CollabTalk Podcast at #MSIgnite: How Culture Drives Innovation

In the fourth and final CollabTalk Podcast that we recorded earlier this month in Orlando at the Microsoft Ignite Podcast Center, I was joined by fellow MVPs Tracy Van der Schyff (@tracyvds), Principal at The GUID Stuff, Eric Riz (@rizinsights), Founder & CEO of Empty Cubicle, and Bruno Capuano (@elbruno), Innovation Lead at Avanade, to discuss the idea that a strong and healthy company culture can not only have an overall positive impact on innovation, but it can actually increase and improve employee output (volume and quality).

Each of us shared personal experiences working within organizations at both ends of the spectrum, and the impacts that both inspiring and toxic cultures had on our own work output. We also covered some of the “window dressing” cultural bandaids that seem to be popular in many startups (and is often attributed to Silicon Valley), where perks and “fun” activities are often used to mask deeper cultural issues. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with those things, we agreed that they often displace the more important cultural tenets that have a long-term impact on the company’s success, such as having a strong mission, well-defined corporate values, transparent management structure, visible and accessible leadership, and strong communication channels.

Another great discussion, which you can listen to here:

For more great conversations on technology and business topics, you can listen to the CollabTalk Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.