How Founders Affect Startup Culture From the Top Down with Sophie Theen

Handmade CEO Podcast

Thank you for tuning into episode 148! In this important episode I'm interviewing Shophie Theen, award-winning people management expert and author of THE SOUL OF STARTUPS: The Untold Stories of How Founders Affect Culture.

There’s a common misconception that a company’s people make its culture. In reality, startup culture begins and trickles down from the very top, from a company’s founder. That founder’s personality, including their emotional maturity, can lift their organization’s culture or destroy it. So, how can founders identify whether their personalities are positively impacting their culture, and make changes if not?

Sophie is well-versed on this topic as she has deeply researched and profiled founders who lacked the emotional mite and intelligence to create and maintain an organization on which an entire team could rely for their wellbeing. She’s also studied those who excelled at creating environments that allowed their team members to thrive, personally and professionally. She gives her top tips in this episode on how founders and managers can begin to create a more nurturing culture in their companies or organizations.