Episodes

Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Our guest is Stephen Pierce - Vice President and Chief HR Officer at Hitachi Europe.
Stephen has led HR in international businesses for more than 30 years. He has been recognized publicly for business leadership, including being appointed a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and being voted one of the UK’s most influential HR leaders for a number of years.
Stephen is a Board Director of Hitachi Europe and a member of the Executive Committee. He is also Chair of the Hitachi European Diversity & Inclusion Council. He is also an adviser to several HR networking organisations and a regular speaker at conferences and a coach and mentor.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Stephen discuss:
- Hitachi's Organizational Culture with 350,000 leaders globally and changes during the pandemic
- How does the Japanese heritage impact culture
- Digitization, virtual workplaces, and a new way of working
- How HR loves rules and when you need to throw out the rule book
For more information about Stephen, please follow him on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or our Scaling Culture Masterclass on how to build and sustain a resilient, high-performing team, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Our guest is Judith Wiese - Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Siemens.
Judith has more than two decades of international experience in various HR fields. In her current role at Siemens, Judith focuses on driving an inclusive and empowering culture that paves the way for continuous transformation and accelerating Siemens’ sustainability ambition to help solve the world’s biggest challenges. Previously, she was Chief Human Resources Officer at DSM and Head of People & Organization at Mars.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Judith discuss:
- Judith's career journey and how she joined Siemens Chief People and Sustainability Officer at the same time when there was CEO change.
- Siemens culture transformation with 300,000+ people in more than 200 countries and 175 years legacy.
- Siemens 4 priorities, 8 leader traits and their way to making things measurable.
- Sustainability, importance of language and how to foster strong culture and maintain diversity at scale.
For more information about Judith, please follow her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or our Scaling Culture Masterclass on how to build and sustain a resilient, high-performing team, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Bolt: Conscious Culture - Episode 94
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Our guest is Adam McBain - Vice President of People at Bolt.
Adam’s career in people and culture spans 17 years and began initially in talent acquisition at Nokia. At Nokia, Adam discovered his true passion for human resources. He has held multiple roles throughout his career, from talent acquisition to people leadership. Adam enjoys mid to late-stage startups and prides himself on helping companies scale by leveraging culture and engagement to drive results.
In his role as Vice President of People, he is leading Bolt’s People Operations, Business Partnership, Employee Experience and Communication, Talent Acquisition, and Total Compensation teams.
Bolt is on a mission to democratize commerce. Bolt strengthens retailers’ relationships with their customers by unlocking secure, logged-in, lightning-fast checkouts.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Adam discuss:
- Some of the best Bolt’s people and culture strategies: 4-day work week and conscious pay
- Conscious culture website, playbook and operating values
- Engagement surveys and people team internal roadmap for assessing culture
For more information about Adam, please follow him on LinkedIn. To learn more about Bolt’s Conscious Culture: Culture Playbook, please go to https://conscious.org/
To learn more about our books or our Scaling Culture Masterclass on how to build and sustain a resilient, high-performing team, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
Limbach: The Importance of Culture, How to Get Buy-in and Change Management - Episode 93
Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
Our guest is Melissa DiMuro - Chief People & Culture Officer at Limbach, a public company of 1,700+ team members delivering engineering, construction and services solutions to owners and partners across the United States.
Since joining the Company in January 2021, Melissa has designed a ‘First Choice Employer’ strategy to increase stability in a diminishing labor market, resulting in a 27% less attrition for them YoY.
Previously, Melissa spent 15 years in global leadership roles in GE Aviation. Recognized by the CEO of GE Aviation for ‘Culture of Innovation Leadership’, she earned a reputation of scaling businesses and talent, scaling one engineering organization by nearly 5X to support record new product intros and promoting a record number of new executives.
Melissa is a passionate advocate for diversity and has led the strategy for each organization she has been a part of, as well as serving as a leader of the GE Women’s Network.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Melissa discuss:
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Limbach's 120-year legacy: experience of going from a family company to private to public and what things changed and stayed the same?
