Lead Culture with Jenni Catron

What’s the hardest part of running a bakery? Not the baking. In this conversation, Jenni sits down with Rebecca Brown , co-founder and owner of Happy Bellies Bake Shop , the dedicated gluten-free bakery she built with her mom, to talk about what it takes for an owner to stop doing the work and start leading the people who do it. Happy Bellies started with a modest dream. Rebecca’s mom had spent ye...

Is culture really a competitive advantage, or just something you deal with when there's time? After a decade of this work, Jenni's answer is that it's the whole thing — because growth doesn't create your culture problems, it exposes them. In this conversation, Jenni sits down with Mark Batterson , lead visionary of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., New York Times b...

Can you be friends with the people you lead? Most HR advice says no. In this conversation, Jenni sits down with Marcylle Combs , entrepreneur, executive mentor, and author of Never Hire Your Friends , to talk about why friendship at work, handled well, can be a leader's greatest asset. Marcylle has spent more than three decades leading organizations. Her leadership story started with a hard m...

Trust is the thing every leader depends on and almost no one builds on purpose. In this conversation, Jenni sits down with Dr. Rob McKenna, founder of WiLD Leaders and author of Whole Leaders, Wild Trust , to talk about why trust is a byproduct of leader development, not a topic you can lecture your way into. Dr. Rob has spent decades running longitudinal leadership studies, including a six-and-a-...

In this episode, Jenni talks with leadership development specialist and author Adam Tarnow about why middle management feels like an impossible role, and why it may actually be the most important one in an organization. They unpack the tension of carrying responsibility without full control, and Adam shares a practical framework for navigating the stress of leadership without burning out. In this...

In this episode, Jenni Catron and her 11-year-old nephew River explore the fundamentals of team culture through engaging stories and insights. River shares his unique perspective on support, communication, focus, and the impact of individual roles in shaping a positive culture. Takeaways: Support is the most important aspect of culture. Effective communication is crucial for team success. Focus an...

In this episode of Lead Culture , Jenni Catron shares what she learned during an extended summer break and why stepping back can be essential for sustainable leadership. She reflects on the tension between doing and being, the challenge of slowing down, and how time away revealed deeper questions about purpose, significance, and identity. Jenni opens with a reminder that culture does not take care...

As the 4Sight Group celebrates its 10th anniversary and Jenni Catron marks a personal milestone year, she shares why she is stepping away for a four-week sabbatical for the first time in her career. In this honest conversation, Jenni reflects on nearly three decades of nonstop work, the lessons she has learned about burnout, and the importance of creating margin before exhaustion forces it. She di...

In this episode, Jenni sits down with Dr. William Attaway, CEO of Appreciation at Work, for a conversation about what it really means to help people feel seen, known, and valued at work. Drawing from decades of leadership coaching and his work with organizations across a wide range of industries, William shares why appreciation is different from recognition—and why that distinction matters more th...

What happens to workplace culture during the summer?  In this episode, Jenni Catron explores how leaders can work with the rhythms of summer instead of fighting against them.  Learn practical ways to improve employee engagement, prevent team disengagement, and strengthen organizational culture through intentional leadership.  Jenni shares five simple but powerful strategies including flexible sche...

What does it actually take to build a remarkable team? In this episode, Jenni Catron talks with Slingshot Group CEO Tim Foot about the patterns they’ve both seen across hundreds of teams including what works, what doesn’t, and where things tend to break down. Tim shares the seven key signatures of remarkable teams, along with the common traps that quietly stall progress. From misalignment and uncl...

What if the biggest problem in your organization isn’t strategy—but culture? In this episode, leadership and culture expert Jenni Catron unpacks a shocking reality: only 31% of U.S. employees are engaged at work —and most leaders don’t know how to fix it.  You’ll discover why traditional “core values” exercises fail, how culture is actually formed, and the powerful (often overlooked) role language...

