Cultivating A Thriving Company Culture: Strategies For Mindful Leaders

These recommendations chime with Philippa White’s thinking. The Brazil-based author and Founder of TIE, a leadership development company operating in 26 countries, aims to reprogram leaders to tap into their human competencies and create more empathetic, innovative cultures. Through her work, she has seen firsthand how traditional business education and societal norms have often prioritized chasing profits over cultivating the emotional intelligence required for 21st-century leadership.

“Leaders are taught that empathy, vulnerability, and self-awareness are weaknesses,” she says. “Business schools emphasize competition, fighting against others, and being better than everyone else. It’s all about pursuing money.” However, research shows that people who genuinely care about their work are far more productive and engaged.

Canada-born White says high achievers produce 400 percent more than the average employee and are “more creative and innovative” as they are happy. Further, a 2019 study by the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School found that happy workers are 13 percent more productive than their dissatisfied counterparts.

She argues that a narrow focus on financial gain needs to be more balanced and well-suited for the challenges and opportunities of our time. “We need greater collaboration and cultural intelligence to solve the complex problems we face. If we want to bring together different sectors, regions, and perspectives, we can’t be egotistical, thinking we have all the answers. We need to drop those barriers and embrace other voices.”

Developing this kind of leadership, White believes, requires a departure from traditional learning and a commitment to experiential, immersive development.

“You can’t learn empathy, resilience, or cultural intelligence in a classroom,” she states.

“You have to understand viscerally, through your soul, the power of earning the trust of someone completely different from you. Sometimes it’s very uncomfortable to be in a situation that challenges your worldview, but that’s where growth happens.”

White likens the gradual deterioration of company culture to the parable of the boiling frog. “If you put a frog in boiling water, it will immediately jump out,” she says. “But if you place it in tepid water and slowly heat it, the frog won’t notice the incremental changes until it’s too late.” Similarly, toxic behaviors and attitudes can creep into an organization undetected, slowly eroding morale and performance over time.

She encourages leaders to embrace discomfort and push beyond their “lobster shell” of limiting beliefs and habits to avoid this fate. “Lobsters only grow when they shed their shells and become vulnerable,” White explains. “Humans often avoid this discomfort, but it’s essential for our development. We must proactively seek new challenges and perspectives that expand our mental maps.”

White’s new book, Return on Humanity, explores these themes in three sections: how tapping into human competencies enriches our individual lives; how bringing these skills into leadership and business improves performance; and how grounding our organizations in human-centric practices can positively transform society and the planet.

“By cultivating self-awareness, empathy, and a commitment to lifelong learning, we can build resilient, agile, and innovative teams needed to thrive in the 21st century,” White asserts. “It starts with each of us having the courage to grow.”