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S. Chris Edmonds

President & CEO at The Purposeful Culture Group

Denver, CO, United States

S. Chris Edmonds is a speaker, author, executive consultant, and founder of the Purposeful Culture Group. He’s the author of two Amazon best sellers: Good Comes First (2021) and The Culture Engine (2014). Chris is a top 30 organizational culture Global Guru, an Inc. Magazine Top Leadership Speaker, and a featured presenter at South by Southwest. He’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, SmartBrief, People, CNN, Fox31, NBC, and Fast Company.

Chris’ Culture Leadership Charge and Good Comes First video episodes can be found on YouTube.

Available For: Advising, Consulting, Speaking
Travels From: Denver, CO
Speaking Topics: Why Creating an Uncompromising Work Culture is Your Secret Weapon in the War on Talent, Why Today's Leaders Must Create Work Cultures Where Respect is

Speaking Fee $20,000 (In-Person)

Personal Speaking Website: chris-speaks.com
S. Chris Edmonds Points
Academic 0
Author 304
Influencer 1041
Speaker 0
Entrepreneur 0
Total 1345

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Featured Videos

S. Chris Edmonds Speaker Reel
April 08, 2022
Culture Leadership Charge, Episode 99 - Leaders, Here's Your 2022 Call To Action
April 08, 2022
Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, January 2022 - Build An Uncompromising Work Culture (before it's too late)
April 08, 2022

Featured Topics

Leaders and employees not modeling your core values? Why "countable" comes before "accountable."

For years, leaders have posted their organization's core values on the walls of their lobbies and in their conference rooms. And yet leaders rarely live up to those values. Even worse: As they choose to focus almost exclusively on driving results, far too many leaders ignore values and tolerate destructive behaviors.

The natural consequence: Employees don’t live those values, either. The result: The stated company culture becomes a contradiction.

This is why today’s best leaders are building accountability systems to make core values—and the human behaviors that demonstrate alignment to those values—countable.

In this insightful keynote, Chris proves that before leaders and team members can be held accountable for living a company’s core values and creating a respectful workplace, core values must become countable. Specifically, leaders must define values in observable, tangible, measurable, coachable, and changeable terms.

The net result: Leaders see across-the-board improvements of 30 to 40 percent in employee engagement, customer satisfaction, retention, productivity, and profits.

Today's Leader's Top Priority During Recovery: Create a Work Culture Based on Doing Good

For decades, talented team members have tolerated old-school leaders who put results before respect and rationalize destructive, demeaning behaviors while chasing higher profits.

But as “The Great Resignation” and ill-fated attempts to return to the pre-pandemic “old normal” have proven, those days are over. Today, as companies struggle to recover from the impact of COVID-19, employees are expressing a desire (and are proving they deserve) workplaces where they are respected and validated for their ideas, efforts, and contributions—every day.

To retain and attract talented, engaged staff, leaders, from small business owners to Fortune 100 CEOs, must make the creation of a work culture where respect is as important as results their top priority.

The challenge? We rarely ask leaders to change work cultures. And most leaders don’t know how.

So in this interactive conversation, Chris provides the actionable inspiration needed to help leaders build a team of good people... doing good work... in a good company. We share the impact of an inspiring servant purpose and of respect-based workplace values and behaviors and drive optimal results while, at the same time, focusing on the doing of good.

How to Generate Respect in the Workplace: Build a Company Culture Where Good Comes First

In this era, mistrust, mistruths, and disrespect—not only in interactions with toxic bosses and toxic colleagues in the workplace but also in back-channel communications and on social and digital platforms—are rampant. So it has never been more critical for leaders to demonstrate respect as they earn the respect of their employees.

Not in some insincere way; certainly not in the same way management has attempted to manipulate employee engagement over the past several decades. Instead, the goal for leaders today is to create a workplace where respect is contagious, validation is pervasive, and employees are treated with dignity while driving results.

In this presentation, designed to offer time for reflection and self-awareness, Chris shows that today’s most valued leaders are exceptional relationship builders, respectful collaborators and engaged mentors. Moreover, those same leaders consistently show employees they matter by demonstrating genuine care for both the work and the people doing the work.

At the end of this discussion, leaders will know they must deliberately create a company culture where good comes first for employees, customers, and all stakeholders—and those players know they are trusted to do exceptional work.

