David Lancefield is a catalyst, strategist and coach to senior executives, professionals and entrepreneurs. Over the last 25 years, David has worked with organizations on strategy, innovation, culture from start-ups to blue chips, while building and leading successful businesses and client accounts within PwC. He also speaks, facilitates and hosts the Lancefield on the Line podcast, and writes for Harvard Business Review and is a contributing editor for Strategy+Business, as well as being published by Forbes and Financial Times, among others.

David sits in the intersection of how strategy, leadership and culture all come together. In this thought-provoking conversation, we discuss two topics that are prevalent in the business world—strategy and culture. But where they are often treated as one dependent on the other, David brings to us the perspective that the two directly support and inform one another—and that building them in tandem is a competitive advantage is too often overlooked.

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In this episode, he shares:

• His definition of culture, and not just a set of beliefs, as most assume.
• How heads of Culture and HR are often kept out of strategy conversations and treated separately--but should actually work hand in hand, with culture informing strategy.
• You know how every strategy efforts ends with “communication and alignment?” He explains why we should be thinking about this differently.
• How to identify your “culture catalysts”—people who naturally exhibit the desired behaviours—and enlist them to enact change, as well as where to start in shaping your culture.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:14—Introducing David + The topic of today’s episode

3:02—If you really know me, you know that...

4:02—What is your definition of strategy?

5:18—How do you align strategy and culture, and which one would you say comes first?

7:22—What is the relationship between behaviors and their relation to culture?

8:59—what happens when strategy and culture are not well aligned?

12:13—How do you measure culture? 

13:59—Is there a set of steps you find most effective when enacting a culture change?

15:55—How do you identify your cultural advocates that can help promote your culture?

19:49—What are your thoughts on intrapreneurship?

21:50—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Author Website: https://davidlancefield.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidclancefield/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dlancefield

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

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