Every business has a company culture. Culture impacts everything from employee performance and engagement to how your company is perceived by your customers.

Johanna Lyman is the Principal Consultant and Practice Leader for Culture and Inclusion at Kadabra. She helps small companies get to their next level of success, build a culture that supports sustainable profitability, and develop their teams to their highest potential. She has helped thousands of people all over the world build the business of their dreams and step into being the leader they’ve been called to be. She is a certified coach and business development expert with more than fifteen years of experience helping executives, consultants, and business owners build and develop successful businesses.

Prior to starting her own business in January 2005, Johanna was a CFP(R) at Merrill Lynch, a Divisional Vice President of Sales at Warnaco during the peak of their success, and she had a 10-year career working up the corporate ladder at Filene’s Department Stores, a division of May Co. She’s a Certified Change Management Specialist and Six Sigma Lean Professional (Green Belt).

And people don't always realize this, but culture is going to happen in an organization, whether you plan it or not. But when you don't plan for it, it ends up being one of those companies that I worked with that I had to escape from, because it's not good. It's not values aligned. People don't feel respected. They don't feel appreciated. They don't feel like they belong." - Johanna Lyman

In this episode with Johanna:

• How Johanna's story of belonging is what drives her to help leaders build inclusive cultures for companies. (3:45) 
• Why Johanna decided to become an entrepreneur. (9:17)
• A different view on Maslow's hierarchy of needs with belonging at the bottom of the needs pyramid. (10:36)
• Advice on how entrepreneurs can find a like-minded community for support using values alignment. (15:03)
• What conscious capitalism means and what it looks like for business owners. (16:30)
• Why culture happens in an organization whether you plan for it or not. (17:58)
• Why knowing your purpose, or why, matters. (19:00)
• The role of self-awareness when building culture and how to measure if you're actually being self-aware as a leader. (21:51)
• How self-awareness grows with self-reflection. (23:08)
• What it means for a business to have a brave culture and why it's a must for a purpose-driven company. (24:29)
• Tips on how you can start to be more inclusive as a business owner. (25:57)
• The most challenging part for entrepreneurs during this process is to become more conscious. (27:54)
• How to connect your core values with specific action steps in your company. (29:02)
• How to measure the effectiveness of your company culture and its values with a scorecard. (30:28)
• How COVID-19 is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to make collaborative decisions with team members and employees. (31:47)
• The mindsets Johanna believes give her the advantage to do meaningful work that creates a positive impact. (35:10)

Full show notes, the transcript, resources, and how you can connect with Johanna, can be found here: https://www.startingadvantage.com/

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