Culture Talks
Culture Talks, hosted by Lorne Rubis, dives into the world of emerging companies that are passionately dedicated not merely to chasing success, but to making a lasting impact. Explore the innovative ways next-gen leaders connect people and transform their visions into reality through candid conversations with visionary CEOs, founders, mentors and more. Each episode delves into the unique challenges faced by these trailblazers as they scale their businesses, focusing on the transformative cultures they are striving to cultivate.
Episodes
How does a 1,300-person manufacturer grow 18% a year and never lay anyone off? Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley dig into the Gund story from the Wall Street Journal: leaders who own culture, financials on the walls, and people developed for the long haul. Then they weigh it against the Microsoft buyout news. Is a buyout more responsible than a layoff, or just a nicer-sounding one? Plus: a 9.34 on the Culture Pizza Review.
00:00 Canadia...
Why does Sunday night feel like Monday has already started?
Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley unpack the Sunday Scaries, which a recent Wall Street Journal piece says are on the rise, and what leaders can actually do about them.
They cover removing uncertainty (especially in the age of AI), boundaries that protect weekends, Monday rituals that build momentum instead of dread, and the courage to ask for help.
00:00 Idaho snow & visit...
Is "loud working" just sucking up to your boss with better branding?
Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley break down the performative-productivity trend, then get into the real question underneath it: how do leaders build fun at work without making it forced? Rock-paper-scissors championships at Harvard, a fake "I just need a hug" page to a hardcore Navy captain, a leg-wrestling showdown, and Southwest, WestJet and Pixar in the Culture Pi...
What separates a leader who's just "busy" from one who actually delivers? After absorbing lessons from Truth and Reconciliation Day, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley unpack courage as the real engine of accountability.
This means admitting mistakes matters more than admitting fault, how a dirty Kleenex in a hallway became a leadership lesson, and why Delta Airlines and Hilton Hotels both earn high marks in this week's Culture Pizza Re...
A viral Hyrox moment becomes an uncomfortably accurate metaphor for leaders who chase wins and leave everyone else to clean up the mess. Lorne Rubis and David McCauley dig into what "winning" is really costing people, give FanDuel a brutal Culture Pizza Review over AI-driven predatory marketing, and unpack why so many organizations report "all green" while the actual experience — for citizens, customers, employees — is ...
AI can generate the ideas. Humans still have to choose the right one. Lorne Rubis and David McCauley talk judgment as the last real skill, why "using AI hard" should mean more human connection - not less - and a few Fenway Park stories along the way.
00:00 Fenway Park trip & Red Sox culture
07:52 Culture Pizza Review: rating the Red Sox
13:56 Middle management burnout — curators of time, not more meetings
23:04 Ad...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley explore why doing hard things builds capability that comfort never can — and unpack a critical distinction for leaders: the difference between being nice and being kind. Niceness protects your own comfort. Kindness means having the harder conversation because you actually care about someone's growth.
They apply the lesson to FX's "The Bear," breaking down how a Mi...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley break down what Ted Lasso gets right about leadership - and it's not soccer strategy.
Then the conversation shifts hard into employee surveillance software — mouse-jiggling detection, Slack activity monitoring, and the arms race between employees and the tools built to watch them.
The episode wraps with something bigger.
Topics covered:
00:00 Intro
02:00 Ted Lasso a...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley tackle a question more leaders are quietly facing: should AI agents handle performance reviews, difficult conversations, or even personal messages on your behalf?
Dave makes the case that outsourcing hard conversations to AI is "a chicken-shit way to distance yourself from delivering bad information," while Lorne shares his own experiment.
The conversation then shifts to...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley take on two urgent topics: extreme executive perks and the growing impact of wildfires on organizations and employees.
Sparked by a Wall Street Journal report on executive compensation, Lorne and Dave dig into the widening gap between C-suite perks (six-figure wellness budgets, personal jets, "just because" bonuses) and frontline employees struggling to cover basic heal...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley take their culture deep-dive to an unexpected place: a car wash.
Crew Carwash, family-run since 1946 and staffed by 16-year-olds, holds a Glassdoor score nearly as high as tech unicorn Bending Spoons - proof that great culture isn't reserved for high-flying tech companies.
Dave shares the story of a Sport Clips franchisee who broke from industry norms by investing early...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley start with a deeply practical question: how do you show up for a difficult conversation when you're not at your best?
Dave shares his technique - slowing his breathing and writing down how he wants the other person to feel afterward.
Lorne connects it back to their "connect before content" principle, applied to yourself before anyone else.
Then they dig into Bending Spo...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley tackle a question most leaders are afraid to ask: does employee retention actually matter anymore?
They start with a wake-up call about workplace transparency - AI agents can now generate deeply detailed, unfiltered reviews of what it's like to work for a specific leader, going far beyond a simple Glassdoor score. Lorne demos this live with a room of 40 leaders, with re...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley take on two connected topics every leader needs to hear: continuous transformation, and how to handle layoffs with honesty and respect.
Drawing on recent HBR and McKinsey research, Lorne and Dave explore why transformation is no longer a one-time project but an ongoing practice organizations must build into how they operate — and why delegating it to a "Chief Tran...
On this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dave McCauley dig into two of the most debated topics in leadership today.
First: Adam Grant's New York Times research on return-to-office mandates, and why the data suggests ego - not productivity - is often the real driver behind "everyone back in the office" policies. Lorne shares how he built a trust-based, flexible work policy at a 5,000-person bank in 2013, and why it's still p...
In this insightful episode of Culture Talks, Janice Taylor, a rising expert in emotional wellness and psychology, discusses the critical importance of emotional fitness in personal and organizational success. She explores the differences between mental health and emotional wellness, the impact of emotional injuries, and practical frameworks for leaders to foster emotionally healthy workplaces.
Takeaways:
Difference between ...
In this episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis and Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett discuss the challenges of toxic leadership in the workplace and the insights from Laura's upcoming book, I Wish I'd Quit Sooner.
They explore the impact of toxic bosses on employee well-being, the importance of understanding different leadership traits, strategies, and the need for organizations to create a safe and supportive culture.
The discussion also tou...
In this conversation, Kimberly Vaughn, VP of Claims at Amerisure Insurance,
discusses the evolving landscape of leadership, emphasizing the importance of employee
engagement, psychological safety, and the balance between caring for people and achieving
business results. She shares insights on how to address negative friction in the workplace, the
role of AI in enhancing workflows, and the significance of recognition in fostering a posi...
What does it truly take to change an organization for the better?
In the latest episode of Culture Talks, Lorne Rubis sits down with Craig Hampson, Chief Business Enablement Officer at BURNCO, for a no-holds-barred conversation about the realities of organizational change.
We dive deep into the critical role of leadership in this process and uncover why so many well-intentioned change efforts fail.
In this episode, we explore:
<...In this episode of the Culture Talks Podcast, Lorne Rubis sits down with Taarif (Tim) Jafferi, Chief Business Officer of Happily.ai, to uncover the direct link between employee happiness and your bottom line. Taarif, a former Google employee, shares his firsthand experience of the cultural shifts hurting modern workplaces and the simple, data-backed strategies that can fix them.
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