Eduardo de la Loza
CHRO
SABORMEX
Episode 103
Stop chasing HR trends: Culture is the operating system that powers your business.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 17, 2025 · 13:29
Thesis
“Culture is the operating system of an organization, and HR's most powerful role is to be the guardian and architect of that culture, ensuring all strategies and tools reinforce it.”
Show notes
Eduardo de la Loza has a line that cuts through a lot of HR noise: "Culture isn't something you support. It's the system everything runs on." After 20 years leading cultural and digital transformations across 40+ countries at organizations like BASF, Orbia, and Traxion, he's earned the right to say it with conviction.
His most complex work was at Orbia — nearly 40 countries, each with its own labor laws, history, and cultural expectations. The standard playbook (define global values, cascade down) doesn't work at that scale. What worked: radical humility, deep co-creation with local leaders, and a shared purpose strong enough to give each region something worth translating into their own terms. The harder lesson from Traxion: when you inherit a hierarchical culture that punishes failure and rewards individual heroics, agile transformation doesn't just fail — it actively threatens people. The resistance is rational. Understanding why is the first step.
His caution about technology is pointed: organizations rushing into AI, people analytics, and agile frameworks without first building a foundation of transparency and trust are "doomed to failure." The tech amplifies what's already there. If what's there is fear, you get more fear, faster. His answer is a continuous feedback culture — embedded in daily rituals, linked to recognition and development, measured by mindset shift and ownership, not just quarterly survey scores.
- How co-creating culture (instead of cascading it down) drove faster adoption and higher ownership at Traxion
- The hardest lessons from a 40-country cultural transformation at Orbia — and what "global consistency with local relevance" actually means in practice
- Why HR technology fails without a culture of trust underneath it
- How implementing continuous feedback loops drove measurable drops in voluntary attrition
- The "culture architect" framework: how HR should design every system — onboarding, performance, recognition — to reinforce the culture it wants to build
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What you'll take away
- 1Culture transformation should be co-created by listening to people at all levels, fostering ownership and agility rather than imposing a top-down approach.
- 2For global cultural transformations, balance global consistency with local relevance through humility, on-the-ground presence, and coaching local leaders.
- 3Trendy HR initiatives like AI, people analytics, or Agile Squads will fail without a strong foundational culture of transparency and trust; culture must come first, then tools.
- 4Implement a continuous feedback culture, embedded in daily rituals and linked to recognition, wellness, and leadership development, to drive engagement and a mindset shift.
- 5HR leaders must be 'culture architects,' designing all HR systems and processes (from onboarding to performance) to reinforce the desired culture, rather than trying to fit people into existing processes.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Rather than launching a traditional top-to-down approach to change and culture, we flipped the script. We co-created a new culture narrative by listening to people at all levels in the organization.
- •We didn't try to impose a global culture... We definitely defined a shared purpose that was very powerful and allowed each region to bring it to life in their own context and in their own terms.
- •Forget about fitting people into processes. Build processes that fit your culture and watch people thrive.
- •I decided to eliminate job descriptions... And instead of that, I introduced what I call role awareness.
In Eduardo's words
“people are at the core of business success.”
States his fundamental belief about the importance of human capital.
“one of my proudest achievements there was leading the implementation of SuccessFactors across the entire organization while also driving at the same time the ship toward a more agile, employee-centered HR model.”
Highlights a key achievement that combined technology adoption with a cultural shift.
“It was at the end a balance between, I will say, global consistency and local relevance, which was of course very hard, but that was really the difference to make all this transformation stick in the organization.”
Explains the nuanced and challenging approach required for successful global cultural change.
“The tech is powerful, I give you that, but without a strong cultural foundation, it actually creates fear. Instead of insight, instead of trust.”
Offers a strong caution against implementing technology without first building a supportive culture.
“I always say culture isn't something you support, it's the system everything runs on.”
Provides a powerful metaphor for culture's foundational and all-encompassing role in an organization.
“HR leaders should be culture architects. Everything we design from onboarding to performance to recognition should start with the question, does this reinforce the culture we want to build?”
Defines the ultimate strategic role of HR as shaping and reinforcing organizational culture.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Fragmented, reactive, and highly hierarchical cultures hinder organizational growth, engagement, and decision-making, especially in fast-growing companies.
- •Global HR initiatives face significant challenges due to diverse regional histories, labor laws, and cultural expectations, leading to low adoption if a top-down approach is used.
- •Implementing trendy HR tech (e.g., AI, people analytics) without a foundation of transparency and trust can create fear and fail to deliver intended insights.
- •Cultures that reward individual heroics, punish failure, and cling to hierarchy prevent agile transformations from succeeding, turning agility into a threat.
- •Over-reliance on static, annual metrics for culture measurement misses the crucial mindset shifts and ownership required for true cultural success.
- •Job descriptions can be limiting in cultures striving for empowerment and agility, suggesting a need for more dynamic approaches like 'role awareness'.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
I've spent over 20 years in the field of human resources
What Makes a Human Resources Champion?
Can you share a specific example where you had to address a challenging cultural issue
How to Fix a Difficult Cultural Issue
What was the most difficult cultural transformation that you've led across 37 countries
The Most Difficult Cultural Transformation
Many organizations are rushing into tech initiatives without first building a culture of trust
What is culture in the workplace?
In your 20 years of experience, what cultural implementation strategy produced the most positive impact
What cultural implementation strategy produced the most significant positive impact on the organization
HR's most powerful role is to be the guardian of culture
Dave Zirin on Building a Culture
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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