William Ingham
Chief People Officer
Visa Europe, Poshmark, Ouro
Episode 125
Culture's DNA: The Untapped Strategic Asset Driving Growth & Profit.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJune 30, 2025 · 9:29
Thesis
“Culture, when accurately measured through behavioral science and tied to specific organizational DNA, is an untapped strategic asset that drives company growth, profitability, and mitigates risk more effectively than traditional engagement surveys.”
Show notes
Leveraging Culture for Business Success with Will on the Built by People PodcastIn this episode of the Built by People Podcast, the host Dave invites Will, an experienced HR executive with over 20 years in the people function, to discuss his career journey and insights on corporate culture. Will shares his experiences with companies such as International Banana Republic, Visa Europe, Poshmark, and Oro, and his upcoming work on leadership development and culture. He elaborates on a case study involving a multinational bank where effective culture measurement helped mitigate internal fraud, saving millions in fines. Will emphasizes the inefficacy of traditional engagement surveys and advocates for behavior-based culture assessments. He also discusses his work with Icey Tech's Culture Scope and its significant benefits. Additionally, Will touches on balancing performance expectations with a healthy culture and talks about the evolving nature of leadership towards a multisensory approach. The episode concludes with Will's advice for HR leaders on embracing intuitive and data-validated leadership strategies.00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast00:38 Meet Will: A Journey Through HR Leadership01:27 The Untapped Potential of Company Culture03:02 Effective Culture Measurement Strategies04:52 Balancing Performance and Healthy Culture06:32 Innovative Approaches to Culture Measurement08:19 Parting Advice for HR Leaders
What you'll take away
- 1Traditional engagement surveys are ineffective; culture is defined by behavior and should be measured against specific organizational DNA and desired actions.
- 2Precise culture measurement, like the iPsychTech method, can proactively identify high-risk areas such as internal fraud, potentially saving hundreds of millions in fines and improving profitability.
- 3Fostering a culture where employees connect to the company's higher purpose and embrace continuous self-reinvention (the 'Ouroboros' philosophy) leads to significantly higher engagement.
- 4Future leadership will increasingly rely on 'multisensory dimensions' and intuition, validated by robust data, particularly in understanding and shaping organizational culture.
- 5Regulatory bodies in regions like the UK and Canada are starting to hold boards accountable for organizational culture, making advanced culture measurement a critical compliance and governance issue.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Engagement surveys are a complete waste of time; they produce action plans that sit on a shelf and yield no real change.
- •Culture should be discussed with the same rigor and weighting as financial results like revenue and EBITDA, a shift that is inevitable.
In William's words
“Culture survey or excuse me, engagement surveys are a complete waste of time.”
This quote directly challenges a widely adopted HR practice, highlighting its ineffectiveness.
“Culture is behavior. And so each culture, each company culture should have a very specific DNA.”
This statement defines his core philosophy on culture, emphasizing its behavioral and unique aspects.
“They were able to identify that in 7 jurisdictions around the world and get regulatory bodies off their backs, which avoided hundreds of millions of dollars of fines for this financial institution.”
This illustrates the significant financial impact and risk mitigation possible through effective culture measurement.
“I believe that culture culture should be talked about with equal weighting to financial results. And I think that time is coming when we're gonna be doing that pretty regularly.”
This emphasizes the strategic and growing importance of culture as a metric on par with financial performance.
“People that had a mindset of, how do I reinvent myself, not just on a weekly basis, but on a daily basis, or even in a moment, like, how do I constantly reinvent myself? Those people really fit in well with the culture and were really, really helped to contribute to the culture of the company.”
This provides a concrete example of a behavioral trait that fosters deep cultural fit and engagement.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Multinational organizations face significant risks from internal fraud and compliance failures, leading to massive regulatory fines.
- •Traditional annual engagement surveys are often perceived as a waste of time by employees and leaders, failing to produce actionable insights or drive meaningful change.
- •Many leaders struggle to understand how to effectively leverage and maximize culture to drive tangible company growth and profitability.
- •Companies find it difficult to genuinely connect employees to the higher purpose of the organization, leading to lower engagement and motivation.
- •Boards of directors are increasingly being held accountable by regulatory bodies for how they drive and monitor culture, creating a need for robust, reportable culture metrics.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave Zirin has had 20+ years in the people function
In the Elevator With Chief People Officer
Will, in your upcoming book, you mentioned that culture is an untapped frontier
CHRO: The Untapped Frontier of Culture
Culture measurement is tied to behavior, not just an annual survey
In the Elevator: Culture Survey
You've successfully balanced performance expectations with building a healthy culture
The Need for a Healthy Culture
You're working with a company in the UK that measures culture in a way
This is how HR Leaders measure culture
What parting advice would you like to share with our community? Wow. Thanks, Dave
Dave Goldberg on Leading With a Multisensory Experience
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
Expand transcript (0 words)
Transcript is not available yet.