How I work

A company is a tree.

Planted with an intention, then grown toward whatever light was available.

Every company already has a culture. Almost none of them chose it.

My work follows the tree from the seed to the roots.

Seed
SeedDiscovery
Shoot
ShootDesign
Canopy
CanopyDeliver
Roots
RootsEmbed

The roots come last. They are what keeps the change in place once I am gone.

Every stage stands on its own, starting with discovery. A full engagement, seed to roots, runs about a year.

Every company runs on two cultures at once: the one it believes it has, and the one it actually lives.

From the culture you have, to the culture you need

1

Seed Discovery

typically 4 to 6 weeks

It starts with a culture assessment. Most companies are founded on an instinct that was never fully put into words. It works, until you grow, and the culture quietly becomes whatever the busiest days and the loudest voices made it. This is the first honest look at what you actually have, before anyone changes a thing.

  • A conversation with you. Why the company exists, and what you want it to become.
  • A company-wide assessment of my own design, built on peer-reviewed organizational culture research. It measures the culture you have against the culture your people want, and it compares leadership with teams and department with department. Everyone takes it, so the picture covers the whole company rather than a sample.
  • In-depth interviews, top to bottom. The lived detail behind the numbers, from leadership to the people on the ground, in English, Portuguese, or French. I run every one of them myself.
  • Confidential throughout. Reported as patterns, never who said what.

The outcome: a gap map, and the difference between sensing something is off and knowing exactly where, why, and what it is costing you.

What a gap map is. One picture of the distance between the culture you believe you have and the culture your people live. The result is not an opinion about your culture. It is evidence of it.

Where it leads. A finding on its own tends to sit in a corner of the room. Deciding what changes, putting it into practice, and embedding it so it holds are what move it off the page. Whether you take those stages is yours to decide once you have seen what I found.

2

Shoot Design

typically 3 to 6 sessions with leadership

This is where you decide who the company needs to become. I do not arrive with that answer already written. We find it together, from what the assessment turned up.

  • Alignment workshop. Your leadership team sees the findings together and agrees what matters most. This is usually the first time they have all looked at the same picture.
  • Behaviors and values. What needs to change, named in observable terms.
  • Decision rights. Who decides what, made explicit.
  • Vision and priorities. On one page.

The outcome: agreement on what changes, and who is responsible for seeing each one through. So decisions get made once, and the work stops waiting on your leadership team.

3

Canopy Deliver

typically 9 to 12 months

This is where you see the change happening. I stay close to the work, keep it moving, and help your people carry it themselves.

  • A set schedule. Clear priorities for each period, so the day-to-day does not swallow the plan.
  • Team sessions. Facilitation, team building, and emotional intelligence training, so what you agreed gets practiced rather than announced.
  • One to one. Mentoring, coaching, and leadership development, for you, for your existing leaders, and for anyone stepping into a bigger role.
  • Oversight and reporting. I keep execution honest and give your senior team real visibility on what has actually moved.
  • Pulse checks. A short re-measure at each stage, so you see movement before the final reassessment.

The outcome: change that is actually happening, and evidence of it. So your people carry the work themselves, and it reaches the people and projects you serve.

4

Roots Embed

typically at the 12-month mark

This is where the change takes root and holds after I leave.

  • Reassessment. The same instrument as the start, so the comparison is real. You see in black and white what moved, what did not, and why.
  • Practices that hold. The meetings, reviews, and conversations your team actually owns, that keep the new culture alive.
  • Handover. To named people inside your company who will carry it, and what to watch for next.

The outcome: a company that holds its own shape as you grow and as people come and go. So the change keeps working long after I am gone.

What you are aiming at

An organization with borogodó, the Brazilian word for an ineffable charm, knows who they are, where they are going, and how to get there. They have defined their vision, they know their core values, and you can see those values in how people behave, from the leaders to the whole team. They have ignited a fire in their people, and that fire is visible as borogodó.

Case study · Creative Studio Berlin

What happened when four people became 15

Six new hires in eight months, and a culture built on close relationships rather than anything written down. The assessment found the line that mattered: the creative vision belongs with the founder, and the operational load does not.

Read the case study →
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