Company Information

Company Type: Company
Theatre: North America
Minimum Project Size: Undisclosed
Average Hourly Rate: Undisclosed
Number of Employees: Undisclosed
Company Founded Date: Undisclosed
Last Media Interview: 10/07/2021

Areas of Expertise

Business Strategy
Change Management 41.30
Culture 36.18
Future of Work
Leadership 34.89
Management
Social 30.24

Industry Experience

Higher Education & Research
Professional Services

Publications

16 Article/Blogs
It’s not too late to create an uncompromising work culture
Smartbrief
May 24, 2022
Employees seek out organizations where every team member experiences inclusion, involvement and influence over their work and their workplace. When they find roles in those companies, those employees bring their best, proactively solve problems, and they stay with those companies.

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Tags: Social, Leadership, Culture

Employees are fed up with lousy cultures and bad bosses
Smart Brief
April 26, 2022
Employees are fed up, and they continue to voluntarily quit their jobs at a record-setting pace. More than 47 million US workers did so in 2021, and millions more have since 2022 began.

And they’re not taking any job they see; they’re being selective. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that there have been over 11 million job openings available each of the past three months with data.

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Tags: Social, Leadership, Culture

Culture Leadership Charge – Define & align to servant purpose
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April 12, 2022
In our new book, Good Comes First, co-author Mark Babbitt and I propose four culture cornerstones that are the foundation of an uncompromising work culture. These cornerstones help align people and practices to your ideal work culture. Our first cornerstone, “Live Our Servant Purpose,” enables l

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Culture Leadership Charge – Preconceived Notions May Steer You Wrong
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March 14, 2022
Business leaders today have a lot on their minds – and on their plates. They juggle hiring challenges. Mask mandates. Retaining talented players. Vaccine guidelines. Supply chain issues. Generating revenue. All these tasks are demanding, requiring attention and intention every minute. Yes, the

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Culture Leadership Charge – Learning from a chiropractor
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January 15, 2022
I’m old. Over the years, back and neck pain caused me to hold my neck & shoulders & back very tightly – so moving wouldn’t hurt. Those tight muscles learned to be inflexible and immovable – so I wouldn’t hurt. Muscles are incredibly powerful. If they learn to be inflexible

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Culture Leadership Charge – A Leader’s 2022 Call to Action
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December 18, 2021
I’m reflecting on an anniversary this month. Twenty-eight years ago this month I had a heart attack. It was not how I planned to spend the day. Thanks to exceptional health professionals, dedicated family, and the grace of God, I survived. Like many others who have experienced a significant health

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

How Venus Williams Took Her Business Game to a New Level
Advertising Week
November 17, 2021
People know Venus Williams as a tennis champion and Olympian. However, they may not know her as an entrepreneur.

As it turns out, Venus is passionate about tennis and design. So while competing at the highest levels on the court—and winning her fair share of tournaments, Grand Slam championships, and gold medals—Venus founded her interior design firm, V Starr Interiors, in 2002. That same year she was ranked No. 1 in the Women’s Tennis Association.

Ten years later, Venus founded her activewear company, EleVen by Venus. Ever since, from apparel decisions to commercial interiors, Venus has been deeply involved in virtually every design. To stay engaged throughout both companies’ projects as she traveled the world for tennis, Venus did “remote work” long before it became a requirement during the pandemic. That both businesses are highly successful is a credit to Venus (who routinely juggles multiple full-time jobs!) and to the talented leaders and designers with whom she surrounds herself. Also critically important to her companies’ success: Intentionally creating uncompromising company cultures.

This article shares how Venus is building a purposeful, positive, productive work culture in both her businesses.

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge – 3 Things to Boost Retention
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November 12, 2021
If you’re trying to hire staff right now, you’re not having fun. The US Federal Reserve Bank in September estimated that the average time required to fill an open job rose from 20 days to 50 days over the previous four months. And a new global McKinsey study found that 40% of respondents are som

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Culture Leadership Charge – Respect Must Come First
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October 12, 2021
Years ago, a friend received some brilliant leadership advice from a mentor. The mentor said, “How you treat people today becomes conversation around their dinner table tonight.” Today, it’s not just dinner table conversations that leaders need to be aware of. It’s Glassdoor.com and social m