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How to get through to people who resist or won't buy into culture?
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Change management tactics and the big mistake many leaders make.
For more information about Melissa, please follow her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Dr. Yuvay Ferguson: Gen Z in the Workplace and How to Lead Them - Episode 92
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Our guest is Dr. Yuvay Ferguson - an Associate Professor of Marketing at Howard University’s School of Business.
With almost 20 years of professional and academic experience, Yuvay is a lifelong lover of education and a fierce champion for inclusivity in all endeavors that impact the professional growth of future business leaders (Gen Zs).
Her research interests focus on representation of Blacks, Millennials and Gen Z in advertising and their consumer behavior in the marketplace. And her consulting interests focus on partnering companies with universities to drive experiential learning in the classroom and build pathways for diverse candidates to have access to amazing career opportunities.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Yuvay discuss:
- Attributes of the Gen Z generation and what differentiates them from Millenials and Gen X
- What does Gen Z look for in the workplace and where is the line in the sand for things they can’t stand?
- How best to communicate feedback, resolve conflicts, motivate and connect with Gen Z?
- Strategies to attract and lead Gen Z to become the best versions of themselves?
For more information about Dr. Yuvay Ferguson, please follow her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
Amazon: Leadership Principles, Innovation & Data Science - Episode 91
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
*This episode was sponsored by Empyrean, a top-tier HR technology company that empowers organizations to build a better culture by connecting employees to meaningful, life-enriching benefits. To take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Our guest is Carlos Adame - a Senior Global HR Leader at Amazon. In his role, Carlos is responsible for all strategic people planning and execution globally to optimize finance and Amazon performance.
Prior to Amazon, he held HR executive roles at Providence and other well-known organizations such as UPS, PacifiCare, United Healthcare, and AltaMed.
Also, Carlos is an associate professor teaching graduate-level Human Resources courses at USC Bovard College.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Carlos discuss:
- Carlos’ personal journey from Providence to Amazon
- Some ways Amazon uses data science to get closer to the customer and to their staff
- A new exciting initiative of Amazon’s with far reaching impact to rural communities
- Speed, innovation and systems to allow people to prioritise the most important thing
For more information about Carlos and his work, please follow him on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
To learn more about a sponsor of this episode, Empyrean, please go to GoEmpyrean.Com, and to take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Wednesday Dec 14, 2022
Wednesday Dec 14, 2022
*This episode was sponsored by Empyrean, a top-tier HR technology company that empowers organizations to build a better culture by connecting employees to meaningful, life-enriching benefits. To take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Our guest is Serena Anthony - Chief People Officer at GroupM North America.
Serena is an expert Human Resources Management professional with over 20 years of experience working across complex ecosystems and demonstrating her true capabilities as an innovative thinker and change-maker in the field.
In her role at GroupM, Serena designs and implements programs and support for their workforce across North America. Under her leadership, the people operation at GroupM challenges the conventional role of ‘Human Resources’ to more holistically reflect an operation focussed on the needs and wellbeing of its people and implementing new approaches and initiatives to tackle diversity, inclusion and talent equity across the board.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Serena and Chester discuss:
- Serena's career in HR and her biggest learnings from CBC having a front-row seat when the company was going through the Jian Ghomeshi scandal
- Creative strategies on how to effectively work with unions and build trust and relationships
- Empathetic leadership and how to deal with mass layoffs
- How to ensure a company is aligned with your personal values and is likely to be a place you’ll be proud to call home?
For more information about Serena, please follow her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
To learn more about a sponsor of this episode, Empyrean, please go to GoEmpyrean.Com, and to take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
*This episode was sponsored by Empyrean, a top-tier HR technology company that empowers organizations to build a better culture by connecting employees to meaningful, life-enriching benefits. To take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Our guest is Chester Elton, a #1 New York Times Bestselling Business Author, and an Organizational Culture, Employee Engagement, and Leadership Expert. He has been called the “Apostle of Appreciation” by Canada’s Globe and Mail, “creative and refreshing‚” by the New York Times, and a “must read for modern managers” by CNN.
