The Culture Works Podcast

Most HR leaders talk about culture. Carol MacKinlay has had to build it from scratch, inside a crypto company under federal scrutiny, across a 2,500-person Mexican manufacturing plant, and now as CHRO at Pebble, one of the oldest and largest employer of record providers in the world. In this conversation, Carol shares what she learned about transparency when the headlines are bad, why "talent density" beats headcount every time, how customization is the future of HR, and what CHROs should be thinking about right now that they probably aren't. She also serves on the board of Exodus, which went public in January of last year. Candid, practical, and genuinely funny, this one will stay with you.

Timestamps

00:00 Trust Through Transparency

00:14 Meet Carol McKinley

01:08 Culture in Crypto Chaos

04:34 Scaling With Gatekeepers

06:09 Good Versus Great Hiring

07:45 Radical Transparency Rules

09:42 Employer Of Record Explained

11:23 Avoiding Global Culture Blunders

14:10 Future Of HR Customization

17:02 Compensation Shapes Culture

17:52 Global Pay Equity

19:03 Customized Roles and Pregnancy

20:00 Values Versus Local Norms

21:08 Making the People Case

21:44 Talent Density in Cuts

23:01 Pay for Outcomes Stories

24:23 Lightning Round CHRO Advice

25:48 IPO Expectations Trap

27:11 Future of Work Customization

27:39 Where to Connect

28:14 Hosts Reflect on Hiring

32:00 Wrap Up and Call to Action

Follow Chester, Adrian and Carol:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Carol: 

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

Website: https://hellopebl.com/

Most organizations treat HR and marketing as separate worlds. Nate Brock, CHRO and Head of Marketing at Lincoln One Federal Credit Union, decided to knock the wall down between them, and the results speak for themselves: record income, record mortgage production, record-low attrition, and more job applicants than they can handle in a county with record-low unemployment. In this conversation, Nate shares why word-of-mouth is still 90% of what drives trust, how the credit union model keeps money in communities, what "deskless employees" need from their leaders, and why the best recruiting strategy is never having to recruit in the first place. A practical, community-minded conversation about what happens when you put people at the center of everything.

Timestamps:

00:00 Local Dollars Matter

00:14 Meet Nate Brock

01:15 Why HR Meets Marketing

03:40 People First Brand Strategy

06:22 Building Culture That Wins

09:06 Feedback Loops That Work

10:41 Credit Unions Explained

13:31 Buy Local Momentum

15:06 Talent Strategies That Stick

17:29 Next Gen Performance Reviews

19:46 Culture Challenge Setup

20:13 Recruiting Diverse Talent

21:28 Local Lift Outreach

22:39 Lightning Round Values

23:49 Ethical Sales Growth

24:53 People Over Brand

25:36 Future of Banking

25:53 Where to Learn More

26:31 Fixing Culture Tips

28:27 Host Takeaways Recap

33:56 Final Wrap and Thanks

Follow Chester, Adrian and Nate:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Nate: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-brock/

Website: https://www.linconefcu.org/

Most insurance companies are racing to automate. Chris Mari, CHRO of ECBM, is doing something different, doubling down on human connection while the rest of the industry consolidates under private equity. In this conversation, Chris shares how he restructured a 150-person family-owned brokerage to get the right people in the right seats, why integrity is the one cultural value he'll never negotiate on, how AI is creating opportunity (and noise) in talent acquisition, and what leading with empathy really looks like when you're managing change. A grounded and practical conversation for any leader navigating growth without losing their culture.

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:14 Industry Change and Culture

01:56 Restructuring for Growth

03:48 Keeping Morale Through Change

05:29 Raising Leadership Expectations

08:29 Purpose and Company Overview

11:29 Culture as Differentiator

14:21 Integrity as Nonnegotiable

14:50 AI in Operations and HR

17:35 Hiring in the AI Era

18:39 Culture Challenge Burnout

20:47 Rapid Fire Leadership Lessons

22:31 Closing and Host Recap

Follow Chester, Adrian and Chris:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Chris: 

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

Website: https://www.ecbm.com/

The real cost of getting HR wrong isn't the consultant. It's the drift.

Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick host Libbie Lamott, market president at HR Edge Consulting and part of the Peak Road fractional CHRO practice. Lamott explains how fractional HR works: senior-level HR support on a flexible, pay-for-hours basis, with engagements averaging about 25 hours per month. The model helps companies assess retention, operating systems, and leadership blockers, then build frameworks and even transition to internal staffing.

Lamott describes supporting founders who don't want to "play therapist," and makes the case for measurable HR impact through tools like applicant tracking systems, engagement surveys, and metrics such as time-to-fill and hiring cost reductions. She shares how she scaled a company from $8M to $32M using EOS and hiring assessments like the JPTI to match sustained energy and culture fit.

The conversation closes on scaling culture by embedding values in hiring, rewards, and performance reviews, and on compliance as a frequent blind spot. Lamott warns the real cost is organizational "drift."