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Good Comes First – Leaders Model the Culture They Want
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September 19, 2021
Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing a core foundation of a purposeful, positive, productive work culture. Here’s an excerpt. Mark: “I often say, Chris, that most of what I learned about leadership was on the baseball fie

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Good Comes First – Make values measurable and socially relevant
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September 02, 2021
Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing a core foundation of a purposeful, positive, productive work culture. Here’s an excerpt. Chris: “What I find when I, you and I both experienced that as we work with leaders to help the

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First – Helping leaders make respect as important as results
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August 03, 2021
Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt. Chris: Once leaders get to a stage where they realize “This is not sustainable. We’re not go

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First – There’s no labor shortage. There’s a respect shortage.
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July 19, 2021
Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt. Mark: “Let’s talk about this ‘old normal, new normal.’ What we’re doing wi

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First – Why attrition can be your friend during culture refinement
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July 06, 2021
Today’s video features Good Comes First book co-authors Mark Babbitt and yours truly discussing what it takes to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. Here’s an excerpt. Mark: Chris, toward the end of the book we talk about not just what it takes for leaders to become change cham

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Content Marketing Section
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July 26, 2017
New research from SmartBrief and the Content Marketing Institute unveils the kind of content business decision-makers view as most influential in the purchasing process. Read More Content with a high perceived value will cut through the clutter and be remembered. Here are six indispensable practices

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

How Content Influences the Purchasing Process
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July 26, 2017
According to the Content Marketing Institute, over 89% of B2B marketers in 2017 will create and distribute relevant and consistent content to build their audience and drive sales. SmartBrief and the Content Marketing Institute conducted a survey in May 2017 of senior executive business leaders acros

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

4 Books
Good Comes First
Matt Holt Books
September 28, 2021
For decades, talented people have tolerated old-school leaders who put results before respect, toxic company cultures, and workplaces that suck. But those days are over, and if leaders want to attract and retain the best employees—while improving productivity, customer service, employee satisfaction, and profits—it’s time for them to create work cultures where good comes first.

The problem is that because the corporate world has too often been driven primarily by results, we seldom ask leaders to change their work cultures. Even if we did, most leaders don’t know how. This book provides the actionable inspiration and practical direction needed to make that change happen.

In Good Comes First, S. Chris Edmonds and Mark S. Babbitt go beyond theoretical advice, using their combined 50 years of experience to present proven strategies for creating purposeful, positive and productive work cultures. Cultures where good comes first for employees, customers, leaders, and stakeholders—and where improved business outcomes quickly follow.

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Leading at a Higher Level, Third Edition
FT Press
November 12, 2018
Best-seller Leading at a Higher Level, Third Edition, contains indispensable contributions from The Ken Blanchard Companies’ founding associates and consulting partners, including Marjorie Blanchard, Madeleine Homan Blanchard, Scott Blanchard, Don Carew, Eunice Parisi-Carew, Randy Conley, Kathy Cuff, Garry Demarest, Claire Díaz-Ortiz, S. Chris Edmonds, Fred Finch, Susan Fowler, Bob Glaser, Lael Good, Vicki Halsey, Laurie Hawkins, Judd Hoekstra, Fay Kandarian, Linda Miller, Alan Randolph, Jane Ripley, Jesse Stoner, Drea Zigarmi, and Pat Zigarmi.

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

The Culture Engine
John Wiley and Sons
September 03, 2014
We are more aware now than ever before of the vital importance of organizational culture. No one is inspired to perform in dreary, frustrating environments, and, in the 21st century, inspiration and engagement are often the only things separating the successes from the failures. But an earnest desire to improve your organization’s culture will only get you so far. You need a tangible framework that will give shape to your good intentions. There are many such frameworks out there, but The Culture Engine is the only one that’s really in tune with the daily realities faced by leaders at all levels.

It’s true that culture-building is an ongoing process, but leaders also need to contend with the day-to-day responsibilities. Until now, no book has provided a way to solidify the culture you want without falling behind on everything else. In fact, The Culture Engine, with its emphasis on developing an organizational constitution, never loses sight of the fact that it’s the everyday tasks that add up to a successful team. The goal of this book is to provide readers with a way to build a foundation that will guide daily implementation, allowing effective leadership to really kick in.