Chester is co-author of the multiple award-winning bestselling leadership books including All In, The Carrot Principle, Leading with Gratitude and Anxiety at Work. His books have been translated in 30 languages and have sold 1.6 million copies worldwide. Chester is often quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company and the New York Times. He has appeared on NBC’s Today, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, National Public Radio and CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Also, Chester is the co-founder of The Culture Works and a board member of Camp Corral, a non-profit for the children of wounded and fallen military heroes. He serves as a leadership consultant and coach to firms such as American Express, The World Bank, Zoox, Momofuku, and the New Jersey Devils of the NHL.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Chester discuss:
- What’s driving Chester to write books?
- Random act of kindness and the ripple effect
- Anxiety at work and strategies how leader can spot it, normalize it and make it safe to talk about it
- Gratitude stones, humility, empathy, vulnerability, mental health and how to lead with gratitude
For more information about Chester and his books and work, please follow him on LinkedIn or go to ChesterElton.com.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
And to learn more about a sponsor of this episode, Empyrean, please go to GoEmpyrean.Com, and to take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Friday Nov 04, 2022
Friday Nov 04, 2022
*This episode was sponsored by Empyrean, a top-tier HR technology company that empowers organizations to build a better culture by connecting employees to meaningful, life-enriching benefits. To take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Our guest is Maryjo Charbonnier - Chief HR Officer at Kyndryl, an IBM spin-off that is one of the largest startups in corporate history. In her role, Maryjo is responsible for the design and implementation of all human resources strategies, policies, and processes.
Kyndryl is a talent-centric company and Maryjo is proud to be at the helm of their global effort to become the employer of choice in the more than 60 countries where they operate – supporting people to advance their skills and careers as they deliver for their customers. With more than 90,000 experts globally, Kyndryls are restless to power the future and operate as a startup -- flat, fast, and focused.
Prior to joining Kyndryl, Maryjo was also an HR executive in a variety of leadership roles at Wolters Kluwer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, and PepsiCo.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Maryjo discuss:
- Kyndryl's culture change and transformation process and journey after separating from IBM
- How for the 1st time in history Kyndryl gathered all their 800 top leaders together to talk about culture and empathetic leadership
- How Kyndryl created leadership behaviors and reworked the language, messaging, surveys, rewards, celebrations, and symbols around those
- How to drive empowerment and inclusivity
- Kyndryl 3Fs concept (flat, fast, focused)
For more information about Maryjo, please follow her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
And to learn more about a sponsor of this episode, Empyrean, please go to GoEmpyrean.Com and to take Empyrean's Benefits Maturity Assessment, please click here.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues. We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!

Thursday Oct 27, 2022
VIDA: Our Own Best Practices to Build a High-Performing Culture - Episode 87
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Our guest today is Andrew Dart - Navigator and People Leader at VIDA and an all-around delightful human and a stand-up guy who we all love.
Prior to joining VIDA, Andrew spent 10+ years leading people in Tourism Industry and successfully built high-performing workplace cultures through a few acquisitions.
VIDA is one of our companies owned by Scaling Culture host Ron. VIDA is on a mission to revolutionize affordable communities, providing safe, secure, affordable rental suites for residents to call home.
This is a special episode as we’ll be diving into our own culture and we’ll uncover some of the best people-and-culture practices we use internally. In this episode, we take a look in the mirror at our own culture and share some of our top tips.
In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Andrew discuss:
- Culture-driven interview and recruitment process
- How to drive autonomy and flexibility in hybrid workplace environments
- The most effective communication systems at VIDA
- Best practices on how to keep your core values alive
For more information about Andrew, please follow him on LinkedIn.
To learn more about our books or Scaling Culture 6hrs Masterclass Series, please go to ScalingCulture.Org.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment and share the podcast with one of your friends or colleagues.
We’ll be back soon with another incredible guest!