Timestamps:

00:00 HR Isn't Here to Tell You No 

00:10 Meet the Hosts 

00:29 Introducing Libbie Lamott 

01:48 What Fractional HR Means 

03:12 When Fractional Works Best 

04:25 Engagement Hours and Staffing 

05:41 Founders Stop Playing Therapist 

06:43 Scaling With EOS and Hiring 

07:35 Assessments for Culture Fit 

10:11 Measuring HR Impact 

12:04 Cut Hiring Costs With Tools 

14:19 Coaching Lab: Scaling Culture 

16:18 Common Pitfall: Compliance 

17:34 Lightning Round Takeaways 

19:44 Where to Connect 

20:22 Hosts Debrief Key Takeaways 

24:20 Final Wrap and Thanks

Follow Chester & Adrian and Libbie:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Libbie: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-lamott/

Most HR leaders say they want a seat at the table. Jim Scarfone says if you have to ask for it, you haven't earned it yet. As Chief Human Resources Officer and Human Capital Operating Partner at Mid-Ocean Partners, Jim has spent four decades building people infrastructure at companies you know — Toys R Us, Kind Healthy Snacks, Duane Reade, and Ulta Beauty — and now applies that experience to help mid-market private equity portfolio companies build the talent foundations that actually create value. In this conversation, Jim breaks down what PE firms consistently get wrong about human capital, how he scaled Kind's "hungry and kind" culture without losing it, why first-line managers are the single most important variable in any organization, and what it really takes for HR professionals to stop being support players and start running the business. If you're an HR leader who wants to lead differently, this episode is a masterclass.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction01:28 - What is a Human Capital Operating Partner?05:23 - The first 90 days: why diligence starts before acquisition08:07 - What PE gets right vs. wrong about people09:36 - "How do you get to know the unknowable sooner?"11:04 - Scaling KIND's "hungry and kind" culture without losing it14:50 - The fundamentals of high-growth HR: finding your voice16:13 - Embedding values across every HR process18:25 - Why training first-line managers is the highest-leverage program20:23 - Lessons from negotiating union contracts at Duane Reade24:09 - Culture Challenge: expanding internationally for the first time26:37 - Lightning round: what's changed in HR over 40 years28:08 - "The future of work is unpredictable"29:21 - Where to find Jim and MidOcean Partners

Follow Chester & Adrian and Jim:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Jim Scarfone: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-scarfone/

Website: https://midoceanpartners.com/

An 866% increase in diverse candidates just by letting AI rewrite a job description. That's not a projection. That's something Roseanne Donahue actually did. As a former Chief People Officer in cybersecurity and a veteran of Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and JP Morgan, Roseanne has operated at the intersection of highly regulated, high-stakes environments and fast-moving tech culture. In this conversation, she walks Chester and Adrian through exactly how she's using AI right now in recruiting, L&D, performance management, and engagement surveys and why the companies winning with AI aren't the ones moving fastest, but the ones moving smartest.

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:01 From Finance to Cybersecurity

01:54 Attracting Cybersecurity Talent

02:54 Career Pathing and Retention

04:30 AI in Recruiting Wins

05:26 AI Augments HR Work

06:13 Leading Adoption Without Fear

07:34 AI for Learning and Development

09:06 Tools and Performance Reviews

10:48 PE Networks and Agentic AI

12:11 Culture and Engagement Analytics

14:13 Culture Challenge Core Building Blocks

17:19 Privacy Guardrails and Ethics

18:20 Lightning Round and Wrap Up

Follow Chester, Adrian and Roseanne:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Roseanne: 

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

Most HR leaders inherit a system. Cory Rose inherited a vacuum. Stepping into Eyecare Services Partners as CHRO with no predecessor for 18 months, a brand new C-suite, 1,500 employees across multiple states, and a core HR team of four, she had every reason to play it safe. Instead, she got on a plane. In this conversation, Cory breaks down her "collect, gather, go" philosophy, why she flew to a remote practice in Redding, California before building a single initiative, how she ran a five-question SurveyMonkey engagement survey that outperformed anything a big consulting firm had done, and why translating people metrics into EBITDA language is the only way HR gets a seat at the PE table. If you lead a lean HR team inside a fast-moving organization, this one's for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 Collect Gather Go Mindset

00:25 Meet Cory And The Challenge

01:34 Interviewing Into Change

04:06 Diagnosing The Field Reality

06:29 Fixing Systems With A PEO

09:17 Building One Culture Many Practices

11:58 Redding Visit And Trust Building

14:56 Survey Action And Follow Through

16:26 Authentic Leadership Follow Through

17:17 Accountability Through Surveys

17:53 Trust Updates Even When None

19:21 Balancing PE And Culture

21:33 Translate People Metrics To EBITDA

23:19 Leading Transformation As A Team

26:23 Managing Urgency With Team Charter

28:29 Lightning Round CHRO And IPO

31:05 Healthcare Workforce Future

32:16 Wrap Up And Where To Connect

Follow Chester & Adrian:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Cory: 

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

Website: https://www.espmgmt.com/leadership/cory-rose/

Most wellness programs fail because they're just policies and gym reimbursements. Tiffany Nugent, Chief People Officer at Concert Health and owner of SALT Wellness, learned this the hard way after being hit by a car and recovering while leading 11,000 healthcare employees through COVID. In this conversation, Tiffany shares her philosophy of reflective leadership, why psychological safety is the universal foundation for high performance, how AI is creating HR's biggest strategic opportunity in decades, and what it actually takes to build cultures where people thrive instead of just survive. A refreshingly honest look at what real human-centered leadership requires.

