Culture Architects™

In this first of a two-part conversation, Brian Roers shares his journey of co-founding Roers Companies with his brother Kent, and becoming a culture champion along the way. Roers Companies is a multi-awarded multifamily and commercial real estate development firm based in Minnesota. It was founded in 2012 — and by 2024, was recognized by Inc. 5000 as the 344th fastest-growing private company in A...

David resumes the conversation with Steven Shapiro and Nancy Shapiro Rapport on designing Our Family Culture. Nancy and Steven explain how Our Family Culture shapes the way conversations are taking place between parents and children, and why repetition matters when parenting with purpose.

What does it mean to be the Culture Architect of one’s family? Over the past year, David has worked with brother-sister duo and lifelong educators Steven Shapiro and Nancy Shapiro Rapport to explore this question. In this episode, they recount the story of coming together and collaborating on Our Family Culture, a system designed to help parents be more purposeful in creating a healthy culture for...

In this episode, David and Ed DeAngelis examine EDA Contractors’ journey to becoming a top workplace. Ed explains how investing in the company’s culture has affected their bottom line, and what it means to build a “24-hour culture.”

Ed DeAngelis founded EDA Contractors in 1999, and for the last 25 years, the company has worked on construction and historic restoration projects throughout the Greater Philadelphia region, New Jersey, and New York. Today, EDA Contractors is recognized as a top workplace and a leader in the industry. Much of it is thanks to Ed, whose intentionality around psychological safety and the overall workp...

The conversation resumes between David and Dr. Kent Wessinger on the millennial and Gen Z workforce. Using insights from his proprietary research, Kent imagines the near future where these younger generations have become their organizations’ leaders and culture-builders.

David is joined by Dr. Kent Wessinger, researcher and author of Bridges over Ladders: Secure Growth and Fortify Revenue with Millennial Employees, Clients and Members. In this episode, Kent introduces his proprietary research — and breaks down why and how most organizations are ill-equipped to attract, engage, and retain younger employees, even though younger generations already take up the larges...

In this episode, David and Geneviève Retzlaff continue to explore connections between authentic leadership and high-performing teams — and weigh in on different approaches to the culture-building process.

In this first of a two-part conversation, transformational career coach Geneviève Retzlaff talks about getting her start in human resources with Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. After a decade in HR and over 40 countries later, at her own company Grow Better Together, Geneviève helps organizations create cultures that encourage authentic leaders and human connections.

David and Dr. Roger Gerard build on the question, “What do employees really need from their leaders?” Roger shares the 5 golden promises leaders need to make and keep as if their life depended on it, and the advice he would give his younger self.  Roger’s website: https://www.rogergerard.com/

Dr. Roger Gerard brings to the show 5 decades of experience as a leadership consultant and a healthcare executive for ThedaCare and Northern Michigan Hospitals. In this first of a two-part conversation, he and David discuss the profound difference that leadership makes upon various working environments. Roger also shares insights from his latest book, Lead with Purpose: Reignite Passion and Engage...

David and Yael Averbuch discuss her evolving perspectives on team dynamics and culture-building, as she moves up from player to team captain to general manager. Yael reflects on the challenges of setting up a young team to be ‘sustainably successful,’ and the two things she wished she had known as a younger athlete.

David welcomes to the show Yael Averbuch, owner of the training app Techne Futbol and general manager for NJ/NY Gotham FC. Yael has been in soccer teams since the age of seven — most notably, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the US Women’s National Team. In this episode, Yael shares her experiences of good and bad team cultures, and weighs in on the value of rituals and predictabilit...

In this second part of their conversation, David and Richard Kopelman discuss the value of the Aprio Way during recent mergers, acquisitions, and overseas expansion. Richard reflects on how having a structured company culture has helped to overcome mistakes made along the way.

David welcomes Richard Kopelman — CEO and managing partner of the business advisory and accounting firm Aprio. In this first of a two-part conversation, Richard recounts the pivotal moments that introduced him to leadership, the formalization of their company culture through the creation of the Aprio Way, and the story behind his company’s focus on kindness.

With Festival Foods coming up on its first decade of practicing the Boomerang Basics, David and Mark Skogen talk about the role that culture has played in the company’s recent history. Mark shares the advice he would give to his 25-year-old self.

In this episode, David sits down with Mark Skogen — CEO and president of the Festival Foods supermarket chain in Wisconsin. Mark is a third-generation grocer, his family having been in the grocery business since 1946. With him at the reins and their Boomerang Basics as their guide, the company has come to be recognized as a leader in innovation, growth, ethics, and of course, culture. 

David and Chris Deaver discuss how bravery ties into the co-creative approach. Chris weighs in on the idea that, amidst generational differences and constant disruptions around the world, culture may be a company’s best and most enduring product.

David welcomes to the show Chris Deaver — leadership coach, co-founder of BraveCore, and co-author of Brave Together: Lead by Design, Spark Creativity, and Shape the Future with the Power of Co-Creation. Armed with a background in animation and two decades of experience shaping Fortune 500 companies from the inside, in this episode Chris explains how organizational culture-building in this day and...

David resumes his conversation with Roberta Matuson on what goes into building organizations that inspire employee loyalty. In this second part, Roberta also shares her insights on the evolution of the workforce, and reflects on her early start with corporate leadership.

Roberta Matuson, the Talent Maximizer, was introduced to corporate leadership at the age of 24. In 1997, she went on to found Matuson Consulting — and by the 2010s, she had established herself as a top author on leadership and talent optimization. In this first of a two-part conversation, David and Roberta revisit this decades-long journey, as well as the experiences behind her latest book Suddenl...

David resumes his conversation with Peter Kusiak on the Fun First Strategy. In this second episode, Peter shares his experiences working with different variations of the workforce, and reflects on how his signature approach to culture-building has evolved over the years.

In this first of a two-episode conversation, David sits down with Peter Kusiak — creator of the Fun First Strategy, and the author of Drop the F-Bomb in Your Business. Peter brings nuance to the idea of fun, and weighs in on the importance of intentionality when building a culture around workplace fun and happiness.

David resumes his conversation with Crystal Hanlon on the systems with which the ‘orange-blooded culture’ at Home Depot is taught and reinforced. Crystal looks back on the biggest mistakes and milestones of her four-decade relationship with the company.

In this episode, David and Crystal Hanlon go behind the scenes at The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer. Crystal is the company’s Culture Officer, who began her journey in 1985 as a part-time cashier at a Houston branch. Over the decades, she steadily rose through the ranks, earning a spot on Fortune Magazine’s list of “Most Powerful Women” multiple times in the process, an...