What if the most powerful thing you could do as a leader is to see greatness in others that they can’t see in themselves? That’s the philosophy that has guided Ken Crenshaw, longtime Director of Sports Medicine and Performance for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Drawing on values learned from his small-town ranch upbringing and a pivotal mentor in high school, Ken has built a leadership approach centered on service, humility, and love. His stories remind you that even the simplest principles, when applied consistently, can transform lives and teams.

In this conversation, you’ll hear how Ken integrates self-awareness, vulnerability, and authentic listening into his work with athletes and staff. He explains how culture is a living, breathing force that requires daily care, and why crucial conversations rooted in love are essential for growth. Whether you lead a business, a sports team, or a family, Ken’s wisdom will inspire you to slow down, listen deeply, and commit to helping others reach their full potential.

You’ll discover:

• How a high school coach’s tough love shaped Ken’s leadership philosophy.
• Why self-awareness and feedback are game-changers for leaders.
• The role vulnerability plays in accelerating personal and professional growth.
• Practical ways to build a culture rooted in love, trust, and shared purpose.
• How to recognize and call out the hidden potential in others.

Watch the episode:

Website

Arizona Diamondbacks

Related Podcast Episodes

230: Trust & Inspire: Unleash Greatness in Others

Company culture isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation of an organization’s success or failure. Brad Federman shares how businesses can create a culture that balances people and results. He explains where many organizations go wrong when developing their values and why culture must be designed to outlast leadership changes. Brad also reveals how companies can avoid common pitfalls, such as tolerating bad behavior and adopting trendy policies without considering business needs.

We dive into practical strategies for aligning culture with business goals, reinforcing positive behaviors, and holding leaders accountable. Brad describes the importance of continuous culture audits and experiential activities that make culture tangible. Whether you’re a business leader, HR professional, or culture champion, this episode provides actionable insights to create an environment where employees thrive and customers stay engaged.

Brad is the founder of PerformancePoint, a firm dedicated to helping organizations engage employees, strengthen customer relationships, and cultivate resilient, collaborative cultures through effective leadership. With over 25 years of corporate experience, he’s worked with global companies like Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Nordstrom, and Mayo Clinic. Brad is an international speaker and the author of Cultivating Culture: 101 Ways to Foster Engagement in 15 Minutes or Less.

You’ll discover:

• The biggest mistakes companies make when defining their values
• Why culture must be stable, not built around a single leader
• How to hold employees and leaders accountable for culture
• The role of feedback and culture workouts in shaping workplace norms
• Strategies for overcoming resistance to cultural change

Watch the episode:

Connect with Brad

Brad’s Resources

Website

PerformancePoint

Brad Federman

Books

Cultivating Culture: 101 Ways to Foster Engagement in 15 Minutes or Less

Related Podcast Episodes

179: The Role of Wellbeing in a Thriving Culture

294: Creating an Award-Winning Workplace Culture

If you’ve ever wondered what’s involved in a company being named one of the best places to work, this episode’s guest Angie Redmon pulls back the curtain and reveals key elements. She also explains the commitment and alignment required to build a culture that’s worthy of being recognized. If you’d like to uplevel the culture of your team or entire organization, you’ll gain valuable insights from this conversation.

Angie Redmon has invested more than two decades learning what makes good companies great, and it always comes back to the same thing: Companies who care about their people as much as they care about their bottom line are more likely to recruit and retain outstanding employees. Through her dedication to workplace culture and employee engagement, Angie has developed and led HR teams with multiple companies in diverse industries.

Now, Angie is the President and Founder of striveHR, LLC, an organization focused on guiding aspirational companies through the process of pursuing a best workplace distinction. She channels her work into helping organizations develop their people strategies and guiding HR professionals to develop in their careers through her coaching and mentorship. Angie has an impressive track record of helping organizations uncover employee engagement challenges and guiding organizations to achieve an award-winning workplace culture.

You’ll discover:

• What it takes to be an award-winning workplace
• The most common issue that gets in the way of creating a positive culture
• The steps a company can take before applying for an award
• How an award can help you with recruitment and retention of the best talent
• What needs to be done to sustain the progress after winning an award

Watch the episode:

Connect with Angie

Angie’s Resources

Website

striveHR

Book

Culture Impact: Strategies to Create World-changing Workplaces (contributing author)

It’s not easy to create a strong, positive culture, and it’s even more challenging to sustain it for 10 years. That’s exactly what Dan Turner and his team have done at Xperigo. And instead of resting on this accomplishment, Dan continues to raise the bar for himself and for his company.

