In this episode of Culture by Design, I’m joined by executive coach Diana Lowe for a thoughtful conversation about the inner work of leadership. Diana blends positive psychology with cognitive behavioral coaching to help leaders uncover the beliefs and patterns that shape how they show up at work.

We explore why self-awareness is such a critical leadership skill, how outdated leadership paradigms are shifting, and why leaders need a “village” of support to grow and thrive.

Diana also shares how hidden beliefs that are often formed early in life, can influence leadership behavior, and how developing greater awareness can help leaders build healthier cultures, stronger teams, and more sustainable success.

Diana Lowe is an executive coach, speaker, and the Founder and CEO of Blue Light Leadership, where she helps organizations retain top talent by transforming how leaders show up. Diana has experienced firsthand the emotional toll of working under technically brilliant but emotionally unskilled leaders—an experience that shaped her mission to change workplaces from the inside out.

With a Master of Science in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology and credentials as an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Diana blends research-based coaching, Positive Psychology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Mental & Emotional Release (MER) to address one of the most pressing challenges in business today: the human cost of bad leadership. She has coached leaders from many Fortune 500 organizations and is the bestselling author of Hard to Handle: A High Performer Paradox, a practical and compassionate guide for HR leaders and executives navigating difficult leadership dynamics while striving to protect culture and performance. 

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership
• How unconscious beliefs can shape leadership behaviors like micromanagement
• Why today’s leaders need to break away from the “know everything” leadership model
• The role of feedback, vulnerability, and reflection in modern leadership
• How energy management and personal values impact leadership effectiveness

Learn More About Diana Lowe:

• Blue Light Leadership: https://bluelightleadership.com/
• Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianaelowe/
• Hard to Handle: A High Performer Paradox: https://bookshop.org/p/books/hard-to-handle-a-high-performer-paradox-diana-lowe/8047d386958a60c1
• FREE ERG and Workshop PDF: https://hardtohandlebook.com/
• Forbes Coaches Council Column: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescoachescouncil/people/dianalowe/

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated: https://www.talentelevated.org

Business owners often look to optimize systems and processes to achieve big goals. 

But as my guest today can attest, without a solid foundation in culture, systems and processes will only take you so far. 

Chris Seegers is a long-time owner of multiple businesses that he has stewarded through major transitions and growth. In this conversation, we talk about how people, processes, and profitability are critical pillars to the value of a business and how intentionally designing systems to reinforce culture over time is key for long-term sustainability and success.

Chris Seegers is a business owner with a long track record of starting and buying companies and building them into successful, self-governed entities. He founded the Exceptional Companies family office and is an active owner in many different businesses and part of leadership teams that have raised and deployed over $650 million in investor dollars. Chris is a self-proclaimed “capitalist missionary”, and his heart is activating and equipping others to live exceptional lives. He has written two books, Buying Main Street and Selling Main Street, aimed at equipping ordinary people in the complex space of business transitions.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How systems reflect and support instilling and sustaining values and culture across organizations
• Why values need to be clearly defined and implemented with concrete benchmarks
• How the core pillars of people, processes, and profitability translate into a company’s valuation
• Why leaders need the humility to be wanted, but not needed in their businesses
• How clear expectations and processes for accountability drive results while maintaining relationships and building trust

Learn More About Chris Seegers:

• Exceptional Business Advisors: https://excoadvisors.com/
• Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-seegers-8a30161a

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated: https://www.talentelevated.org

Our approach to company culture inevitably has to make some shifts when experiencing significant growth. What works for twenty employees in one location doesn’t have the same impact when it’s spread across multiple cities and hundreds of employees. 

My guest today, Stephanie Henderson, has been through exactly that experience over her nineteen years at her former customer-service based company and now leads her own company, Impact Driven Partners, to help other businesses scale up with culture at their core.

She’s sharing how she navigated setting the foundations of company values and culture while scaling way up. Stephanie also has some unique insights about hiring for culture in a college town, where employees are younger and turnover is consistent, and how helping front-line staff think like their customers creates positive experiences for both customers and employees.

Stephanie Henderson is a seasoned executive, business strategist, and culture transformation expert with more than two decades of leadership experience, including serving as CEO of Carpet Tech, where she helped scale the company to a multi-million dollar success. 

