283 | Unlocking the Secrets of Effective Leadership

"There's no perfect culture. It's okay to assess it."

Great leaders know that culture isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation of a thriving team. In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron shares key insights from the launch of her new book, Culture Matters, and the conversations it’s sparking with leaders. She unpacks why every leader needs a framework for assessing and improving culture and why proactive investment in culture leads to healthier, high-performing teams. No culture is perfect, but intentional leadership makes all the difference.

Key Takeaways:

• Culture Matters is your playbook for building a thriving team.
• A clear framework helps you assess and strengthen your culture.
• Leaders are becoming more intentional about shaping culture.
• No culture is perfect—what matters is the commitment to growth.
• Leadership is about equipping others, and culture is the key to doing it well.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

Transcript

Hey, leaders, welcome to the LeadCulture Podcast, part of the Art of Leadership Network. I'm your host, Jenny Catron, CEO of the 4Sight Group. We're a company dedicated to helping leaders develop thriving teams. Each week, I'll be your guide as we explore practical strategies to equip you with the tools you need to lead with clarity, confidence, and build unstoppable momentum in your organization. My mission is to be your trusted coach, empowering you to master the art of self-leadership so you'll learn to lead yourself well so you can lead others better. Each week we take a deep dive on a leadership or a culture topic. You'll hear stories from amazing guests and leaders like you who are committed to leading well.

So let's dive in and keep learning on this leadership journey together. Okay, friends, so today I'm gonna do a little bit different episode. It has been four weeks since my new book released. Hopefully you all have picked up Culture Matters, a framework for helping your team grow, thrive, and be unstoppable. Guys, you helped this launch as a USA Today bestseller.

And so we have been off to a phenomenal start releasing this book into the world. And today what I want to do is I want to share some of the feedback that I'm hearing, hearing the conversations that you're having around culture as a result of picking up the book and diving into it. It's been so fun to hear your feedback. You know, one of the things that is just rewarding as an author is as much as like, I love the writing process.

I love synthesizing ideas and getting them out into the world. Hearing the feedback of how it's equipping you to lead well is really when I feel like I'm doing the thing that I'm called to do, the thing that I'm really gifted to do is equip you as a leader with tools that help you lead better. So that's the heart of it. That's the spirit of it. I also want to say just a massive thanks to my entire team from the Foresight team to my Maxwell Publishing team.

Jenni Catron (02:24.134)
And just so many people behind the scenes who have been a part of making it possible to release another book. It's not a solo effort. There might be one name on the front of that cover, but it is a whole team of people who make it possible. And so there's just so much joy in that. think, you you guys know my passion and heart is to equip teams to be thriving. That's the whole heart of the book. And so the fact that

it couldn't happen without a whole team. It's just evidence to the importance of why culture matters. That when teams are growing, thriving and unstoppable, the things that you're able to do together are just phenomenal. anyway, so that's been kind of a fun byproduct of the process of book writing is to see all of my team come together to make this possible, to make this happen. So anyway, I wanna share a couple of things that I'm hearing.

because I'm talking to many of you who have picked up the book, you're starting to dive in. And for those of you maybe who haven't checked it out yet, this might just give you a couple things to go, okay, this is how this might help me, or this is how it might help our team. So this is, again, pretty unscripted, because I'm just kind of like, hey, here's, I want to kind of just share what I'm learning, what I'm hearing, and hope it benefits you as well. So here's one of the fun things.

is that I'm hearing a number of you say, my gosh, it's finally the playbook I needed. It's the how-to manual to help me build culture. So one of the fun things of this journey and this process has been connecting with many of you who are just, you live and breathe this idea of culture. You get it. You're the early adopters who recognize that culture matters. And so many of you have told me that

You've read a ton of other books and there's so many good books out there on culture, but a lot of them are like stories and case studies. But most of you had not found the how to book and that's really what I wrote was the how to manual of hey, here's how to build your culture operating system. Here's how to build the plan that stewards your greatest resource, your people. And so hearing that feedback from you of that's how you're receiving it, that's how you're experiencing it is.

Jenni Catron (04:46.314)
Wonderful because that's the goal. So again, some of you have really natural instincts on how to lead culture like you have good gut instincts on leading culture what I found in my own journey was that I Was longing for an actual plan to follow that would help guide me So I wasn't just kind of you know shooting in the dark trying to figure out how to do this thing So a number of you have told me that this is what that book is doing for you And that is so encouraging and so exciting

Another thing that I'm hearing is that it really is the framework. The framework is helping you better assess the gaps in your culture. So as I've started to share those five phases of the Lead Culture framework that are outlined in the book, and in brief, those are assess your current culture, define what you aspire to, build the plan to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, equip your team to lead well in culture.

and then commit to the ongoing work of culture. Those are the five phases that I outline in the book. What I'm hearing is I'm teaching it, speaking at different events, and then those of you that are reading it is as you're that framework, those five phases of that framework are helping you go, okay, this is where we need a little bit of work. Or, cause again, a number of you have been doing this work with your teams, but now the framework is helping you go, okay, where might there be some gaps? Where are there some things that we need to shore up?