Many managers and team leads have a nagging feeling that their people aren’t performing to their full potential. Sure, the job is getting done, but is it getting done well, or is it just “good enough”? Without a set of principles to point the way to leaders and team members alike, no amount of intervention will squeeze success out of a troubled culture. The Culture Engine shows that those principles don’t have to be nebulous and vague—quite the contrary.

Author S. Chris Edmonds walks readers through the steps to drafting an organizational constitution with the goal of clarity and a shared vision. With this vision in place, employees feel engaged and inspired to be a part of something with tangible meaning. A culture like that is the holy grail of leadership. Defining, crafting, and managing an organizational constitution per The Culture Engine’s clear instructions brings that goal within reach for all of us.

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

#Corporate Culture Tweet
THINKaha
April 11, 2011
In #CORPORATE CULTURE tweet Book01, S. Chris Edmonds starts at the very beginning--by showing you how to recognize an organization's culture and identify what a healthy workplace culture looks, acts, and sounds like. This may sound trivial, but it is not. Oftentimes, surface appearances are deceptive and you need to dig a little to learn the truth. An organization that appears healthy and happy may have large numbers of low-productivity, demotivated employees. Conversely, an organization that appears to have plateaued or be driven by a handful of strong personalities may, counter to intuition, boast of stellar performers and consistently upbeat results.

Having shown you how to recognize a healthy organization, the author uncovers the power of 'boss behavior.' Most of us remember our best boss ever, a person who created a work environment that enabled us to perform at our best while being incredibly satisfied with our boss, team, and work. Chris describes how great bosses behave to ensure that organizational culture standards are maintained and reinforced each day.

Just as culture change is hard for individuals, it is difficult for organizations. It takes discipline and effort to focus on culture management day in and day out. This is why Chris also engages us on accountability behaviors and actions that ensure that the desired organizational culture is embedded and acted upon.

Written in the actionable tweet format and demonstrating the value that can be delivered in small packages, #CORPORATE CULTURE tweet Book01 will find a home on every progressive corporate leader's bookshelf.

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

16 Videos
Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, April 2022
YouTube
April 25, 2022
Employees continue to voluntarily quit their jobs at a record-setting pace. More than 58 million US workers have done so since January 2021.

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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Change Management

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, March 2022
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March 21, 2022

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

CLC Episode 101 - Preconceived notions steer you wrong
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March 14, 2022

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, February 2022
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February 20, 2022

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, January 2022
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January 24, 2022

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge: Episode 100 (!), January 2022
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January 15, 2022

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge, Episode 99 - Leaders, Here's Your 2022 Call to Action
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December 18, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Thank you for visiting my YouTube channel!
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November 30, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, November 2021
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November 22, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge, Episode 98 - November 2021
Import from youtube.com
November 11, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First NACM Author Chat teaser 102721
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October 30, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief, October 2021
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October 25, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge, Episode 97 - Respect Must Come First
Import from youtube.com
October 11, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Culture Leadership Charge for SmartBrief - September 2021
Import from youtube.com
September 27, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First - To ensure change takes hold, senior leaders must model values and behaviors
Import from youtube.com
September 19, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

Good Comes First - Leaders model the culture they want, for better or worse
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September 19, 2021

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Tags: Change Management, Culture, Leadership

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1 Keynote
How to Generate Respect in the Workplace: Build a Company Culture where Good Comes First

Location: Virtual or Live at your Conference     Date Available: June 20th, 2022     Fees: 20000

Submission Date: April 08th, 2022     Service Type: Service Offered

In this era, mistrust, mistruths, and disrespect—not only in interactions with toxic bosses and toxic colleagues in the workplace but also in back-channel communications and on social and digital platforms—are rampant. So it has never been more critical for leaders to demonstrate respect as they earn the respect of their employees.

Not in some insincere way; certainly not in the same way management has attempted to manipulate employee engagement over the past several decades. Instead, the goal for leaders today is to create a workplace where respect is contagious, validation is pervasive, and employees are treated with dignity while driving results.

In this presentation, designed to offer time for reflection and self-awareness, Chris or Mark show that today’s most valued leaders are exceptional relationship builders, respectful collaborators and engaged mentors. Moreover, those same leaders consistently show employees they matter by demonstrating genuine care for both the work and the people doing the work.

At the end of this discussion, leaders will know they must deliberately create a company culture where good comes first for employees, customers, and all stakeholders—and those players know they are trusted to do exceptional work.

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