Most companies think culture is the snacks in the break room, the company t-shirt, or the fun Friday happy hour — but all of that is just icing, and you can't put icing on nothing. Brandy Spurling has spent years helping organizations understand what culture actually is, how to assess it honestly, and how to build it in a way that sticks. This conversation is one of the most practically useful episodes on organizational culture I've recorded, and yes, it's also genuinely fun.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The three feelings that define a strong organizational culture — psychological safety (feeling safe to share ideas, give feedback, and speak up), being seen (having your strengths recognized and your growth path understood), and being connected (to people, mission, vision, and the work) — and why a culture that's missing any one of these three is fundamentally transactional no matter how good the snacks are
- Brandy's three-circle Venn diagram framework for assessing culture — what we say matters (mission and values), the systems and processes that reinforce what we say matters, and the accountability structures that ensure people are actually held to it — and how to use this to quickly see what's missing and where the gap is between the culture you say you have and the one you actually have
- Why leadership development is culture development — why the culture conversation shouldn't be owned by the fun committee or the event planners, why leaders are the critical middle link between what the company says it values and what employees actually experience, and why promoting your best producer into a leadership role without asking whether they can actually lead people is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make
- Why surveys are smoke detectors, not fire investigators — what an employee satisfaction survey can tell you (that a fire exists) versus what it cannot tell you (where it started), why teaching people how to give and receive feedback is the only way to get real-time cultural intelligence rather than waiting for a once-a-year survey, and what it means when your employees only bring you complaints about toilet paper and the trash schedule
- How to make cultural change actually stick — the feedback training rollout example where Brandy trained leaders first, gave them homework, checked back in a month later, then trained the full company, and gave leaders the conversation tools to keep it going — and why a keynote that makes people laugh without leaving a framework for the leaders to carry forward is just a really nice afternoon
About the guest: Brandy Spurling is the founder and keynote speaker at Sage Culture Co. (sagecultureco.com), a company dedicated to transforming employee culture and team development for organizations of all sizes. With a master's degree in strategic leadership, a background in theater and stand-up comedy, and four years of in-house learning and development work, Brandy specializes in intergenerational workplace dynamics, psychological safety, and making the culture conversation both engaging and actionable.
Chapter Markers:
- 00:00 — Brandy's Journey: From Walmart, Higher Ed & Finance to Sage Culture Co.
- 05:29 — How Sage Culture Co. Works With Clients: Keynotes, Training & Ongoing Partnerships
- 09:13 — What Defines a Strong Organizational Culture: Safe, Seen, and Connected
- 12:29 — How to Assess Employee Strengths Without Needing a Formal Tool
- 14:37 — What Leaders Bring Into the Room That They Haven't Dealt With Yet
- 18:05 — The Three-Circle Venn Diagram: How Brandy Assesses Culture in Any Organization
- 21:03 — Favorite Keynote Topic: Why Generational Differences Is the Hardest and Most Rewarding
- 24:27 — Millennials, Gen Z & the Cyclical Nature of Generational Workplace Challenges
- 32:14 — The Biggest Culture Challenge in Client Work: Middle Management
- 35:03 — What It Costs When Middle Managers Are Asked to Lead and Do at 100% Each
- 37:02 — Leadership's Role in Culture: They're the Middle Link, Not the Builders
- 39:09 — Leadership Development IS Culture Development (The Cupcake Analogy)
- 43:54 — How Brandy Makes Cultural Change Stick: The Feedback Training Example
- 45:13 — The Role of Employee Feedback: Surveys Are Smoke Detectors, Not Fire Investigators
- 48:03 — Where to Start If You're Ready to Get Serious About Culture
If you're ready to get intentional about culture but want to know whether your HR foundation actually supports the safe, seen, and connected experience Brandy describes, the free HR Audit will show you what's in place and what needs to be built: saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit
🔍 Ready to find out what's really going on inside your business? Take the free Salt & Light HR Audit at saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit. In about 10 minutes, you'll get a clear picture of where your people operations stand — and exactly where to focus next. No fluff, no sales pitch. Just clarity.
Resources to keep building:
🎯 Take the free HR Audit — Score your HR systems in 5 minutes and see exactly where your gaps are. 👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit
🎙️ Listen to Don't Waste the Chaos — The podcast for small business owners building strong people operations. 👉 kerrimroberts.com/podcast
📖 Get The HR Easy Button — Kerri's book on building HR systems that actually work for small businesses. 👉 https://amzn.to/4cPyrFh
✉️ Subscribe to the newsletter — Weekly HR insights for founders, in your inbox every Monday. 👉 saltandlight.myflodesk.com/saltandlightadvisors
Need fractional HR support or want to talk through a specific challenge? 👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/contact
Ready to build foundational HR systems on your own? 👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/hrfoundations
Connect with Kerri: 📷 Instagram: instagram.com/kerrimroberts 💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kerrimroberts 🐎 Hippo Creek Farm on Instagram: instagram.com/hippocreekfarm
Episode-specific resources mentioned:
- Sage Culture Co. — sagecultureco.com
- Brandy Spurling on LinkedIn and Instagram — @SageCultureCo
- Reboot by Jerry Colona — referenced as a leadership self-reflection resource
- Kelly Howe — mutual connection, EFT/tapping practitioner referenced by both guests
- Predictive Index — behavioral assessment tool referenced
Full show notes + transcript: kerrimroberts.com/dontwastethechaos/39
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