Steve Van Valin - Shaping a Culture that is Engaged to Innovate (A1818)

Steve Van Valin, Founder and CEO of Culturology, helps companies shape a culture that is engaged to innovate. At Culturology, they specialize in contemporary cultures where people need to be competitive, especially customer-facing businesses looking for a unique edge. A business’s culture is much like a personality and determines the common expectations people have when working together. By shaping the culture intentionally, you can help your team be more innovative and engaged. 

In his interview, Steve discusses high-level tactics of culture design and how it can contribute to innovation. He highlights the importance of being an expert at the creative process in order to facilitate more creativity from your team. While the phrase may seem paradoxical, Steve encourages you to plan time for spontaneous interactions. Steve also proposed the idea of “addition by subtraction,” meaning sometimes it takes removing barriers in order to help employees become more innovative. Steve’s insight is a powerful tool for anyone hoping to get more cohesion and creativity from their teams through relatively simple means.

• 2:24-3:15: How Steve defines culture and how it is like a personality.
• 6:41-7:46: Consistencies in how companies of any kind drive innovation.
• 10:16-11:23: Good creative ideas can be small things involving constant problem solving.
• 14:23-15:28: Become an expert on the creative process itself in order to help your team think more openly.