Culture

We live in a society where our pursuit of authenticity is more important to us than ever, but we've created a society which is also extraordinarily fake. I want to understand this and understand how we can fight back.

There are a lot of people who misuse social media and then they pay the price for it. These individuals and groups are hunting for people to make mistakes, take embarrassing videos and show the world.

The hybrid model has lifted the covers of what was already existing. We already knew there was a growing blend of work life. It wasn't even balance anymore. It had to be a sense of integration.

Chief Happiness Officer & Author of "Delivering Happiness

We had amazing values at WeWork, they were distinct, they were cool and I'd never heard of them before, but there was no connection between those values and what all the employees saw on an everyday basis.

I believe that culture isn't a continuous act. At key inflexion points, it's vital to look at your culture – do our values really represent who we are today and who we want to be?

The silver lining of this pandemic in the last couple of years is we have realised that culture is not relegated to an office, it's agnostic of a physical office. It is how we work with each other.

Culture is much bigger than that. Culture goes beyond values. I define culture is three primary parts. The first part is behaviour. It's the behaviours of your employees that get embedded into all the processes we are already doing. The second part is processes. The third piece is practices.

I don't think culture is the bean bag or the Ping-Pong tables or the free food or the happy hours. Those are great opportunities to connect as individuals and have a little fun, but I do not think those things define what a culture really is.

I have always been attracted to creative people and been fascinated by what drives them and what they are made of; whether that be a recording artist, an author or a broadcaster. The most exciting thing about it is the fact that you can support somebody on a mission to create something unique, something that creates impact- and often at the level that we are operating at – something culturally relevant.

When China started its open-door policy, 40 years ago, it was a much different environment. There was nothing to work with! It was a communist system before that, a planned economy, no free market. People started building things from scratch.

What they found was that people thought the person with the whiter, straighter teeth looked healthier, younger, more well educated. Just the teeth. Same person. Whiter, straighter teeth. Everything else was the same.

We characterise our ideal 'Substacker' in affectionate terms – we call them outsider nerds – they're outsiders insofar as they don't fit comfortably in the dominant media structure for whatever reason – perhaps they feel they can do better work outside of it.

So many things in life divide us – the colour of our skin, the language we speak, the god we worship, but when we run, we're the same. When we run, we're united, it's a commonality across our species like nothing else.

Ultramarathon runner known for extreme endurance feats and adventures

There are individuals within organizations who seem untouchable, be they extraordinarily successful salespeople or powerhouse CEOs. These individuals often appear to be above the rules, even above the law. They're given latitude due to the exceptional value they bring to the organization.

Forensic Accountant & Professor; Expert on Corporate Fraud and Whistleblowing

I realized then that I was inadvertently alienating our core audience — the surf community. Despite their understanding of the UGG brand, our advertising was sending the wrong message. This was when I truly grasped the essence of branding, advertising, and marketing.

We are made up not of atoms, but of stories.

Founding Executive Editor of Wired Magazine & Technology Thinker