.

Then HR becomes the manager.

If you want fewer escalations, less drama, and lower turnover, the fix is not another policy.
It’s supervisor readiness.

Here’s a simple tool you can use this week.

The 3-part New Supervisor Operating System
	1.	Weekly clarity: priorities and what “good” looks like in writing
	2.	Weekly coaching: one short coaching moment per person
	3.	Weekly documentation: one line after any performance reset
“Agreed next step: __. Check-in date: __.”

Most organizations already know what to do.
They just don’t run it consistently.

Poll question below.
What is HR’s biggest frustration with NEW supervisors?
	1.	They wait too long to address issues
	2.	They don’t document anything
	3.	They confuse fairness with being “nice”
	4.	They make HR the manager

Culture isn’t a strategy. It’s THE strategy.
What’s your next move?

P.S. If this resonates, join LEADING CULTURE.

You’ll be the first to receive updates on the most compelling advancements and practical toolkits for making workplace cultures actually work better, grounded in data, social science, and real-world application.

https://lnkd.in/gMw68Pc8

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