Dan has been President and CEO at Xperigo since 2019. He’s also served as COO and Vice President of Business Development. Since joining the company in 2014, Dan has been instrumental in establishing Xperigo as a leading provider of customer experience management solutions to the automotive sector in North America.

With his people-first philosophy, Dan has placed significant emphasis on cultivating a high-performance culture at Xperigo, which has resulted in the company being the 3-time consecutive winner of the prestigious award, Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures™.

Before joining Xperigo, Dan held senior leadership positions in both sales and client services at other large companies, where he managed strategic relationships with Fortune 500 companies like Apple, General Motors, and Netflix. He successfully secured over 500 million dollars in new business over his 12-year sales career.

You’ll discover:

• Dan’s journey from tow truck driver to CEO
• The qualities Dan learned from high school that have served him well as a leader
• How Xperigo’s values are used throughout the year by every leader and employee
• Why “Life Is Better Here” is the tagline used to attract job candidates
• Ways that Dan and his team used the results of the engagement survey to enhance the company culture

Watch the episode:

Connect with Dan

Dan’s Website

Xperigo

What would it be like to work for a CEO who aspires to be the best example of working together? You’ll hear from someone who IS that CEO in this very special conversation with Darcy Verhun, CEO of Canada Diagnostic Centres (CDC). Darcy sets that intention every day as he works to build a culture of connecting with the team and customers.

Canada Diagnostic Centres (CDC) is an independent healthcare company specializing in radiology and imaging. Before joining CDC, Darcy was the President of FYidoctors, at the time one of North America’s fastest-growing companies. He has also held senior leadership roles at Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, and Cap Gemini.

Darcy’s leadership is based on being a lifelong learner and passionate coach who lives his life with gratitude. He’s used his leadership strengths to create enterprise value through scale and growth. He’s the author of The Freedom of Constraints: Turn Obstacles into Opportunity, written with Marshall Goldsmith and other members of Marshall’s group of 100 Coaches.

Darcy was a founding Director of The Calgary Homeless Foundation, and today he serves as a Director of HomeSpace Society, a non-profit focused on eliminating homelessness.

You’ll discover:

• How Darcy helped reduce the number of projects that had been undertaken at FYidoctors from 120 to 11.
• What happened when the CEO at FYidoctors couldn’t make an important meeting…and what everyone learned from that experience
• Why Darcy went on a listening tour when he joined CDC and his biggest take-aways
• The 10-10 Commitment that increased engagement and results
• What insights from Darcy’s book reveal about the value that constraints can serve

Watch the episode:

Connect with Darcy

Darcy’s Resources

Website

Canada Diagnostic Centres

Book

The Freedom of Constraints: Turn Obstacles into Opportunity

We don’t often hear the word LOVE used when describing the workplace. That’s about to change in this conversation with Jeff Ma and Chris Pitre, as we discuss their Wall Street Journal best-selling book, Love As a Business Strategy.

Written with two other senior leaders at Softway, the four authors identified six core pillars as a result of their journey to create a positive culture in their own company. Each chapter begins with a compelling story about one of the authors and what that individual learned. It’s truly a guidebook for developing the values and related behaviors that empower people to thrive.

Chris and Jeff are both senior leaders at Softway. Chris is Vice President, supporting sales, delivery, HR, and other back office operations. Jeff is Director of Project Management and Quality.

Together, they are co-founders of Culture+, a company with a mission to bring humanity back to the workplace. They teach companies how to create a positive culture based on the pillars described in their book.

You’ll discover:

• The unforgettable incident that served as a wake-up call to the leadership team at Softway
• The 6 pillars that form the foundation of a thriving workplace
• Why they go beyond Reflection and recommend Introspection
• How to empower someone from a place of vulnerability
• Why Forgiveness is essential to resolving hurts, disappointments, and other negative emotions

Watch the episode:

Connect with Jeff Ma

Connect with Chris Pitre

Resources

Website

Love As a Business Strategy

Book

Love As a Business Strategy: Resilience, Belonging & Success

Have you ever wondered what would happen if an org chart were flipped, so it was an upside-down triangle? Meet Nick Gallo. He and his brother Giovanni are Co-CEOs at Ethico, and they’ve accomplished this by putting their clients at the top of the pyramid.