to ensure that our culture is thriving and is healthy. And so that again, I think is what the power of frameworks is that frameworks just help us see, okay, where do we fit or what do we need in order to keep doing this work? So if you are doing good culture work, but you kind of wonder there might be a gap or two and I don't know what that is, again, looking at the framework will give you some insight into where those gaps might be. Here's one thing that

I am particularly happy about is that as I'm speaking on this and talking to leaders, it's opening up the conversation. It's helping leaders like kind of be more receptive to the conversation around culture. One of the things that I've wrestled with over the last number of years is that it's often really hard for us as leaders to admit that

Jenni Catron (07:12.108)
our culture might not be as good as we think it is. That, you know, I don't think I've ever met a leader who didn't want a great team, right? I don't think I've ever met a leader who didn't want their team to be growing, thriving and unstoppable. But we also are aware when it's not quite right, but it's super vulnerable to admit that, isn't it? Right? It's super vulnerable to admit, it might not be as good as I think it is. And so sometimes we just put blinders on and hope it'll be okay.

What I'm loving about this work and part of my hope and goal for this work is to help us all be comfortable with the idea that there's no perfect culture, right? There's no perfect culture. We're a bunch of messy humans trying to do good work together and things are changing and there's outside factors that are putting pressure on your organization. There are inside factors. Maybe you've had a key transition. You've had some people leave the team and it's left gaps.

You've had the budgets tight and so you've had to tighten up and say no to some things. I mean, you fill in the blank. Every one of your organizations have had things that put pressure on your culture. so it's like, again, there's no perfect culture. So I think the more comfortable we can be as leaders to go, okay, I'm not gonna just pretend it's all okay. I'm just gonna get curious about what's true.

And so what I'm loving in the conversations that I'm having is I'm seeing more leaders get comfortable with the fact that it's okay to assess it. It's okay to say, I wanna dig in a little bit more. I wanna understand more of how our culture is. One of my great hopes with this work is that leaders aren't waiting until their culture's in crisis, but they're more proactively taking steps to invest in the health of their culture.

That's like my big goal. Like if you never needed to hire me because you're so proactively investing in culture, it would be a monster win. We're not there yet. But the book is helping give you the tools to start asking the questions to say, how is it? What needs work? What can I focus on? And instead of having to make a monumental change because it's in crisis, you're able to do incremental change that is.

Jenni Catron (09:30.382)
continuing to help lead it even to a healthier place. So I'm loving that leaders are opening up to the conversation more that they're not as afraid of it. They're recognizing, this does matter. And it's okay. Like it might be a little vulnerable, might be, I might hear things that I don't love, but at least I'm equipped with the knowledge to know what is the climate of our culture right now. And then the fourth thing that I would say that I'm hearing is that,

It's created a tool for more conversations for teams. So a number of you have sent me pictures of your leader unboxing a couple of dozen copies of the book and handing them out to your entire team and those of you that are reading it together. And so what I'm loving is it's giving you a resource where you're able to sit down together as a team and start having more conversations around who are we and how do we work together to achieve our mission.

And that's my definition of culture. Who are we and how do we work together to achieve our mission? And so again, it's just a tool that's kind of sparking those conversations for you around the table with your leaders. And I can't wait to hear more of the stories of what comes from that, because I think anytime leaders and teams are sitting down together to say, hey, who are we? How do we work together? Providing that clarity that ensures

We're in this together. We know how to show up together. We know the values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how we work together. The more clarity that we're providing, the more confidently we're contributing. And so that's the massive opportunity in front of us as leaders. So in summary, here's the things I'm hearing. It's the playbook. It's my how-to manual to help me build culture.

that the framework is helping me assess the gaps in my culture. It's helping me kind of know where to focus, that it's making it more comfortable for leaders to have the conversation around culture. And it's creating more conversations for us as a team to talk about who we are and how we wanna work together. That who are we at our best question? We're answering that together. And so, guys, I couldn't ask for anything more.

Jenni Catron (11:46.338)
Like that's the vision, that's the heart of Culture Matters is to equip you to lead well, to equip you to build a team that is growing, thriving and truly unstoppable because ultimately your mission matters. You're all there because there is meaningful work for you to do together, but you need a team that is aligned, that understands this is who we are, this is how we work together to achieve this mission. And my hope is that the Culture Matters book is fully equipping you.

to do that. So if you haven't gotten the book yet, go to culturemattersbook.com or anywhere books are sold, get your copy, then go to culturemattersbook.com slash resources. You can get a bunch of extra tools that'll help you facilitate this work. So I'm grateful that you care enough to even listen to this conversation to know that culture matters, that you're curious enough to go, could it be better? How could I equip my team more?

like leaders that are willing to ask that questions are leaders who are leading well. So kudos to you. Thank you for committing to the important, the sacred work of leadership. Because friends, it matters. We are doing work that is significant. So thank you for being a culture champion for valuing the sacred work of leadership. Let me know what you're thinking. How could we resource you better? So maybe you're starting to dig into this and you're like, Jenny, I need this or I'm thinking of this or this would be helpful to me.

just email me at jennicatron.com. It's J-E-N-N-I-C-A-T-R-O-N at getforsight.com. Just shoot me an email and we'll get back to you with responding to maybe you've got ideas to share, maybe there's some things that you need, maybe you need some support. If you need a coach or you need us to help facilitate the framework, we would love to do that. So reach out to me, jennicatron.com.

And friends, keep leading well.