Tackling Front and Center Culture Issues

Even the best among us — especially in Texas — beleaguered by a year of the pandemic, too many zoom meetings, and a deficit of face-to-face, personal interactions — not to mention a deficit of hugs if you are a feeler — were maintaining motivation, maybe even sanity by a thread . . . then in Texas, confronted by an unprecedented winter storm and a politicized power grid resulting in 40% of Texans losing power . . . well, I’m not sure so many American have been tested for so long, perhaps since the Civil War.

And, through all this, our volunteers and staff haven’t lost a beat preparing for our sixth Culturati Summit — April 6, 7 & 8. Arianna Huffington, Shellye Archambeau, Tristan J Walker, Mark McClain, Aubrey Blanche, Mike Smerklo and Morgan DeBaun are just some of this year’s speakers — see more here. We’ll be addressing front and center cultural issues facing us in our workplaces today, especially in Mental Health & Well-being, Empowering Managers, and DEI Leadership.

As my dear friend Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books, notes, “we were already in a mental health crisis, even before the pandemic, which has now moved the mental health conversation to the front burner. It’s the number one issue I hear about from CEOs. They now realize that the mental resilience of their people is going to be the key to thrive in our new normal. So employee well-being and programs that support mental well-being, have gone from nice to have to absolute necessity.”

Steven Tomlinson interviews Arianna for our keynote conversation on the opening day of the 2021 Culturati Summit. You can register for Culturati Summit here.

After an incidence of exhaustion where she collapsed and injured herself, Arianna started a journey to better understand well-being, where she discovered the connection between well-being and performance. Since, she’s created Thrive Global which is helping CEOs and corporations around the world apply science to further employee well-being while positively impacting performance. We’re excited she’s agreed to kickoff this year’s Summit.

Matthew Duncan interviews Tristan Walker, founder of Walker & Company, which sells grooming products for people of color, which was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018. He’s our keynote on the second day of Culturati Summit (April 7).

Tristan’s an inspiring entrepreneur, black business leader and a strong culture advocate, citing the six values on which he founded his business. He also cofounded Code2040 in the Valley, a not-for-profit that connects young minorities to coding jobs.

Walker moved between Stanford Business School, Twitter, Fourquare and Andreessen Horowitz before starting Walker & Company Brands in Silicon Valley moved to Atlanta upon the acquisition by Proctor & Gamble. He launched his company as a tech startup, later admitting it was a CPG company with strong venture backing. Tristan is one of the most prominent Black corporate culture beacons in the country.

I get the privilege of interviewing my old friend and culture mentor, Mark McClain — one of Glassdoor’s Top CEOs in America, the CEO of Austin-based Sailpoint, and the author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck the Life Out of People during this year’s Culturati Summit.

Hard to get more practical advice about culture and leadership in a startup and growth company. Mark strongly believes culture emanates from an innovative company, not the other way around, and he always places people and stakeholders first. The book is a manual of actionable solutions for culture and leadership problems. I’m looking forward to interviewing Mark and his sharing his wisdom at the Summit.

 We hope you’ll join us on April 6, 7 & 8 at the Culturati Summit — find more info and registration information here. We’ve got incredible speakers lined up, and truly visionary conversations in the works. This event will be a game-changer for those who attend. I hope to see you there.

—Eugene

Eugene Sepulveda is the co-founder of Culturati? as well as the CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation, an advisor to Capital Factory and Notley Ventures and the Treasurer & a Sr. Advisor to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. Eugene’s long played at the intersection of business, politics, and community in Austin and nationally. He can be reached at [email protected]