As the founder of Impact Driven Partners, she combines executive coaching with strategic advisory work to help organizations strengthen leadership, elevate culture, and scale with clarity and confidence. Known for her relational approach, operational depth, and passion for helping organizations grow, Stephanie specializes in taking a leader’s vision and turning it into a clear, actionable reality. She equips teams and organizations to thrive with purpose, alignment, and measurable impact.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How company culture was reflected in the customer experience and feedback
• How an unexpected interview question was a great predictor for culture fit
• How metrics like customer retention and crew expenses became clear signs of culture at work location by location
• Why clarity about roles, processes, values, and culture is essential to scaling up 
• How values and culture inform decision-making from process changes to staffing to entering new markets
• Why leaders need to let go of the “family feel” mindset and build compassionate teams

Learn More About Stephanie Henderson:

• Impact Driven Partners

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• Entrepreneurial Operating System

When companies achieve significant growth, a strong cultural foundation is key to the long-term success and sustainability of that scale.

My guest today, WoundCentrics COO Stuart Oertli, saw culture eroding after significant company growth. As WoundCentrics expanded, they also saw employee turnover rise to over 50%, and that churn was eating into energy and resources, negatively impacting the culture and morale of their teams.

Over the last few years, Stuart has focused on developing a strong company culture that will set the foundation for continued growth. He has found that while culture might seem like a soft skill, it is absolutely connected to and significantly impacts the bottom line.

Today, we’re talking about the systems he has put in place to improve communication throughout the company, gather better-quality feedback, and a surprising process from hospital settings that they’ve adapted across all their teams.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Stuart Oertli spent ten years at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in progressive rehabilitation leadership roles. Upon completing his graduate degree in clinical practice management, he left the Texas Medical Center to experience a variety of acute and post-acute care leadership roles including Director of Rehabilitation at Blessing Hospital in affiliation with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, as a regional manager for HCR ManorCare, in rehabilitation leadership at St. David's HealthCare and as Executive Director of Post-Acute Services for Covenant Health. Stuart joined WoundCentrics in 2015 as Chief Operating Officer, leading expansion into 12 states, more than 100 facilities, and 400 employees, including 65 medical providers.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The direct impacts of cultural problems on finances and operations
• How the Influencers Council has positively shifted decision-making and communication processes away from a top-down mentality
• Why turnover rate is a key metric of the success of cultural changes
• How town halls and specific training for more effective staff meetings have improved internal communications
• How “hospital rounds” have been adapted for all staff for check-ins, feedback, and recognition
• The impact on team members of receiving simple but personal thank yous from leadership
• The biggest trap for implementing cultural changes that a leader can fall into

Learn More About Stuart Oertli:

• WoundCentrics
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• Sands Leadership Assessment for Values

Many people talk about and recognize the importance of employee culture. But when it comes to identifying and defining what employee culture is, a lot of people struggle.

At Talent Elevated, we define culture as shared attitudes, norms, behaviors, and beliefs. This is a broad definition, but it covers the many ways we bump into each other within organizations.

As my guest today, executive coach Dr. Kathy Crockett shares, the teams she works with will describe issues in relationships or in character or misalignments between people, but don’t necessarily describe those in terms of employee culture.

In our conversation, we’ll talk about why fostering an employee culture that supports strategic goals is vital to success and sustainability, how respect and trust lay the foundation for relationships at work, and how executives can empower their teams to take individual action towards intentional culture.

Dr. Kathy Crockett is an executive coach and partners with organizations in customized strategic planning, employee leadership development, speaking and training. She has served as a university professor in business for over 25 years. She also served as Interim President for an organization that had an unexpected crisis and worked to transition the organization to new leadership. Kathy is chair of the board for the Pure Hope Foundation and an executive board member for Parkridge Medical Clinic and Mission Lazarus.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why culture is at the core of sustainable results, even through challenging times
• How intentional culture supports strategic decision-making throughout an organization
• Why organizations need to be able to document culture as well as performance
• How executive fatigue and overpacked schedules get in the way of culture building
• How trust, or lack thereof, impacts leaders and organizations
• How leaders can facilitate productively considering strategy and culture together

Learn More About Dr. Kathy Crockett:

• Kathy Crockett + Co
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• FranklinCovey
• The 13 Behaviours of High Trust - FranklinCovey
• BRAVING Definitions - Brené Brown

How do we successfully shift workplace cultures away from being driven by toxicity and fear?

