CEO Daily Brief with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

In today's episode: Culture is a set of unwritten rules about what's valued and rewarded; it's often set by the founders, and it's hard to change. A company's culture is often very visible; whether it's oriented around competition, cost, innovation, or adaptability. Strikes become more common when management grows out-of-touch with the frontline workers. But management often doesn't notice until t...

In today's episode: For many young professionals, the biggest issue isn't necessarily pay or hours--it's the feeling that their work lacks meaning. But early-career jobs, by nature, have never had much power in the world. There will need to be a compromise: executives need to learn how to empower employees to find their own purpose, while early-career employees will have to accept investing in a b...

In today's episode: Boeing's striking workers and executives are coming closer to a deal, but it's still not there yet. Boeing is a good example of a company that has focused too much on "results" in a short-time financial sense. The mistrust and resentment of its workers is now a long-term consequence. Culture can't be orchestrated from afar. Boeing's leaders need to take the lead publicly and wh...

In today's episode: You can let culture happen to you, or you can craft it intentionally to get results. A good place to start is with the employee journey. What experiences are they having as they're applying, being recruited, being onboarded, learning, and growing? Something as simple as a personalized pre-interview email can leave a great impression on top talent. This episode is an excerpt fro...

In today's episode: Per the results pyramid, results are created by actions. Actions come from beliefs. Beliefs are shaped by experiences. To build experiences, follow the 1, 2, 3 rule: tell one story, give two people of recognition, and offer (or ask for) three pieces of feedback. When offering feedback, tie actions to beliefs and results. Highlight the beliefs you want to encourage, and how they...

In today's episode: Corporate communications teams try to sanitize the information coming to employees are fighting a losing battle. With modern information, employees know how companies are really doing. Inauthentic corporate communication can make it feel like the company doesn't care about employees. Two-thirds of employees say their companies aren't good at communicating with them. Leaders don...

In today's episode: Aligning purpose, strategy, and culture drives revenue growth. A company's purpose is its reason for existing, outside of revenue, in six words or less. What purpose do employees care about? Use key results with measurable indicators as anchors for strategy. An intentional company can get you closer to those results. This episode is an excerpt from Jessica's speech at the 2023...

In today's episode: In making decisions about promotions and hiring, businesses often make the mistake of prioritizing visibility over results. But there are brilliant people in every organization who are doing good work quietly. Visibility is a trap. Good leaders should focus on outcomes--and the company should have metrics to measure those outcomes. Culture Leaders Daily is a daily, five-minute...

In today's episode: Integrity is a tough value to maintain in a world full of tempting choices. But when a leader loses their integrity, the culture soon follows. A culture that values integrity fosters trust. With that trust, a company can afford to move faster than their competitors in decision-making. Scott Wine would rather be 60% right and fast than 100% right and slow. That's a lot easier wi...

In today's episode: Employee decisions driven by an organization's culture. It's often said that the ROI on culture isn't as clear-cut as other investments. But there's no doubt that employee connections and beliefs are instrumental to success. It takes a lot of work to learn about the company's culture and make steps to change it. And that's often why it doesn't get done. Culture Leaders Daily is...

Dr. Jessica Kriegel interviews Scott Wine, former CEO of Polaris and CNH Industrial, as they explore his leadership journey, rooted in faith, discipline, and a commitment to integrity. Scott shares his insights on building adaptable, customer-focused cultures, lessons learned from his Naval service, and the importance of critical thinking in leadership. With anecdotes from his time leading Polaris...

In today's episode: Part of accountability for a leader is explaining expectations--and helping people achieve them. The whole organization knows when a part of it is lagging. It's a leader's responsibility to remedy that by getting people to change. But if people don't want to change, it might be time for new people. Culture Leaders Daily is a daily, five-minute podcast for CEOs where we dissect...

In today's episode: Results come from actions. Actions are driven by belief. Beliefs are built by experiences. Current results--for better or worse--are a result of existing actions, beliefs, and experiences within the company. To change results, leaders should avoid getting caught in the "action trap." Think about the experiences you want employees to have that will drive their beliefs and action...