Nick Gallo is Chief Servant and Co-CEO of Ethico, a company that provides human resource, compliance and ethics solutions that serve 8 million employees in over 100 countries. He has the distinction of being the only millennial CEO of a compliance company.

Nick is a first-generation American son of a Cuban refugee and member of Mensa International. He’s a student of behavioral economics and organizational psychology, and he’s a thought leader in the compliance and culture space. Nick has dedicated his life to serving — his community, clients, and team — in order to make the world a better workplace.

You’ll discover:

• Why Nick’s other title is Chief Servant…and what it communicates to everyone else in the company
• How Nick got buy-in from employees for flipping the org chart
• What Day 0 looks like for new employees
• Strategies used at Ethico to attract and hire the right people
• The initiatives in place to give employees opportunities to learn and grow

Watch the episode:

Connect with Nick

Nick’s Website

Ethico

Many companies are struggling with how to structure work, and some are requiring everyone to return to the physical building. Yet remote and hybrid teams are here to stay. Kevin Eikenberry shares practical tips from his new book, The Long-Distance Team, on making these teams successful.

Kevin is an expert on this subject, not only because he’s written the book, but also because he’s been leading a long-distance team himself for more than 25 years. He explains how to consciously design teams, define and create culture, and nurture employee engagement, all from a distance.

Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group.  He’s recognized by Inc.com as one of the top 100 Leadership and Management thinkers in the world. Kevin has spent nearly 30 years helping organizations around the world in the areas of leadership development, learning, teams and teamwork, and communication.

You’ll discover:

• Why getting involvement from everyone is important when designing your team
• A simple and clear definition of Culture
• Differences in creating culture in a new team vs. an existing team
• The 3 Cs that are the pillars for long-distance teams…and why they are essential
• The distinction between expectations and agreements for both individuals and teams

Watch the episode:

Connect with Kevin

Kevin’s Resources

Website

The Kevin Eikenberry Group

Books

The Long-Distance Team: Designing Your Team for Everyone’s Success

The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere

The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership

Have you ever gone on a Listening Tour? That’s what Hillary Miller did in her first 3 months at Penn State Health in her role as Chief Learning Officer. What she learned in her conversations with hundreds of people allowed her and her team to design programs that were relevant and well received.

Hillary has also set up a Learning Council across the organization that enables people in all types of positions to have a voice. You will love the types of questions Hillary shares throughout this conversation that encourage people to speak openly and build strong trust.

You’ll discover:

• The 4 questions Hillary asked each person she met with during your listening tour
• What Hillary has done to build trust and high performance with her own team
• The weekly Development Sessions Hillary and her team have…and how she’s expanding them to other parts of the organization
• The growth she went through to make it easy for her to say “I’m not perfect” and “I made a mistake”
• Why Hillary is a big believer in humor and laughter

Watch the episode:

Connect with Hillary

Hillary’s Resources

Website

Penn State Health

What’s wrong with the term, Human Resources? In this enlightening conversation, Eugene Whitlock explains why he prefers People and Culture. He also describes the valuable work his DEI team has done to put in place an Equity Training Series and an Inclusive Leadership Academy for faculty and staff.

Eugene is Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and the Chief People & Culture Officer at the University of California Berkeley. Eugene leads a 75-person human resources department including talent acquisition, people and organization development, employee and labor relations, total rewards, diversity equity, inclusion and belonging, and human resources information systems. During his time at UC Berkeley, Eugene has emphasized the creation of a workplace where everyone can be themselves and feel like they belong.

You’ll discover:

• What Eugene did when he became a leader for the first time
• Why he’s a big believer in feedback
• The reason for changing from Human Resources to People and Culture
• Why Eugene set up a DEI team and the programs now offered to faculty and staff
• Two research projects in the Psychology Department and the Haas School of Business that Eugene is involved with

Watch the episode:

Connect with Eugene

Eugene’s Resource

Website

UC Berkeley’s GROW Program Offerings