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.