In today's episode: Good business requires more than just data--it's about the human element of discernment, decision-making, and interpreting what the data means. AI has the power to connect more dots than we've ever seen, but it also won't replace our ability to empathize. The people who know how to use AI will come out on top in the shifting economy. Culture Leaders Daily is a daily, five-minut...

In today's episode: It's not that nobody wants to work anymore--young people are just expecting fair wages, non-toxic workplaces, and fulfilling work. And this is capitalism at work. "Living with parents" is seen as a failure to launch, despite it being a sound financial decision in a historically bad housing market. Corporations aren't competing with just their competition: they're competing with...

In today's episode: It's growing increasingly common for companies to put up "ghost job" postings that they never intend to hire for. This is for three main reasons: to signal strength (look how many people we're hiring!), to interview employees from competitors, and to strike some fear into current employees. It's a great short-term motivator and a terrible long-term plan. Culture Leaders Daily i...

Dr. Jessica Kriegel is joined by Wais Achikzad, a senior consultant at Culture Partners with extensive experience in investment banking, and Patrick Curtis, founder and CEO of Wall Street Oasis. They discuss the accelerated timeline for investment banking recruitment out of college, the immense burnout caused by the "work hard, play hard" lifestyle, the attempts being made to fix all the problems...

In today's episode: Despite its high salaries and "work hard, play hard" lifestyle, Wall Street is burning through young workers. In the long run, this is bad for the banks who want to recruit top talent who will be leaders in 10-15 years. The problem is the divide between junior analysts and middle-management leadership. Culture Leaders Daily is a daily, five-minute podcast for CEOs where we diss...

In today's episode: The pandemic opened up a lot of conversations about mental health care, as more people were visibly struggling. Despite those advances, there's still a stigma against talking about mental health in the workplace, for fear it will be used in hiring and promotion decisions. When businesses consistently promote well-being, mental health care become just another piece of overall we...

In today's episode: The longshoremen strike is over, for now--they've agreed on a wage increase, but the automation question is still open. The union's opposition to automation isn't about fancy new technology, but things like parking gates and timecard stamping. With these tactics, they're making the argument FOR automation--if things were automated, the economy wouldn't be in this much danger. C...

In today's episode: The longshoremen on strike have a lot more leverage than the last few large strikes we've seen. Increased wages are an easy sell for the public. Preventing automation is going to be a lot less popular--it's antithetical to the American Dream. Right now, neither side is taking accountability by focusing on what they can control. That's a problem. Culture Leaders Daily is a daily...

In today's episode: The longshoremen going on strike are a high-skilled workforce who deal with valuable cargo; they have a lot of power, but job insecurity is still an issue. The American supply chain is STILL fragile because there are no buffers--we removed them all in service of profit. Because of that fragility, even one day of strikes will cause big ripples in the economy. Culture Leaders Dai...

Scott Syphax joins Dr. Jessica Kriegel to reflect on his dynamic career as the former CEO of the Nehemiah Corporation and current strategic advisor to Fortune 500 executives. Scott shares his unique blend of strategy and emotional intelligence, often serving as an "unlicensed therapist" to some of the most powerful leaders across industries. In this conversation, Scott opens up about his purpose i...

In today's episode: Corporate boards can become chaotic messes when their role in a company is unclear or misaligned with management. Sometimes, management holds back information, sweeping their own bad decision-making under the rug. In truth, executives will become more powerful if they allow themselves to be vulnerable in front of the board and make use of their expertise. Culture Leaders Daily...

In today's episode: Delta Airlines fosters a culture of community engagement. But in the wake of the Crowdstrike disaster, CEO Ed Bastian is quoted saying it was too late to reach out to Microsoft and Crowdstrike executives. Cultivating caring relationships involves giving difficult feedback and opening lines of communication. Publicly declaring that you're not open to having a conversation is jus...