Lead with Courage: Why Workplace Culture Is a Design Choice with Dr. Lauran Star

Workplace culture isn't broken. According to Dr. Lauran Star, it's working exactly as it was designed, and that should make every leader stop and look closely.

Organizational psychologist and forensic cultural behaviorist Dr. Lauran Star joins Lori for a candid, funny, and unflinching conversation about the high-stakes environments most consultants won't touch: where leadership is misaligned, accountability is blurred, and everyone can feel something is wrong, but no one will say it out loud.

In this episode:

- Why courageous leadership starts with the mirror, and the one question every leader should ask themselves

- The culture infinity loop: how what happens in society shows up at work, and how work shapes society in return

- What engagement scores miss, and the real signals of a struggling culture: sick time, early turnover, and the comments nobody reads

- Leading across national cultures without forcing everyone to assimilate, plus Lauran's "cafeteria test" for inclusion

- Why leadership, not technology, decides how AI shows up in your organization

About Dr. Lauran Star: Dr. Lauran Star is an organizational psychologist, forensic cultural behaviorist, author, and executive advisor who helps leaders see what their organizations have learned to accept. A military veteran and former trauma medic, she is the creator of The Normalization Effect™ and The Rethink Project™ and the author of See Dick Throw a Hissy Fit: The Rise and Predictable Fall of U.S. Culture.

Timestamps:

00:00 Hook

00:22 Introduction

02:17 How the world's cultures shaped Lauran's leadership

04:36 Why real leaders question everything

07:25 A million followers is not a credential

09:34 Dysfunction at the top, and the fear of challenging it

13:02 The culture infinity loop: society and the workplace mirror each other

15:58 Where leaders should look first: the mirror and courageous leadership

25:26 "I asked for it": a salary negotiation lesson

32:04 Leading across national cultures

35:56 Assimilation and the beauty we are losing

38:57 The cafeteria test

41:27 Leadership drives AI, not the other way around

44:15 The first honest question: is your culture real?

46:52 Why new CHROs get sidelined, and what it costs

48:26 Values need behaviors: dysfunction lasts three to five years

52:17 Where to find Lauran and her new book

53:15 Closing reflections and Passport Stamp: India

A note on the research mentioned in the opening: for context, Spencer Stuart's 2025 S&P 1500 CEO Transitions report found that 84% of newly appointed S&P 1500 CEOs in 2025 were in their first CEO role: https://www.spencerstuart.com/research-and-insight/2025-sp-1500-ceo-transitions-behind-the-ceo-moment

Find Dr. Lauran Star at: https://www.lauranstar.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauranstar | https://substack.com/@drlauranstar

Get her book, See Dick Throw a Hissy Fit

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Lori Adams-Brown, Host & Executive Producer

A World of Difference Podcast