In this episode of Heart of the Brand, host Roman Kirsch interviews Valerie Mann, Chief People Officer at Elder. Elder is disrupting elderly care by connecting families with carers through their marketplace platform, and Valerie has developed a unique approach to building mission-driven culture without sacrificing performance. As Elder scaled their team while maintaining their social impact focus, Valerie created frameworks that balance empathy with accountability, turning mission alignment into a competitive advantage rather than a performance liability. Her approach includes embedding business context into every cultural touchpoint, developing "Swiss knife" hiring criteria for adaptable talent, and using performance metrics to validate cultural health rather than relying on abstract sentiment measures.

Michael Jones, VP of People at aware®, has mastered the art of scaling dual cultures within a single organization. As aware® grew from 10 to 30 employees while launching physical blood-testing locations across Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, Michael discovered that building one unified culture across both digital headquarters teams and on-the-ground medical operations was not only impossible but counterproductive. His approach of intentionally designing two complementary cultures - while maintaining shared values and communication touchpoints - has enabled aware® to maintain tight team cohesion during rapid expansion while delivering consistent customer experiences across diverse work environments.