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Opening: Curiosity sparks innovation and change

[00:01:25] Welcome and Tiffany's dual role as CPO and wellness center owner

[00:02:00] Getting hit by a car and the journey to opening SALT Wellness

[00:03:05] Career journey from healthcare to tech to behavioral health

[00:06:20] Why Concert Health and collaborative behavioral care

[00:09:15] Building human-centered workplaces: What does thriving really mean?

[00:11:00] Leadership as privilege and responsibility

[00:13:50] Psychological safety as the universal foundation

[00:16:20] The biggest mistakes CHROs make with wellbeing programs

[00:18:15] What's really going on when leaders get stuck

[00:19:45] Leading from authenticity and dealing with difficult people

[00:22:05] Courage and curiosity as leadership requirements

[00:24:05] What CHROs should focus on with AI disruption

[00:26:15] Lightning round begins

[00:28:35] Where to connect with Tiffany

[00:28:50] Final advice for burned-out HR leaders

Follow Tiffany, Chester & Adrian:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Tiffany: 

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

Website: https://www.saltwellnessky.com/

An 80-point engagement swing in three months sounds impossible, but Bruce Nichols did it at Liberty Mutual by doing something radical: he stopped pushing culture from the top down. As a partner at The Human Resource Consortium and former HR leader at companies like Liberty Mutual, Fidelity, and Citizens Bank, Bruce shares how he transformed a failing tech organization by empowering first-line managers to own the change. In this conversation, Bruce reveals why HR technology fails without solid process foundations, how to build integrated people-first systems, and why bureaucracy is killing corporate HR. If you're an HR leader tired of surveys that go nowhere and initiatives that don't stick, this episode will change how you think about culture transformation.

Timestamps:

• [00:00:00] The 80-point culture transformation story begins

• [00:02:00] How Liberty Mutual's tech division was hemorrhaging talent

• [00:03:50] The five-point plan that changed everything

• [00:06:25] Why storytelling and being heard drove the transformation

• [00:07:30] The moment Bruce realized top-down culture pushes don't work

• [00:09:20] When first-line managers became the culture owners

• [00:11:25] What mini-celebrity status really means for HR credibility

• [00:13:25] Building trust in low-engagement environments

• [00:14:05] Why technology on broken systems makes things worse

• [00:16:00] The "One HR" approach to breaking down silos

• [00:18:15] Mapping the entire employee journey to find what's broken

• [00:21:20] Why Bruce says "don't buy HR tech"

• [00:23:00] The moment Bruce decided to leave corporate HR

• [00:25:10] Where HR is heading in the next 3-5 years

• [00:27:00] The embedded HR model that's emerging

• [00:28:30] Lightning round: Best Army leadership lesson

• [00:30:20] What HR trend makes Bruce skeptical (spoiler: AI)

• [00:31:00] What "culture works" means to Bruce

Follow Bruce, Chester & Adrian:

Connect with Chester & Adrian: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecultureworksofficial/

Website: https://thecultureworks.com/

Connect with Bruce: 

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

Website: https://thehrc.com/

When your organization wins Best and Brightest Company to Work For ten consecutive years, you're doing something right. Shawn Premer, CHRO of Consumers Credit Union, shares how she's maintained award-winning culture through pandemic uncertainty, financial stress, and the mental health crisis while driving 38 consecutive years of double-digit organic growth.

In this conversation, Shawn reveals how Consumers Credit Union approaches employee wellbeing in high-stress, member-facing roles. She discusses their partnership with Be Nice for suicide prevention, the decision to bring employees back five days a week, and how they balance deep care for people with high performance accountability.

Timestamps: 

[00:00] Introduction and Shawn's background 

[02:11] Journey from 110 to 500 employees while maintaining culture 

[04:30] What keeps Shawn engaged after 15 years 

[06:20] How credit union membership shapes culture and purpose 

[08:15] Real stories of helping members through financial struggles 

[10:20] Partnership with Be Nice for suicide prevention 

[13:05] Removing stigma around mental health conversations 

[15:10] Starting mental health support in your organization 

[17:30] Leading member-facing teams through emotional moments 

[20:20] Decompression strategies for high-stress roles 

[22:10] Bringing employees back five days a week 

[24:15] Culture challenge: Balancing care with accountability 

[27:15] What strategic HR really means 

[28:25] Lightning round: Best advice, recommended books, and HR trends

Follow Chester and Shawn:

Connect with Chester: 

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

Website: https://chesterelton.com/

Connect with Shawn: 

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

Website: https://www.consumerscu.org/