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Discover how to move beyond performative values to create a culture that actually drives resilience during turbulent times. James D. White and Krista White reveal the archaeological dig method for diagnosing culture health, the future-back approach for transformation, and why empathy is the defining leadership capability of our era. Learn concrete practices to measure what matters and support middle managers as culture change agents.
TL;DL
Q: Why does empathy matter for culture design when we're facing urgent business pressures?
A: Empathy is the foundational capability that enables leaders to diagnose cultural friction before it becomes a crisis. When leaders listen with heart during pressure moments, they surface early warnings about disengagement, process breakdowns, and misalignment that data alone won't reveal until it's too late.
Q: How can I measure culture health without adding another burdensome survey?
A: Combine one lightweight quantitative metric (like voluntary turnover of high performers) with qualitative pulse checks. Example: In your next three leadership meetings, dedicate five minutes to asking "What's one thing we say we value that didn't show up in our decisions this week?" Track recurring themes rather than scores.
Q: What role do middle managers play in culture transformation?
A: Middle managers are the essential gatekeepers who cascade culture change through daily interactions. Support them by automating one administrative task consuming 30+ minutes weekly, freeing capacity for the coaching conversations that actually embed new behaviors. Culture transforms through human connection, not compliance programs.
Why Culture Can't Happen By Accident in Today's Business Environment
Most leaders treat culture as something that will "just happen" while they focus on urgent crises. Supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, accelerated AI adoption, and hybrid work models have created the most challenging business environment many of us have ever navigated. Yet during this exact moment of turbulence, James D. White and Krista White make a compelling case that culture design is your organization's operating system for resilience.
James, former CEO of Jamba Juice and current chair of The Honest Company's board, and Krista, co-founder of Culture Design Lab and founder of Kiki for the Future, recently joined me on the Do Good to Lead Well podcast to discuss their USA Today bestselling book "Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose." What was immediately compelling was their foundational premise. Every organization has a culture, but it's either built intentionally or by default. There is no neutral ground. As James put it during our conversation, "Culture is either designed intentionally or by default. Every company has a culture and our strong advocacy for your audience is to be intentional about culture. It's never been more important."
When culture happens by default, you get inconsistency, confusion during crises, and a widening gap between your stated values and actual behaviors. But when you design culture with intention, you create the stability and integrity teams desperately seek during uncertain times. Organizations with intentionally designed cultures navigate disruption with greater cohesion, retain top talent longer, and make decisions aligned with their core purpose even under pressure.
Diagnose Your Culture Health Before Designing Change
You wouldn't renovate a house without first understanding its foundation, yet many leaders leap into culture transformation without diagnosing their current reality. James and Krista advocate starting with what they call an "archaeological dig", a systematic exploration of your organization's cultural artifacts to understand what's actually happening versus what you claim to value.
This diagnostic process begins with empathy as its foundation. This includes reviewing existing surveys, observing daily rituals, and most importantly, conducting confidential interviews with leaders across functions. They ask three simple questions:
- What should we start doing?
- What should we stop doing?
- What should we continue doing?
What emerges from these conversations often reveals that while interviewees work in different departments with unique challenges, two or three themes consistently surface across every conversation. These recurring themes become your starting point for meaningful change. One powerful diagnostic tool James and Krista emphasize is examining the "say-do gap", the distance between your organization's stated values and the behaviors you actually reward and reinforce. A value like innovation means nothing if your budgeting process punishes experimentation or your promotion criteria reward risk avoidance.
Organizations serious about culture diagnosis combine quantitative metrics (retention rates, engagement scores, demographic representation in leadership) with qualitative insights from these conversations. The Gallup Q12 survey provides helpful baseline data, but it's the unscripted conversations that reveal whether your culture is helping or hindering resilience during disruption.
Close the “Say-Do Gap” With Daily Integration Practices
Many organizations fall into what James and Krista call culture bingo, selecting impressive-sounding values like excellence or integrity without defining what those words mean in daily practice. This creates a performative culture where values look beautiful on the website but vanish during budget meetings or performance reviews. The antidote is integrating values into daily operations through specific, observable actions.
One manufacturing client they worked with transformed abstract values into action-oriented statements. Instead of safety, they adopted “commit-to-safety” with clear behavioral expectations like wearing proper equipment, speaking up when noticing hazards, and pausing production when risks emerge. Another organization holds five-minute daily huddles where teams discuss one value and share a recent example of it in action, connecting abstract concepts to real work happening that week.
Leaders must model these behaviors consistently. When leaders bypass their own values during pressure moments, cutting corners on quality to hit quarterly targets or ignoring collaboration norms to move faster, they teach employees that values are optional during real work. The most effective culture leaders create regular touchpoints specifically focused on values reinforcement. One technology CEO hosts bi-monthly culture conversations with any employee who attends, spotlighting value-aligned behaviors and answering anonymous questions for fifteen minutes. He's maintained this practice for five years regardless of travel schedule.
These integration practices work because they make values tangible. Employees stop asking “What do our values mean?” and start recognizing what customer obsession looks like in practice. This daily reinforcement builds the muscle memory your organization needs to maintain cultural integrity when disruption hits.
Measure What Matters to Sustain Culture Transformation
"Know what matters. Do what matters. Measure what matters." This mantra from James and Krista's book provides the framework for sustaining culture change beyond initial enthusiasm. Measurement combines quantitative metrics with qualitative feedback loops that close the loop between employee input and organizational action.
Quantitative measures include retention rates (especially among high performers), demographic representation across levels, and pulse survey results tracking psychological safety and belonging. But numbers alone mislead without context. The former CEO of Campbell Soup Company, Doug Conant, wrote approximately 30,000 handwritten notes of appreciation during his tenure, not as a vanity metric but as his personal measurement system for connection. He knew culture health when he felt it in genuine employee interactions.
The critical mistake organizations make with measurement is simply collecting feedback without communicating what they'll do about it. Effective culture measurement includes a transparent communication strategy. Even when you can't implement every suggestion, acknowledging input and explaining your action plan maintains trust.
For middle managers, the essential gatekeepers of culture change, measurement must include their capacity to lead. Many managers drown in administrative tasks that prevent the coaching and connection work culture transformation requires. James and Krista advocate using responsible automation to free managers for human-centered leadership. Measure manager capacity alongside culture metrics to ensure you're not adding transformation work to already overloaded plates.
Ready to Design a Resilient Organizational Culture?
- To get practical tools and actionable tips that will jumpstart your journey, download the Designing Resilient Organizational Cultures Kick Starter Booklet here.
- Join the newsletter to be notified when a new episode is ready for you to listen and get every Kick Starter Booklet for all future episodes.
- And if you’re looking to elevate your entire C-Suite leadership team, learn how Craig Dowden can help your leaders perform at their highest-level visit https://www.craigdowden.com/executive-mastermind
- For a deeper dive, listen to the full-length episode of the Do Good to Lead Well podcast featuring Wes Adams & Tamara Myles:
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