What if the biggest barrier to your leadership isn’t what you see, but what you hide? In this episode, Jenni Catron sits down with leadership mentor Tyler Dickerhoof to unpack a reality every leader faces: unresolved fears and insecurities don’t disappear—they show up in how we lead. Through honest storytelling and hard-earned insight, Tyler shares how these hidden patterns often surface as intens...

If you’ve ever wondered “How can I influence company culture if I’m not in senior leadership?” —this episode is for you. In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron breaks down one of the most common leadership challenges: how to improve team culture from any role, not just the top. Whether you’re a mid-level manager, emerging leader, or executive trying to activate your team, you’ll...

What does it really take to build a culture people want to be part of? In this conversation, Jenni Catron sits down with Heather Broeder, Executive VP at Refined Technologies, to explore how intentional culture-building drives healthier leaders, stronger teams, and better business outcomes. Heather shares how her company has made culture a true differentiator through leader development, shared lan...

In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with renowned leadership expert and bestselling author Patrick Lencioni to explore his groundbreaking framework, The Six Types of Working Genius . Lencioni—best known for The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and his work on organizational health—shares how the Working Genius model helps leaders and teams understand the kinds of work th...

In this special anniversary episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron celebrates one year of Culture Matters , her USA Today bestselling book on building healthy organizational culture. If you’re a leader looking for practical tools to strengthen your team culture, improve workplace alignment, and create a clear culture strategy, this episode is for you. Jenni revisits the core principles...

AI isn’t just a tech conversation—it’s a leadership conversation. In this episode, Jenni welcomes AI strategist Jackie Celske for a timely discussion on leading with wisdom, clarity, and conviction in a rapidly evolving digital world. As AI moves from novelty to necessity, leaders are faced with real questions: How do we reduce fear? How do we protect our culture? How do we ensure innovation makes...

Culture doesn’t break down because leaders lack effort or good intentions—it breaks down when there’s a gap between how leaders show up and how teams experience that leadership. In this episode, Jenni Catron builds on last week’s conversation about the Clarity Cascade —mission, vision, strategy, and structure—and takes it one level deeper. The focus shifts from who is on the team to how well leade...

You’ve done the work. You cast the vision. You built the strategy. So why does execution still feel slow, stalled, or stuck? In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast , Jenni Catron unpacks a challenge leaders face every year—especially as they move from strategic planning into real-world execution. Teams aren’t failing because they don’t care. They’re struggling because clarity is breaking down...

What if building a great culture isn’t about perks, personalities, or one big initiative—but about the small, intentional choices leaders make every single day? In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast , Jenni Catron sits down with Anthony Lambatos, President of Footers Catering & Events and founder of MIBE (Make It Better Every Day), to unpack what it really takes to create a workplace wher...

Trust is at the center of everything leaders want—but in today’s skeptical, information-saturated world, trust is harder to earn than ever. In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast , Jenni Catron sits down with financial coach, business owner, and speaker MJ Pittman for a timely conversation on what he calls the trust recession —and why it places an even greater responsibility on leaders. Togeth...

In this episode, Jenni Catron explores five leadership and culture trends shaping 2026 and what they mean for leaders in organizations of every size. She begins with a conviction that development is now a non-negotiable—for employers investing in their people as a core retention strategy and for employees staying competitive in a rapidly evolving workplace. Jenni also addresses the growing need fo...

We’ve gathered some of the best moments from our live LeadCulture Network trainings and compiled them into this episode—giving you an exclusive look at what it means to lead with clarity, build unstoppable teams, and create a culture that thrives. In this episode, you’ll hear highlights from sessions that tackle the real challenges leaders face every day: Clarity vs. Confusion: How small gaps in r...

In this week’s episode of the Lead Culture Podcast , Jenni sits down with Peter Ostapko—founder of Kinsman and publisher of Kinsman Journal —to explore the unexpected paths that shape our leadership journeys. Peter shares the formative moments that sparked his vision, from an early encounter with leadership thought-leader Tim Elmore to a decade spent “successfully drowning” in work that looked gre...