Michelle Sutter
Vice President, Culture & Organizational Development
Fanatics
Episode 181
Cultivating Care: The Unseen Force Driving Top Employee Performance
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMay 21, 2025 · 12:30
Thesis
“A consistently demonstrated and genuine culture of care, particularly in challenging times, is the most powerful and controllable factor for leaders to drive employee performance and create an environment where individuals can thrive.”
Show notes
Michelle Sutter started her career not in HR but on cruise ships, building sales teams across a series of industries before landing in culture and organizational development at Fanatics. The unconventional path gave her an insight that pure HR lifer careers sometimes miss: culture works exactly like sales. It requires consistency. Active listening. A long-term mindset. And the recognition that "a one-and-done thing" will never be enough.
At Fanatics, Michelle has designed mentorship programs that scale across enterprises — built on a core principle most programs get wrong: the success of a mentorship program hinges entirely on the mentor's engagement and commitment, not the mentee's enthusiasm. That means voluntary participation, explicit upfront expectations, and structured onboarding for mentors before the matching even happens. She also addresses something most organizations won't say out loud: some mentees join programs believing it's a fast track to a promotion. Her programs are designed to reset that expectation early — because mentorship is about development, and conflating it with advancement is how you get resentful participants on both sides.
The remote culture piece of this conversation is equally concrete. Michelle's team built explicit "culture commitments" at Fanatics — including a "fail-forward" practice where mistakes trigger a 15-minute structured retrospective rather than blame, and dedicated "Culture Connection Time" where remote team members engage without work agenda. Her parting line lands hard: "People will walk through fire for you if they believe you genuinely care and that you show up in key moments." Culture, she notes, is the one thing leaders have 100% control over. Everything else is circumstance.
- Why culture works like sales — consistency, active listening, and long-term commitment as the real operating model for culture building
- Designing a mentorship program that sticks — voluntary mentor selection, upfront expectations, and structured training before the matching starts
- Correcting the "promotion backdoor" misconception — how to reset mentee expectations early so the program serves development, not advancement anxiety
- The fail-forward culture commitment — a 15-minute structured retrospective that turns individual failures into organizational learning
- Remote culture maintenance — from explicit "culture commitments" to connection-only time slots, what actually keeps distributed teams cohesive
- Culture as the leader's only 100% controllable factor — the mindset shift that makes showing up in difficult moments a strategic choice, not a nice-to-have
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What you'll take away
- 1Culture is a long-term commitment, not a one-time initiative; it requires consistency, active listening, and a service-oriented mindset towards employees.
- 2Effective mentorship programs rely on voluntary mentor participation, clear upfront expectations for both parties, structured training, and ongoing resources to ensure sustainability and impact.
- 3Maintaining cultural consistency across remote teams is achieved through explicit 'culture commitments,' dedicated non-work connection time, structured culture onboarding for new hires, and fostering psychological safety (e.g., 'fail-forward' approach).
- 4Leaders must genuinely 'show up' for their teams, especially in moments of crisis or conflict, as this authentic care is the primary driver of performance and is entirely within a leader's control.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Mentorship should be clearly defined as a tool for learning and development, actively dispelling the common misconception that it serves as a 'quick backdoor to a promotion.'
- •Failures and mistakes should be openly acknowledged and discussed through a 'fail-forward' culture, rather than being hidden or punished, to promote collective learning and prevent recurrence.
In Michelle's words
“Culture isn't a one-and-done thing. It's a long-term commitment and plan that has to remain sustainable and scalable.”
This quote emphasizes the ongoing and strategic nature of culture work, contrasting it with transient initiatives.
“The success of the program hinges on the mentor's engagement and commitment to the program.”
This highlights the critical, often overlooked, element of voluntary and committed mentor participation for program efficacy.
“Some mentees might have a perception that mentorship is like a quick backdoor to a promotion. Which is not the intent of the mentorship program. It's about learning and developing.”
This quote directly addresses and corrects a common misunderstanding about the purpose and benefits of mentorship.
“We had what we referred to as our fail-forward culture commitment. And what that was is that if individuals found themselves in a situation where they had failed, right, how we manage that is we'd have a quick 15-minute fail-forward meeting...”
This provides a concrete example of a creative and practical cultural initiative to foster psychological safety and learning.
“People will walk through fire for you if they believe you genuinely care and that you show up in key moments.”
This encapsulates the guest's core philosophy on leadership and its impact on employee loyalty and performance.
“It's the only factor that we have 100% control over as leaders is the culture that we foster.”
This powerful statement emphasizes the ultimate responsibility and influence of leaders in shaping the organizational environment.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Many organizations lack structured mentorship programs, leaving employees craving development opportunities and forcing grassroots initiatives.
- •Maintaining consistent culture and employee connection is challenging for geographically dispersed or remote teams, leading to potential isolation and reduced engagement, especially during crises.
- •Leaders often underestimate the direct link between a genuine 'culture of care' and tangible business performance, missing opportunities to leverage culture as a strategic driver.
- •Misaligned expectations regarding mentorship (e.g., viewing it as a fast track to promotion) can hinder program effectiveness and participant satisfaction.
- •Companies struggle to create a safe environment for employees to acknowledge and learn from mistakes, often leading to a culture of fear rather than growth.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You started your professional career working on ships and then transitioned into HR
How Did You Get To Where You Are Today
Your background in sales has influenced your approach to building and sustaining organizational culture
How to Build a Culture
Can you share a story of how you designed and scaled a mentorship program
How To Build a High- Impact Mentorship Program
Tell me about a time when you successfully maintained consistency in culture initiatives
When to Build a Remote Team Culture?
Michelle says leaders underestimate the power of culture and care in organizations
Culture and Care: What Drives Performance
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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