Reshaping company culture is never an overnight project. It requires an investment of time and resources and there is always a messy middle that leaders have to persevere through, even when it feels like team members are resisting change.

But the outcomes of committing to culture change are absolutely worth it, as today’s guest, Adam Roberts, President and CEO of Diversus Health, can attest. When Adam started in 2019 as CEO of Diversus, a community mental health care provider based in Colorado Springs, he recognized the impacts of a toxic culture–turnover was near 50%–and that it had to change.

In this conversation, you’ll hear us talk about the very practical upsides of investing in positive culture, navigating the messy middle of behavior change in organizations, and why defining company values is more than a corporate exercise.

Adam Roberts, has been the President and CEO of Diversus Health, a leading community mental health center in El Paso, Park, and Teller Counties since May 2019. Under his leadership, he rapidly shifted the organization to a telehealth model during the COVID-19 pandemic, transformed the organization's culture to be client-centric, and oversaw a comprehensive organizational rebrand from AspenPointe to Diversus Health. Previously, Roberts served as COO of Valley-Wide Health Systems, and as a senior staff member with the Veterans Health Administration health care system. Mr. Roberts is a Colorado native and enjoys spending time with his wife and two children and also enjoys trail running, golfing, wood carving, and competitive axe throwing at logger competitions.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How Adam realized that culture had to be a top priority in order for any strategic plans to succeed
• How introducing metrics to the clinical process with a solutions-oriented mindset has empowered teams and improved care
• How committing to their company values has implicitly and explicitly impacted day-to-day operations
• The challenges of invisible resistance to behavior change when shifting company culture
• The question leaders need to start with when something isn’t working

Learn More About Adam Roberts:

• Diversus Health
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Most often, clients come to Talent Elevated when they haven’t been paying attention to their culture and have reached the point of needing a total overhaul.

So when founders come to us with an eye on proactively developing their company culture from the ground up, it’s an ideal scenario.

For my guest today, building culture into the roots of the company has yielded tremendous success in employee retention and satisfaction, even through the struggles of COVID and shifting to a remote workforce.

Stephanie Smith is the co-founder and former COO of Eolian, an energy investment and infrastructure company, who also happens to be my sister. In our conversation, she shares why she knew culture had to be a priority from the beginning; how Eolian took the leap and built a connected, collaborative remote workplace; and their unique approach to employee management and feedback.

Stephanie is a Senior Advisor to American Clean Power while she takes a career break to travel and recharge.  She is the co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of Eolian, an innovative energy investor and energy storage company.  Prior to Eolian, she was an executive coach and the founder of Smith Strategic, as well as the COO of two other energy companies, Greencastle, and Sol Systems.

Outside of the office, Ms. Smith loves to sail, travel, host dinner parties, and mentor women in the energy sector.  She also serves on the board of Real Options for City Kids

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why prioritizing culture can be challenging for startups to mid-size companies, and why it’s as vital as your revenue plan
• The key factors that drove Eolian’s commitment to a remote workforce, and how they’ve structured a culture that supports collaboration and connection even with distance
• Why culture has to be an ongoing, dynamic project 
• How Eolian implemented conversation days to generate valuable, honest feedback between employees and management
• Why making people feel seen and that their work matters is a key piece of sustaining a supportive culture  

Learn More About Stephanie Smith:

• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn More About Heather Smith:

• Talent Elevated

Resources:

• The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh

At too many companies, employee culture just sort of happens—shaped by haphazard norms and one-off events that don't create lasting impact. But culture is too important to be left to chance.

Culture By Design is the podcast that makes employee culture a competitive advantage. As CEO of Talent Elevated, host Heather Smith helps leaders at small and mid-sized companies design intentional cultures that accelerate growth while enabling employees to thrive.

In this podcast, you'll learn why great company culture develops by design, not by accident, and how intentional culture becomes a strategic advantage in today's market.

Each episode features conversations with CEOs, leaders, and experts about practical strategies and real-world applications for proactively building culture—whether you're just beginning or need a complete overhaul.

Your business and your people deserve culture by design. 

Subscribe now and turn intentional employee culture into a leverage point for innovation, adaptation, and growth.