Collaborative-Culture

Replay Description:

As we revisit key conversations from Season One, we’re starting where it all began.

In this replay of our very first episode, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith introduce themselves, share the work that brought them to this podcast, and explain why they wanted to create a space for deeper conversations about culture, collaboration, leadership, and the way people work together.

This episode is the best s...

Episode Description

In the final episode of Season One, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith pause to reflect on the conversations, guests, and core ideas that shaped the first season of Collaborative Culture.

From the very first episode, the podcast has been grounded in one central belief: culture is not a “soft” skill or topic. It belongs in the boardroom, not just the HR department. Across 22 episodes, Kri...

Episode Description

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith explore the human and cultural side of mergers and acquisitions.

For years, leaders heard that roughly 70% of mergers failed. More recent research from Bain suggests that the story has changed: close to 70% of deals now succeed, especially among experienced acquirers that have developed stronger due diligence, integration ...

Show Description

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Monica Smith and Dr. Kristine Gentry take a second look at artificial intelligence and ask a more important question: why are so many AI initiatives failing to deliver results? Drawing on recent research and real-world company examples, they make the case that AI is not just a technology shift. It is a culture shift.

They explore why fear, uncertainty, statu...

Show description

In this special Episode 20 of Collaborative Culture, Monica Smith turns the mic toward co-host Dr. Kristine Gentry for a deeper look at the framework behind her work helping organizations build stronger, more intentional cultures. Drawing on her background as a cultural anthropologist and founder of Culture Grove, Kristine explains why culture is often misunderstood, why surface-level values work falls...

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith unpack the complicated topic of executive presence.

They begin with an important truth: executive presence can be a loaded term. In many workplaces, it has been used to reinforce narrow ideas of leadership tied to gender, race, class, accent, age, and personality. But when approached thoughtfully, it can also describe a practical set of skills th...

Episode Description

What does it actually look like to build an intentional culture inside a high-stakes organization—especially one navigating constant change?

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith sit down with Ron Thalheimer, a longtime financial services leader whose career spans banking in Chicago, transformation work in London, and more than two decades at Fideli...

Episode overview

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith tackle a common misconception in workplace culture efforts: the belief that a single assessment, survey, or workshop can “fix” culture. Together, they break down why popular tools like Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, DISC, Hogan, Enneagram, and Working Genius can be useful, but only as inputs, not solutions.

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Kristine Gentry and Monica M. Smith sit down with Wendy Woolfork, founder of Purpose Walk, to explore what it really takes to build resilient, high-performing workplaces in a world defined by volatility, pressure, and constant change.

Wendy shares how she helps senior leaders and teams identify the “behavioral tripping hazards” that quietly break collaboration&...

Everyone’s talking about AI and a lot of people are quietly panicking. In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Kristine Gentry (Culture Grove) and Monica Smith (Tradewinds Career Consulting) unpack how leaders can separate signal from noise in AI transformation without torching trust, morale, or the talent you can’t afford to lose.

We get practical in three high-impact areas: (1) what the C-suite mus...

Episode summary

A text message at 3 a.m. telling employees to check their personal email before work. That’s not just a layoff story. It’s a culture story. In this first episode of 2026, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica M. Smith unpack how the way organizations handle “hard moments” (layoffs, RTO mandates, and AI messaging) shapes trust, retention, and long-term brand reputation. They also ex...

Episode Description

Most organizations are drowning in dashboards—engagement scores, turnover reports, productivity trackers, badge swipes, time in office. But how much of that data actually tells you anything real about your culture?

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Monica Smith and Dr. Kristine Gentry kick off Part 2 of their “Metrics That Matter” mini-series by breaking down the differe...

In Part 2 of our Metrics That Matter series, Kristine and Monica sit down with organizational psychologist Dr. Nicole Eisdorfer, founder of Truer Words, to unpack why so many HR and culture metrics feel useless, and what to do about it.

Nicole blends HR practitioner experience with IO psychology research to explain why most HR data wasn’t designed to measure culture in the first place. She breaks down how d...

Episode Summary

In this first episode of our three-part Metrics that Matter series, Kristine and Monica pull back the curtain on how organizations are trying (and often failing) to measure culture. They walk through the real business case for culture, revenue growth, turnover savings, and performance, and then dig into why most “culture metrics” are actually measuring something else entirely....

It’s our 10th episode and our first guest! Dr. Kristine Gentry (cultural anthropologist and founder of Culture Grove) and co-host Monica M. Smith (intercultural leadership expert and founder of Tradewinds Career Consulting) sit down with Madhuri Kumar, a global talent executive who has led culture, change, and people strategies across Fortune 500s (GE, Halliburton), tech and health tech, nonprofits, and higher ...

Show description

RTO isn’t a culture strategy. It’s a seating chart. In this episode, Monica M. Smith (Tradewinds Career Consulting) and Dr. Kristine Gentry (Culture Grove) unpack why so many “back to the office for culture” mandates fall flat and what actually builds connection, trust, and performance. We explore the post-pandemic “great realignment,” the comfort vs. culture trap, and how leaders...

AI doesn’t have to be a layoff story. it can be a growth story. In this episode of Collaborative Culture, hosts Dr. Kristine McKenzie Gentry and Monica M. Smith explore what it means to lead AI adoption with your culture front and center.

They discuss how leaders can turn the AI revolution into a moment for innovation, inclusion, and trust — not fear.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build a...

In this episode, Dr. Kristine Gentry (Culture Grove) and co-host Monica M. Smith (Tradewinds Career Consulting) unpack the surge in layoffs tied to AI ambitions and what “managing to a spreadsheet” misses about people, risk, and long-term performance. We discuss the ripple effects of rapid RIFs on engagement, institutional knowledge, and resilience; the CEO messaging that’s eroding loyalty; and why culture must si...

In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Kristine interviews Monica as they dive deep into the realities of global workplace dynamics—from culture disconnects across continents to the hidden biases baked into our definitions of professionalism. They explore what happens when DEI is fully embedded into a company’s operating system versus treated as a surface-level add-on. Monica shares her signature 3-pillar framework (...